The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching

50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus

In 1939, a Philadelphia lawyer and his wife undertook a daring mission. Traveling to Nazi-occupied Vienna, Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus overcame grave challenges to bring 50 Jewish children safely to the U.S., in what turned out to be the largest such rescueoperation of the era. Alan Alda narrates this harrowing documentary, which features interviews with several surviving beneficiaries of the Krauses’ risk-taking. Monday, April 8, at 9 p.m., HBO

Frontline: Syria Behind the Lines

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In Syria, the near future appears grim. Two years after the initial uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, civil war envelops the country and has claimed an estimated 70,000 lives. Frontline’s Olly Lambert recently spent five weeks among soldiers and civilians on both sides of the conflict, creating a unique up-close look at the now bloody sectarian division between the nation’s Sunni Arab majority and Assad’s Shiite minority. Tuesday, April 9, at 10 p.m., PBS; check local listings

Inside Combat Rescue

Their motto—“That Others May Live”—says it all. In this gripping six-part docuseries, cameras follow U.S. Air Force pararescue jumpers as they undertake risky missions to bring fellow fighters to safety. In Episode 2, the “PJs” brave Taliban gunfire to rescue two wounded soldiers pinned down in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Thursday, April 11, at 9 p.m., National Geographic

Da Vinci’s Demons

Think of him as the Renaissance’s own superhero. This historical fantasy series, created by Christopher Nolan’s chief collaborator on the Dark Knight film trilogy, imagines Leonardo da Vinci as a figure of superhuman genius who takes upon himself the task of lifting humankind out of darkness. This Leonardo, played by Tom Riley, is also quite the handsome fellow. Friday, April 12, at 10 p.m., Starz

Veep

America’s first female vice president was hitting a new career low when this acclaimed comedy series ended its first season last June, but the show itself was riding high. Julia Louis-Dreyfus soon took home an Emmy for her performance as the mishap-prone VP, and she returns ready to butt heads with a new nemesis—Gary Cole, playing the president’s senior strategist. Sunday, April 14, at 10 p.m., HBO

Other highlights

NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship

Sixty-four games and millions of busted brackets later, the final two survivors of the NCAA tournament meet to determine the winner of the 2013 title—and of your office pool. Monday, April 8, at 9 p.m., CBS

Louis C.K.: Oh My God

Louis C.K. might be the funniest comic working today. See for yourself in his latest stand-up special. Saturday, April 13, at 10 p.m., HBO

The Borgias

Season 3 of this series about the unholiest of power clans begins after a poisoning has left Borgia patriarch Pope Alexander VI (Jeremy Irons) at death’s door. Sunday, April 14, at 10 p.m., Showtime