WITH VIDEO: TV Highlights for March 21: Examining the QAnon conspiracy

Director Cullen Hobac spent three years studying the QAnon phenomenon and saw how the postings of an anonymous figure influenced the thinking (or at least the opinions) of many, convincing the conspiracy-minded of a secret cabal of satanic sexual predators at the top of Washington’s power pyramid.

While spread on 21st-century internet technology, much of the QAnon appeal is similar to prophetic religious movements that have been inflaming American minds (and emptying bank accounts) dating back to the 1840s, when thousands were convinced that a secret formula for biblical interpretation predicted the exact date of end of the world. (Spoiler alert: It didn’t happen.)

Tonight’s highlightsScheduled on “60 Minutes” (6 p.m., CBS): The Oath Keepers; white supremacy in the military; a Georgia school system that returned to in-person education with the help of the Centers for Disease Control.

Discovering a secret from Flanders’ past on “The Simpsons” (7 p.m., Fox).

The search for Kate continues on “Batwoman” (7 p.m., CW).

A Russian bomber crosses our border on “NCIS: Los Angeles” (7 p.m., CBS, rerun).

A wrongly accused man needs help on “The Equalizer” (7 p.m., CBS, rerun).

Ryan Seacrest hosts “American Idol” (7 p.m., ABC).

Dean’s arrest presents complications on “Good Girls” (9 p.m., NBC).

Cult choice

A new hire must corral a self-destructive movie star (Peter O’Toole) for his guest spot on a live TV showcase in the 1982 comedy “My Favorite Year” (5 p.m., TCM), director Richard Benjamin’s love letter to Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows,” an inspiration for “SNL” and an incubator for comedy writers including Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Carl Reiner and Michael Stewart.