LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR S MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2019E5
SERIES
American Ninja Warrior
The competition moves to
Las Vegas for the first
night of the final rounds. 8
p.m. NBC
Penn & Teller: Fool UsFea-
tured magicians include
Wolfgang Moser, Johnny
Magic, Pere Rafart and
Giacomo Bertini. 8 p.m.
CW
So You Think You Can
DanceThe top eight per-
form, with judges Nigel
Lythgoe, Mary Murphy,
Laurieann Gibson and
Dominic “D-Trix” San-
doval. Cat Deeley is the
host. 8 p.m. Fox
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Talk show host Adrienne
Houghton and comic
Charles Esten are guests
in this new episode of the
improv comedy series. 9
p.m. CW
Leah Remini: Scientology
and the AftermathThe fi-
nal episode of the docu-
mentary exposé explore
stories of how Church of
Scientology policies hin-
der members from report-
ing instances of abuse and
sexual assault to the au-
thorities. 9 p.m. A&E
The TerrorAs the Terminal
Islanders adjust to their
new surroundings,
Chester (Derek Mio) tries
to provide for his family,
while fending off the evil
that follows him. Naoko
Mori and George Takei
also star in this new epi-
sode of the horror series
set during World War II. 9
p.m. AMC
I Ship ItElla (Helen High-
field) continues her job as
a writer’s personal assist-
ant and Sasha (Yasmine
Al-Bustami) is given an
opportunity by being cast
as a new character on the
show in this new episode.
9:30 p.m. CW
Grand HotelAlicia and Javi
(Denyse Tontz, Bryan
Craig) find out more
about their late mother,
Beatriz (guest star Eva
Longoria), and the secret
of the unmarked room,
which dredges up confus-
ing childhood memories.
Also, Teresa (guest star
Katey Sagal) hosts a char-
ity auction at the hotel.
Demin Bichir, Roselyn
Snchez and Lincoln
Younes also star. 10 p.m.
ABC
Lodge 49Ernie (Brent Jen-
nings) recounts his trip to
Mexico and Dud (Wyatt
Russell) thinks he has a
solution to all the Lodge’s
problems. Sonya Cassidy
also stars in this new epi-
sode. 10 p.m. AMC
Aaron Needs a JobAaron
Kaufman joins the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers
on a project that involves
laying massive concrete
mats on the Mississippi
River. Later, he visits the
largest hydroelectric dam
in the United States. 10
p.m. DiscoverySPECIALS2019 MTV Video Music
AwardsSebastian Manis-
calco hosts the 36th annu-
al ceremony. Ariana
Grande and Taylor Swift
lead this year’s nomina-
tions with 10 each, fol-
lowed by Billie Eilish with
nine and Lil Nas X at
eight. In addition to
Grande and Eilish, the
nominees for Artist of the
Year include Cardi B,
Halsey, Jonas Brothers
and Shawn Mendes.
Scheduled performers in-
clude Taylor Swift, the
Jonas Brothers, Lil Nas X,
Bad Bunny, Camila Cab-
ello, Big Sean, A$AP Ferg,
J Balvin, Lizzo, Rosalía,
and Shawn Mendes. 8
p.m. MTV; BET; CMT;
LOGO; Nickelodeon; Pa-
ramount; TV Land; VH1.
Repeating at 10:45 on
MTV and VH1. Red Car-
pet coverage begins at 7
p.m. on MTV.MOVIES
Apollo 13(1995) 10:29 a.m.
Encore
Thank You for Your Service
(2017) 11:05 a.m. TMC
Logan(2017) 3 p.m. FXXTALK SHOWSCBS This Morning(N) 7
a.m. KCBS
Today(N) 7 a.m. KNBC
KTLA Morning News(N) 7
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Good Morning America(N)
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Good Day L.A.Online safe-
ty: Gaming; Marla Tellez
(“Top Property”). (N) 7
a.m. KTTV
Live With Kelly and Ryan
Lucy Lawless (“My Life Is
Murder”); James Pickens
Jr. (“Grey’s Anatomy”);
vacationing at home. (N)
9 a.m. KABCStrahan & Sara(N) noon
KABC
Dr. Phil(N) 3 p.m. KCBSTo the Contrary With Bon-
nie ErbéBusinesswoman
Carly Fiorina. 6 p.m.
KVCR
Amanpour and Company 11
p.m. KCET; midnight
KVCR; 1 a.m. KLCS
ConanHenry Winkler. (N) 1 1
p.m. TBS
The Tonight Show Dakota
Johnson; Post Malone;
Jon Lovitz; Tyler Childers.
