TV Daily

Prime Pick

Photo: PBS

"Good Ol' Charles Schulz" (9 p.m. EDT on PBS, check listings) presents the colorful and at times melancholy story of the man who created the "Peanuts" comic strip. (Read Laura Miller's recent review of the new Schulz biography here.) From his little redheaded sweetheart who married another man to his industrious first wife, Joyce, who some said was the inspiration for Lucy, this bio demonstrates how closely Schulz's life hewed to his classic comics. Although he often retreated into stages of loneliness and alienation from those closest to him, Schulz found solace in his work, and some of his best writing appeared to arise from his most difficult times. Longtime fans of "Peanuts" should enjoy the chance to review some of Schulz's oddest and most memorable strips, along with snippets from the first "Peanuts" Christmas special, which Schulz insisted should use real children's voices and shouldn't include a laugh track. Part of PBS's American Masters series, "Good Ol' Charles Schulz" is a sensitive but thorough portrait of the complicated man behind Charlie Brown.

-- H.H.

Also…

Die-hard fans of Tom Petty won't want to miss Peter Bogdanovich's whopping four-hour documentary "Runnin' Down a Dream: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers" (7 p.m. EDT on Sundance). While ABC's "The Bachelor" consists mostly of repetitive fluff, tonight's meet-the-parents episode is always the best of the season (10 p.m. EDT). And will Hank (David Duchovny) finally get his comeuppance on tonight's finale of "Californication" (10:30 p.m. EDT on Showtime)? We certainly hope so.

On the talk shows

Contributors: Megan Doll, Heather Havrilesky, Eryn Loeb, Amy Reiter

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