Bravo documentary comes out half-baked

The two-hour documentary “Million Dollar Recipe” (7 p.m., Bravo) follows seven contestants as they vie for the prize at the Pillsbury Bake-Off, the country’s most prestigious and lucrative cooking contest. For the past 41 years, thousands of amateur chefs have sent in recipes in hopes of the grand prize. Only 100 entries are considered worthy enough to participate in the finals, considered by some to be the Oscars of the oven.

“Recipe” mixes vintage clips of contests past with stories about the seven participants. The contest has reflected the changing nature of American domesticity. Once the exclusive province of stay-at-home mothers, the Pillsbury contest is now dominated by working women and attracts a considerable number of men.

The film’s subjects hail from suburbs and cities, farms and fancy subdivisions. They include two men entering the finals for the third time. The women include a militantly proud mother and self-described “CEO” of her home; a New Age chatterbox who gets entirely too much screen time; a devout single mom counting on providence to pull some strings with Pillsbury; a camera-shy woman who hasn’t changed her hairstyle in 26 years; and a former corporate vice president who decided to slow down after giving birth to triplets.

Despite rich ingredients, the film is simply too long. As any cook knows, timing is everything. This “Recipe” should have come out of the oven after 60 minutes.

Tonight’s other highlights

  • Crisis counseling on “Nanny 911” (7 p.m., Fox).
  • Behind the drywall on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: How’d They Do That?” (7 p.m., ABC).
  • On two episodes of “Everybody Loves Raymond” (CBS), Frank and Marie have an agenda (7:30 p.m.), bedroom one-upmanship (8 p.m.).
  • A guest (Dave Foley) loses his wedding ring on “Las Vegas” (8 p.m., NBC).
  • Bauer works on the slim new lead on “24” (8 p.m., Fox). I’m still trying to digest Chloe’s Rambo moment last week.
  • Lou Diamond Phillips, Victoria Pratt and Jason Priestley star in the true-life mystery “Murder at the Presidio” (8 p.m., USA).