11:34 p.m. KNBCJimmy Kimmel Live11 : 3 5
p.m. KABCNightline (N) 12:37 a.m.
KABCSPORTSTennis: 2019 U.S. OpenFirst
Round, 9 a.m. ESPN; 3
and 4 p.m. ESPN2
BaseballThe St. Louis Car-
dinals visit the Milwaukee
Brewers, 4 p.m. ESPN; the
New York Yankees visit
the Seattle Mariners, 7
p.m. ESPN; the Dodgers
visit the San Diego Pa-
dres, 7 p.m. SportsNet LATV HIGHLIGHTS
Mitch HaasethABC
ROSELYN SÁNCHEZand Demián Bichir in a new
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Night 1. (N)ÅDateline NBCExcerts from
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stressful cocktail party; Katie changes her mind about
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MyNtLaw & Order: CI(TV14)Å Law & Order: CI(TV14)Å Seinfeld(TVG)SeinfeldÅ King of Queens
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KCETDeath in Paradise(TVPG)Å Father Brown(TVPG)Å Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries AmanpourÅ
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KOCEJohn Sebastian Presents: Folk Rewind(TVG)Å 3 Steps to Pain Free LivingÅ
KDOCDateline(TVPG)Å The Goldbergs The Goldbergs Family GuyÅ Family GuyÅ Seinfeld(TVG)
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roads.ÅLeah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath(TV14) (Series
finale) (N)ÅLiving in Sin
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AMC The Green Mile›››(1999)
Tom Hanks, David Morse.
(R) (5)ÅThe Terror(TV14) Chester
fends off the evil that follows
him. (N)ÅLodge 49(TV14) Dud sees a
solution to all the Lodge’s
problems. (N)ÅThe Terror
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(11:08)Å
ANP Alaska: The Last FrontierÅ Alaska: The Last FrontierÅ Alaska: The Last FrontierÅ Last Frontier
BBC Goldfinger››››(1964) Sean Connery, Gert Frobe. (PG)Å From Russia With Love›››
BET 2019 MTV Video Music Awards(TV14) Taylor Swift Performs. (N)Å I Can Do Bad All By MyselfÅ
BravoBelow Deck Mediterranean Below Deck Mediterranean(N)Below Deck Mediterranean What Happens
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ESPNBaseballNew York Yankees at Seattle Mariners. (7) (N) SportsCenter(N)Å SportsCenter
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Free Sweet Home Alabama(6:30) Hancock(2008) Will Smith, Charlize Theron. (PG-13)Å The 700 Club
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Life The Gift›››(2015) Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall. (R)Å Girl in the Box(2016) (10:33)
MSN 11th Hour(N)Å The Rachel Maddow ShowÅ The Last WordÅ 11th HourÅ
MTV 2019 MTV Video Music Awards(TV14) Performers include Taylor Swift, the
Jonas Brothers, Lil Nas X, Bad Bunny, Camila Cabello, Big Sean, A$AP
Ferg, J Balvin, Lizzo, Rosalía, and Shawn Mendes. (Tape)Å2019 MTV Video Music Awards
(TV14) Taylor Swift Per-
forms.Å
NGC World’s Most Dangerous Gang Dangerous Drug: Meth(N)Å Maximum Security(N)Å Drug: MethÅ
Nick 2019 MTV Video Music Awards(TV14) Taylor Swift Performs. (N)Å All ThatÅ Friends(11:14)
OWN Dateline on OWN(TVPG)Å 20/20 on OWN(TV14) (N)Å Deadline(TV14)Å DatelineÅ
Para 2019 MTV Video Music Awards(TV14) Taylor Swift Performs. (N)Å Cops(10:45) Cops(TV14)
Sund Batman Returns(1992) (6) Batman›››(1989) Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton. (PG-13)Å
Syfy Edge of Tomorrow›››(2014) Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt. (PG-13)Å FuturamaÅ FuturamaÅ
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TCM Dodsworth››››(1936) (7) The Great Lie›››(1941) Bette Davis, George Brent.Å Return Peyton
TLC 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way The Family Chantel(TV14) (N)Unexpected
TNT The House›(2017) Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler. (R)Å Mr. Deeds›(2002) Adam Sandler. (PG-13)
Toon American Dad American Dad Bob’s Burgers Bob’s Burgers Family GuyÅ Family GuyÅ Rick and Morty
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Tru JokersÅ JokersÅ JokersÅ JokersÅ JokersÅ JokersÅ Adam RuinsÅ
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WGN JAG(TVPG)Å Married ... With Married ... With Married ... With Married ... With How I MetÅ
Cine Closer›››(2004) Julia Roberts. (R)Å Black Swan›››(2010) Natalie Portman. (9:45) (R)Å
Encr A Beautiful Mind›››(6:43) Fargo›››(1996) Frances McDormand. (R)The Big Lebowski(10:41) (R)
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HBO Aquaman››(2018) Jason
Momoa. (6:30) (PG-13)ÅOur Boys(TVMA) Chapter- (N)
Our Boys(TVMA) Chapter 4. Succession
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ShowThe Affair(TVMA) Noah gets
acquainted with his star.ÅEscape at Dannemora(TVMA)
ÅOn Becoming a
God(TVMA)On Becoming a God in Central
Florida(TVMA) (10:45)Å
StarzPower(TVMA)Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World›››(2003) (PG-13)Å Power(10:50)
TMC The Aviator›››(2004) Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett. (PG-13)Å Death of Stalinand practical questions,
starting with the obvious:
Does the crowd really know
that much?
