The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching

The best programs on TV this week

Independent Lens: The Undocumented

Since 1998, more than 2,500 people have died while trying to cross illegally into America in the unforgiving stretch of desert between Sonora, Mexico, and Tucson. In this charged documentary, director Marco Williams illuminates a tragic corner of our current immigration war, using interviews with grieving families, medical investigators, and Border Patrol agents to tell the stories of the deceased. Monday, April 29, at 10 p.m., PBS; check local listings

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The Big Brain Theory: Pure Genius

If this show counts as evidence, American ingenuity remains alive and well. Mechanical engineers, robotics experts, and rocket scientists compete in a series of technical challenges to determine the winner of both a cash prize and a gig with a leading aquatic engineering firm. In the first episode, teams work to devise ways to prevent sensitive explosives from detonating while riding in a moving truck. Wednesday, May 1, at 10 p.m., Discovery

Great Performances: Paul Taylor Dance Company in Paris

At 82, choreographer Paul Taylor has no peer who can claim to have done so much to define modern dance. This program captures two of Taylor’s works performed last year in Paris: Brandenburgs, a balletic, playful 1988 piece set to Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, and Beloved Renegade, a 2008 celebration of Walt Whitman that’s set to Francis Poulenc’s Gloria.Friday, May 3, at 9 p.m., PBS; check local listings

Merlin

This popular BBC show about the youthful exploits of King Arthur’s sorcerer servant never found its footing in the States. After airing briefly on NBC, it landed on cable’s Syfy, where it has quietly played out its five seasons. Yet as the final five episodes begin airing this week, there’s a bit of magic left in this late-maturing series. Friday, May 3, at 10 p.m., Syfy

Other highlights

Scam City

Host Conor Woodman travels the world playing the part of a naïve tourist to expose the unique, artful ways each city’s thieves work to separate you and your belongings.Monday, April 29, at 10 p.m., Science

Family Tools

Kyle Bornheimer stars in this new comedy series as a misfit son who inherits the family handyman business from his still watchful dad. Wednesday, May 1, at 8:30 p.m., ABC

Secrets of the Dead:

Bugging Hitler’s Soldiers

During World War II, British intelligence planted listening devices among German POWs, netting both military secrets and a glimpse of the Nazis’ dark soul.Wednesday, May 1, at 10 p.m., PBS; check local listings