'Wedding Band' finds laughs in the gap between swagger and sad reality

When evidence fails to add up, our guys aren’t inclined to conclude that Bigfoot wasn’t in the area. They tend to conclude that he was, but just acted in a way that no other bipedal primate would. As one of them says during an investigation, “This Sasquatch ain’t a rocket scientist.”

Look who’s talking.

Frontier Earth (7pm Tue, Animal Planet)
This new nature series chases after some of the world’s most elusive animals, allowing us rare glimpses via stunning cinematography.

In the premiere, we head to New Zealand for an up-close encounter with the region’s dwindling killer-whale population. Our guide is Ingrid Visser, a passionate marine biologist who dares to swim with the massive, flesh-eating predators without benefit of a shark cage. You fear for Visser’s life when you get a good look at the whales’ sharp teeth, but she doesn’t seem concerned. In fact, she treats her subjects like pets, giving them names like Pirate and Funky Monkey. She gets to know each one personally and cares for them as if they were so many cute puppies. It’s surprisingly endearing.

Now I want my own killer whale!

Mankind: The Story of All of Us (8pm Tue, History)
This series takes us on a wild ride through human history. That’s right — the whole shebang in a mere 12 hours, beginning with prehistoric hunters in the East African grasslands. Amazingly, Mankind pulls off this epic feat without seeming too shallow, thanks to brilliant graphics and testimony from a wide range of experts.

Historical reenactments can be cheesy, but they’re skillfully deployed in the first two-hour episode. A multitude of stringy-haired extras play half-naked ancients, from cavemen in loincloths to bare-chested Egyptian charioteers. The director must have had a ball staging the elaborate scenes in Ice Age caves and Middle Eastern battlefields.

Call me narcissistic, but I think it’s gratifying to see humanity’s greatest hits fly by: discovering fire, crafting tools, inventing farming. I can’t help feeling proud of our achievements, even with our ancestors’ tendency to under-dress.