Proportion, pacing and timing are essential to storytelling. But in the all-you-can-eat buffet era of entertainment, these qualities largely have been abandoned. Comic books, once a source of adolescent delight and distraction, have become turgid epic films running three hours or longer.
Podcasts, developed as endless serialized narratives best at distracting drivers from bad traffic, have inspired the makers of streamed docuseries to turn meager stories into bottomless pits of spun-out narrative. Back in the day, “Portlandia” featured a funny sketch about a couple who essentially abandoned their lives, jobs and responsibilities to devour a DVD set of “Battlestar Galactica.” But that was a compelling series worthy of addictive devotion. Viewers now show similar cravings for the most banal and imitative true-crime docuseries. One used to talk of “cocooning” with your companion to watch TV. Now, it seems more like entombing.
Proportion and editing are even more essential to comedy, a field where timing is everything. And that’s what makes “Documentary Now!” (9 p.m., IFC, TV-14) such a wasted opportunity.
“Now!” enters its fourth season with the faux film “Soldier of Illusion.” Clearly based on Les Blank’s 1982 film “Burden of Dreams,” about Werner Herzog losing his mind while trying to complete his 1982 drama “Fitzcarraldo,” this spoof features a glum, pensive German filmmaker documenting the nomadic peoples of a desolate Soviet valley while simultaneously shooting the pilot episode of a CBS jiggle-TV sitcom. Fred Armisen (“Portlandia”) appears as a glib network executive, reciting inappropriately self-serving anecdotes while sipping a Diet Pepsi.
The mashup of the two elements is decidedly clever, and it makes me laugh just describing it. Depicting documentary filmmaking in all its deadly earnestness reminded this viewer of “Monty Python.” The absurd combination of two wildly divergent genres evokes memories of “SCTV” at its most brilliantly original, as when that sketch show had Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater Players perform T.S. Eliot’s “Murder in the Cathedral” in the style of a network coverage of a space launch — all linked to the launch of the movie “The Right Stuff.” Joe Flaherty showed up as Tom Wolfe in his signature white suit to bicker with Catherine O’Hara’s Katharine Hepburn, a fight refereed by Dave Thomas’ Walter Cronkite.
I still can recall that sketch after 40 years because it was less than 10 minutes long, spliced into a larger sketch showcase. It was short enough to leave me wanting more.
At a half-hour, “Documentary Now!” parodies become exercises in preciousness and indulgence. We know they’re clever, but they’re not smart enough to know they essentially stop being funny after five minutes.
• Netflix streams the French-language procedural “Notre-Dame,” following the firemen and emergency service workers whose lives were changed by the 2019 blaze that struck that landmark.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
• Supply chain shortages hit the hospital on “Chicago Med” (7 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
• The 41st season premiere of “Nature” (7 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings) follows a mass wildebeest migration in search of fresh grazing.
• “The Real Love Boat” (8 p.m., CBS) drops anchor in Marseilles.
• A Halloween open house welcomes the neighborhood on “Chicago Fire” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
• Competitors enter a leg of “The Amazing Race” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14) inspired by David Lean’s 1962 epic “Lawrence of Arabia.”
• A missing person case reveals a human trafficking ring on “Chicago P.D.” (9 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
• Still missing on “Big Sky” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
The 1977 biopic “Greased Lightning” (7 p.m., TCM, TV-PG) recalls how NASCAR emerged from the loose community of fast drivers essential to the moonshine smuggling trade. Richard Pryor stars as Wendell Scott, the first Black NASCAR driver. Beau Bridges and Pam Grier co-star. Grier headlines the 1975 blaxploitation thriller “Friday Foster” (9 p.m., TCM), featuring Yaphet Kotto, Eartha Kitt, Scatman Crothers, Carl Weathers and Jim Backus.
SERIES NOTES
“Survivor” (7 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) ... “The Masked Singer” (7 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) ... Kindergarten is never easy on “The Conners” (7 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) ... Erica’s blessed event nears on “The Goldbergs” (7:30 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) ... “Lego Masters” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) ... Janine sponsors a new drink in the cafeteria on “Abbott Elementary” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) ... Connor and Marina accompany Tom on his book tour on “Home Economics” (8:30 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Armando Iannucci are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (10:35 p.m., CBS, r) ... Jimmy Fallon welcomes Margot Robbie, Bobby Moynihan and Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats on “The Tonight Show” (10:34 p.m., NBC, r).
