They Are Women, Hear Them Roar

In these dog days of summer television, we couch potatoes sometimes have to invent our own fun.

Today’s programming seems particularly lean. But check out Turner Classic Movies. Notice those movies starring Joan Crawford, Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck? Well, that’s a ready-made Wow, What a Woman Film Festival.

Perhaps the most intriguing movie in the lineup is “Humoresque” (at 1:15 p.m.), in which Crawford plays a wealthy married lady who’s bored with her husband and interested in a talented violinist (John Garfield) for more than his, um, bowing technique. Crawford made the movie while basking in her Oscar win for “Mildred Pierce” and before she’d acquired a taste for scenery-chewing. It may be her best work. She also stands out in the husband-hunting comedy “Our Blushing Brides” (8:30 p.m.).

In “Deception” (8 a.m.), Davis plays a role similar to Crawford’s in “Humoresque,” as a teacher with more than a musical interest in a virtuoso cello player (Paul Henreid). Later, it’s Davis times two in “A Stolen Life” (10:30 p.m.), in which she plays twins, one of whom takes the place of the other to be with the man they both love (Glenn Ford).

Meanwhile, Stanwyck captivates in “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers” (10 a.m.), in which she plays a wealthy and powerful woman hiding a murderous past.

Things end badly for several of these characters, which may say more about American society in the 1940s--”Deception,” “Martha Ivers,” “Humoresque” and “A Stolen Life” were all released in 1946--than about the women themselves. Back then, strong women had to be punished. How do we treat them today?

Surf Report

MOVIES

Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Skeet Ulrich and Vincent D’Onofrio play fun-loving, bank-robbing brothers gearing up for a $3-million heist in “The Newton Boys” (9 p.m. ABC).

SPECIALS

“Hitler’s Youth Molded” examines the training process used to indoctrinate Nazi ideology in the Third Reich’s army and the civilian population (7 and 11 p.m., History Channel).

SERIES

Friends Hannah Rayburn and Grace McKee help each other cope with loss, as Hannah fears her mother may have cancer and Grace’s mother indicates she may leave for Africa in “State of Grace” (9:30 p.m. Fox Family).

SPORTS

Little League Baseball’s northwest region final is played in San Bernardino (7 p.m. ESPN2).