Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life &Times of Katrina Gilbert
Some heroes fly well under the radar. Katrina Gilbert, a single mother of three, keeps striving to improve her lot while working a backbreaking job as a nursing assistant that barely pays for food, shelter, and day care. This portrait of a year in the life of the 30-year-old Tennessean is a centerpiece of former news anchor Maria Shriver’s effort to call attention to the 42 million American women living in or close to poverty. It will be available for a week online after its cable debut. Monday, March 17, at 9 p.m., HBO
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A crime writer couldn’t dream up Loredana Nesci. Dubbed “the Legal Diva,” Nesci is a former LAPD officer turned criminal defense attorney who’s also a pinup-worthy competitive bodybuilder. This new docuseries follows the brutally honest lawyer as she tries to help ordinary folks who’ve run afoul of the law. Monday, March 17, at 9 p.m., Sundance
American Experience: 1964
Has it been a half-century since America started unraveling? This wide-ranging documentary carries viewers back to the rough-and-tumble of a pivotal year when Goldwater conservatism battled a liberal War on Poverty, when the Beatles unleashed a youth revolt, when three “Freedom Summer” volunteers were murdered in Mis-sis-sippi, and when surprise losses in Vietnam deepened the White House’s commitment to a distant military engagement. Tuesday, March 18, at 8 p.m., PBS; check local listings
Geraldine Ferraro: Paving theWay
“Finally…a tough Democrat.” That was the slogan Geraldine Ferraro used in 1978 when she first ran for the House of Representatives. This admiring documentary, directed by the subject’s daughter, recounts Ferraro’s hard-knocks youth and the career she built as a Queens, N.Y., prosecutor and a rising star in the House before she was tapped to make history, in 1984, as the first woman to run for vice president on the ticket of a major-party ticket. Friday, March 21, at
9 p.m., Showtime
Blondie’s NewYork
Who says a blonde girl can’t play punk? Deborah Harry, Chris Stein, and other members of Blondie recount the band’s early days at CBGB and other New York clubs. The band also deconstructs Parallel Lines, the 1978 album that launched Blondie into the mainstream. Friday, March 21, at 10 p.m., Smithsonian Channel
Other highlights
Da Vinci’s Demons
This surprisingly smart series, which casts Leonardo da Vinci as a sort of comic-book hero, opens its second season with Leonardo defending Florence against the forces of Rome. Saturday, March 22, at 9 p.m., Starz
John Leguizamo’s Ghetto Klown
This film version of a one-man 2011 Broadway show affirms John Leguizamo’s transformation from second-tier comic to a superb monologuist in the tradition of Spalding Gray.Saturday, March 22, at 10 p.m., HBO
American Dream Builders
Home makeovers turn competitive in this series, in which teams of designers and builders vie to outperform rivals in overnight renovations of typical American homes. Sunday, March 23, at
8 p.m., NBC
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