— OK, that was weird. The least expected story of the week was the scandal involving Felicity Huffman (“Desperate Housewives”) and Lori Loughlin, star of “When Calls the Heart” (7 p.m. Sunday, Hallmark, TV-G), in a bribery/cheating plot to get their respective daughters into elite universities.
This is obviously an ongoing case, and all sides must have their say, or day, in court. But the motivation at the center of this story is worth discussing. It involves some overwhelming need to do anything to get children into elite schools. As if anything “lesser” were unthinkable.
Television plays no small role in this insecurity. I can’t remember how many times I’ve had to describe an ABC legal drama where every single character hails from only the most exclusive Ivy and spends most of the pilot bragging about it.
There was a time, not that long ago, when John Grisham wrote best-selling books about young, barely accredited lawyers from no-name institutions who took on impossible cases against massive corporations and eventually won. And got the girl, to boot.
So, our current era’s neurotic obsession with elitism and inequality is hardly hard-wired.
If anything comes of this sordid affair, it’s an appreciation that shoddy efforts at snobbery are always essentially pathetic. Or on classic TV, comedic. Watching “Gilligan’s Island,” we identified with Mary Ann and the Skipper, and pitied the millionaire and his wife.
— CNN launches the four-hour documentary “Tricky Dick” (8 p.m., Sunday), profiling the life and times of Richard Nixon’s public career, which spanned the decades from the dawn of the Cold War to the Clinton years.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— An anxious new mother joins a group for solidarity and support, only to discover that it has darker plans on its agenda in the 2019 shocker “Mommy Group Murder” (7 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).
— The Thunder and Warriors meet in NBA action (7:30 p.m., ABC).
— An old kidnapper returns to form on “Ransom” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (6 p.m., CBS): Embassy workers in China and Cuba complain of mysterious ailments; AOL founder Steve Case and his plans to invest in the future of overlooked American small towns and cities; a visit to Monaco.
— The duels begin on “World of Dance” (7 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
— Auditions continue on “American Idol” (7 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
— Lex Luthor is on the loose on “Supergirl” (7 p.m., CW, TV-PG).
— Mr. Wednesday prepares for battle on “American Gods” (7 p.m., Starz, TV-MA).
— After learning about her royal lineage, an adopted 10-year-old becomes a little tyrant in the 2019 shocker “Mommy’s Little Princess” (7 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).
— A secret room holds dangers on “Charmed” (8 p.m., CW, TV-14).
— Hidden secrets revealed on “The Walking Dead” (8 p.m., AMC, TV-MA).
— A new trial is pursued on “The Case Against Adnan Syed” (8 p.m., HBO, TV-14).
— Axe is determined to destroy Taylor on the fourth season premiere of “Billions” (8 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).
— Ulysses pursues a conspiracy theory on “Now Apocalypse” (8 p.m., Starz, TV-MA).
— “Unsung” (8 p.m., TVONE) profiles the Jets.
— Pacific overtures on “Madam Secretary” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).
— Tensions rise on “Good Girls” (9 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Mo’s past is revealed on “Black Monday” (9 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).
CULT CHOICE
— St. Patrick’s Day inspires many traditions. Syfy offers a marathon of “Leprechaun” movies, from “Leprechaun 5: In the Hood” (4 p.m. Saturday, TV-14) to “Leprechaun 2” (8 p.m.). TCM takes the traditional approach, ladling out the Technicolor blarney of director John Ford’s 1952 romance “The Quiet Man” (7 p.m. Sunday, TV-PG).
SATURDAY SERIES
“Dateline” (7 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) ... “NBA Countdown” (7 p.m., ABC) ... The kids are all right on “MasterChef” (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) ... “48 Hours” (9 p.m., CBS) ... A vintage helping of “Saturday Night Live” (9 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
SUNDAY SERIES
A visit from an old friend inspires Miles on “God Friended Me” (7 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) ... Homer can’t leave Bart’s virtual realm on “The Simpsons” (7 p.m., Fox, TV-14) ... Empathy for all things on “Bob’s Burgers” (7:30 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
A walk down the aisle on “NCIS: Los Angeles” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14) ... On two episodes of “Family Guy” (Fox, TV-14), Meg’s winter Olympics (8 p.m.), fighting over a dowager (8:30 p.m., r) ... Aches and pains on “Shark Tank” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).