It’s a big deal when a network can talk its affiliates into giving up a half-hour of their normal programming at 7:30. Typically, that’s reserved for a news event of major import, or the Olympics or a similar massive sporting event. Yes, it’s heady company American Idol finds itself in these days.
Yes, tonight (Fox, 7:30) is the second annual Idol Gives Back charity extravaganza, featuring Idols past and present along with non-Idol dignitaries such as Bono, Reese Witherspoon, Brad Pitt, Celine Dion, Kiefer Sutherland, Peyton Manning, and all three people who want to be your next president. Yeah, it’s all for a good cause, but it’s always a danger sign when television shows begin taking themselves this seriously. Hopefully, the producers won’t forget that it’s cheese we tune in for every week. They won’t be pulling the “nobody gets eliminated!” stunt again this year; the elimination show is tomorrow and someone, most likely, Syesha Mercado, will be leaving.
America’s Next Top Model (CW, 8 PM): It’s the midseason “never before seen footage” episode. Never a favorite, but ANTM Gives Back just wouldn’t fly.
Big Brother 9 (CBS, 8 PM): Is this the end of James? It’s not looking good. If he’s heading to the sequester house, I do hope they’ve Scotchgarded all the furniture in preparation.
American Masters (PBS, 9 PM): Jump at the Sun is the story of Zora Neale Hurston, the Harlem Renaissance figure best known for the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Chefography (Food Network, 9 PM): The Food Network’s biography program profiles the network itself, as various talking heads recall the early days of struggle. Why, times were so tight that Rachael Ray’s olive oil was only virgin, and not “extra virgin.”
Criminal Minds (CBS, 9 PM): The BAU suspects that a series of suicides in a Pittsburgh neighborhood may actually be the sign of a serial killer at work.

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