Remote Possibilities: Mel Brooks on PBS,' a new sitcom on Fox
A few things to watch (or feed your DVR).
Fox has a brand-new sitcom, "The Goodwin Games," premiering at 8:30 p.m., but the funniest show on TV Monday night is likely to be on PBS.
"American Masters' (9 p.m., WHYY 12) presents a 90-minute look at the genius behind "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles" in "Mel Brooks: Make a Noise," and though there are plenty of famous talking heads, including his friend and occasional collaborator Carl Reiner, some of it is Brooks telling stories. Which, since he's never authorized a biography, means this might be your best chance to hear them.
We can either look at "The Goodwin Games," produced by the same team as CBS' "How I Met Your Mother," as a comedy leftover -- it was part of the slate announced by Fox a year ago -- or as an example of the network's renewed commitment to year-round programming.
(And if your glass is one of the ones that's half-full, there might even be a drinking game in it.)
Scott Foley ("Scandal"), Becki Newton ("Ugly Betty") and T.J. Miller ("Our Idiot Brother") star as estranged siblings whose late father (Beau Bridges) has unexpectedly left a fortune -- to whomever of his children can win a competition he's devised. The pilot's really not bad at all, though the story feels as if it might fit better into a two-hour movie than a long-running sitcom.
The same, of course, might be said for "How I Met Your Mother," which is heading into its ninth (and final) season this fall on CBS.
Maybe Fox just wasn't interested in that kind of commitment.