Mother load

Cliff Huxtable no longer fits in — and not just because of his ties to perp walker Bill Cosby. It's nearly impossible to look up to infallible parents on TV, a sign of the times stressed altogether too much on "The Real O'Neals," the latest sitcom bent on erasing "Leave It to Beaver" from our minds. Martha Plimpton, who played the clueless card in "Raising Hope," is Eileen O'Neal, a Bible-thumping mother trying to keep it together amid a pending divorce and her children's admissions of a eating disorder, kleptomania and homosexuality. She doesn't pass her tests of faith with flying colors. The series is based on the writings of sex columnist Dan Savage, but the watered-down dialogue has little in common with his wickedly funny work. Instead, it's just another reminder network TV has only so many original ideas — and it's never a bad time to call your mom. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, KSTP, Ch. 5

House (re-)warming

The decision by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen not to check into "Fuller House," the reboot of the series that made them famous, is dealt with in a wink to the camera that feels as forced as the scene in which the cast dances to New Kids on the Block. Brush aside the obligatory cameos from the rest of the veterans, and you've got a decent enough sitcom about a stitched-together contemporary family, now led by Candace Cameron Bure, who does a nice job pretending to still be charmed by John Stamos' Elvis impression. Now streaming on Netflix

I'll take you there

Never shout fire in a crowded theater — unless Mavis Staples is commanding the stage. How the singer feeds off feverish calls from her audiences is at the heart of "Mavis!" a feel-good documentary that tracks the Staples Singers' crossover from gospel to secular music. The well-paced film also touches on how Minnesotans Prince and Bob Dylan managed to keep Staples front and center in the minds and ears of contemporary audiences. 8 p.m. Monday, HBO

Up, up and away

Minnesota's role in space travel is captured in "Space Men," a documentary about events leading to Project Mercury's reach for the moon. Helping NASA prep for space was David Simons' 32-hour ride in 1957 from a pressurized gondola launched near Crosby, Minn. Writer/director Amanda Pollak does a nice job detailing the flight, although she fails to mention if Simons was packing Jucy Lucys. 8 p.m. Tuesday, TPT, Ch. 2

Neal Justin