The answer, say those in-
volved, is an emphatic yes.
“The assumption is that
the crowd doesn’t know any-
thing,” says Ann Curry, an-
chor and executive producer
of “Chasing the Cure.” “The
truth is, the crowd knows a
lot. When you’re dealing with
unsolved cases of people suf-
fering, there’s a chance that
someone out there has ex-
perienced similar symp-
toms, or [there’s a] medical
professional who has dealt
with a similar case.”
“Chasing the Cure” com-
bines a live broadcast with
pretaped segments, giving it
the look and feel of daytime
TV. Led by the former “To-
day” host, each episode zips
through three or four cases,
introduced in videos. A
panel of specialists convenes
to review the files, then
meets live on air with the pa-
tients to discuss possible di-
agnoses. Some even under-
go treatments that are
broadcast on the show.
It also leans heavily on
social media: Viewers are
urged to call or text a toll-
free number, tweet using a
designated hashtag and vis-
it a website to review individ-
ual case files, provide tips or
share their own experiences.
The goal, Curry says, is “to
democratize data.”
While the live element of
the program means that not
every patient receives a firm
diagnosis, they all leave with
a recommended path for-
ward. “Each patient should
walk away feeling like ‘I got
some information that I
needed, some support that
I needed, and I was pointed
in the right direction,’ ” says
executive producer and
showrunner Kim Bondy.
The idea for “Chasing the
Cure” emerged after a col-
league of Curry’s saw a post
on Facebook seeking dona-
tions for someone with an
undiagnosed illness; she re-
alized that live television
could amplify this kind of ap-
peal. So far, it seems to be do-
ing just that: The premiere
episode of “Cure” drew 1 mil-
lion viewers. More than
10,000 people have registered
to use the website and are
active in the case files, ac-
cording to TNT and TBS.
Crowdsourcing “ac-
knowledges that there are
different ways of knowing,”
says Dr. Lisa Sanders, au-
thor of the popular New York
Times Magazine column
that inspired “Diagnosis.”
“Doctors know things be-
cause we read books and
have shelves filled with med-
ical journals and medical
books. And so there’s that
kind of learning. There’s
my experiences as a doctor.
And there’s also my experi-
ences as a human being who
has friends and relatives
who are sick, and there are
my own illnesses.”
Each episode of “Diag-
nosis” follows a single sub-
ject and his or her family as
they seek answers, provid-
ing thorough, often moving
portraits of the emotional
and financial cost of living
with debilitating, unex-
plained ailments. Shot in a
photojournalistic style, “Di-
agnosis” has a restrained
true crime sensibility, with
Sanders, an internist and
professor at the Yale School
of Medicine, playing lead de-
tective.
Sanders narrates the in-
vestigation, following clues
submitted by readers via vi-
deo chat, and consults with
patients who range in age,
affliction and location.
“As a doctor, you know
that when you see some-
thing you don’t know, the
first thing you do is you go
to your friend who has a dif-
ferent set of knowledge than
you,” says Sanders, who was
also a technical adviser on
“House.” “For me, crowd-
sourcing was just taking
that to the furthest limits
imaginable.”
Netflix doesn’t release
viewing statistics, but it
says Sanders received thou-
sands of tips through her
column. About half the feed-
back came from medical
professionals — doctors,
nurses, pharmacists, even
some veterinarians. The rest
came from lay people.
Sanders notes that infor-
mal crowdsourcing is com-
mon in the medical commu-
nity. For example, Sermo-.com is a private social net-
work where doctors turn for
advice with difficult cases.
Interest in these stories
is nothing new, says Nancy
Berlinger, a scholar at the
Hastings Center, a bioethics
research institute in Garri-
son, N.Y. “This is tapping
into something that for a
long time we have found to
be really interesting. There
is a lot of history in medicine
of the clinical tale, of ‘Let me
tell you about an interesting
case. Let’s solve the mys-tery.’ ” She points to Sher-
lock Holmes, who was based
on diagnostician Joseph
Bell, and the bygone prac-
tice of public autopsies.
People are fascinated by
the human body, and “there
is educational value in show-
ing readers or viewers how
actual doctors approach di-
agnoses. There isn’t just this
a-ha moment,” she adds.
However, Berlinger be-
lieves crowdsourcing pre-
sents a number of ethical
concerns. “Sometimes peo-
ple come up with things that
are wrong,” she says, that
could potentially delay a
case’s resolution. Withhold-
ing a diagnosis to accommo-
date a production schedule
is also problematic, and dis-
closing a genetic condition
on television “means family
members are getting infor-
mation they may or may not
want in a public forum.”
Both shows open with
carefully worded legal dis-
claimers, and producers say
they have taken care to pro-
tect patient privacy. “People
would much rather wear
their entire medical record
on their clothes than, say,
the PIN number to their sav-
ings account. But as it turns
out, medical information is
much more tightly held. So
the most important thing is
to make sure the patientsknow what they’re getting
into,” says Sanders.
“Chasing the Cure” has
an ethics team, including an
ethicist, a social worker, a
psychologist and a lawyer. “I
am not going to put anything
on television that’s irrespon-
sible or does not help peo-
ple,” Curry says.
Television and social me-
dia have empowered arm-
chair diagnosticians — who,
it turns out, are sometimes
right. Tarek El Moussa, host
of the HGTV renovation
show “Flip or Flop,” found
out he had Stage 3 thyroid
cancer thanks to an eagle-
eyed viewer who noticed a
lump on his neck. “Real
Housewives of Beverly Hills”
star Denise Richards re-
cently said a fan tipped her
off to a similar condition af-
ter watching her on TV.
Curry believes crowd-
sourcing can break down
crucial barriers. ‘We are in a
system today where people
are siloed by their medical
insurance, by where they
live, by who they’re recom-
mended to go to for special-
ists. What we’re doing is
punching a hole in the silo
and saying, ‘What if you take
really sick people and you
expose them to top-drawer
doctors, some of the bright-
est minds in the profession
directly, and to the world?’ ”Nearly every patient in
“Chasing the Cure” and “Di-
agnosis” is dealing with a fi-
nancial nightmare on top of
his or her medical condition
— fighting with an insurer
over coverage, struggling
with medical debt, losing
jobs, struggling to navigate
government bureaucracies
or all of the above.
While neither show is
framed as an overt critique
of our healthcare system,
both highlight the addi-
tional financial stress
created by chronic health
problems and illustrate how
inadequate coverage can
prolong the quest for an-
swers.
Featured in “Diagnosis,”
Willie is a 46-year-old Gulf
War veteran suffering from
unexplained seizures, mood
swings and memory loss. He
has lost his job, been re-
jected for disability and is
fighting to obtain benefits
through the Department of
Veterans Affairs — all while
racking up thousands of dol-
lars in medical bills. Al-
though the production pays
for travel in some cases, it
does not cover the cost of
care — an intervention that
would cross an ethical line
by the standards of tradi-
tional journalism.
Most of the specialists in
“Chasing the Cure” provided
their care pro bono, accord-
ing to TBS/TNT. As Curry
announced in the first epi-
sode, the show also chipped
in to pay for DNA sequenc-
ing for Rori, a 51-year-old
schoolteacher who is unable
to walk or speak. Her insur-
ance wouldn’t pay for the
procedure, which could help
narrow her diagnosis.
It would not be finan-
cially feasible for the produc-
tion to fund the ongoing
treatment of every patient
who appears on air. For
these people, getting a diag-
nosis — or something close
to it — is a relief, but it also
introduces a new anxiety:
how to pay for treatment.
And that’s something we
haven’t quite figured out yet.
Says Berlinger, “It would
be ironic indeed if a person
diagnosed via crowdsourc-
ing would then have to turn
to crowdsourcing to fund
their medical bills.”Can viewers solve medical mysteries?
[Medical shows,from E1]
DR. SAADI GHATANvisits a young seizure patient on an episode of “Diagnosis.”Netflix‘Chasing
the Cure’
Where: TBS
When: 6 p.m. Thursday
Where:TNT
When:9 p.m. Thursday
Rated: TV-14 (may be
unsuitable for children
under age 14)‘Diagnosis’
Where:Netflix
When:Any time
Rated: TV-14 (may be
unsuitable for children
under age 14)