The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching

Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present

The emotions that cross the faces of museum-goers as they sit across from performance artist Marina Abramovic lend a spiritual air to this engrossing documentary about Abramovic’s controversial 2010 exhibit at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. “An artist has to be a warrior, to conquer himself and his weaknesses,” says the provocative artist, now in her 60s, whose lifetime of work has been both pilloried and praised. Monday, July 2, at 9 p.m., HBO

Fourth of July Fireworks Spectaculars

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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

More than 40,000 fireworks bursting over New York’s Hudson River will be the climax of the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular, an NBC special featuring performances by Katy Perry and Kenny Chesney. CBS’s holiday special, the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, follows, covering the evening’s festivities on Boston’s Charles River and featuring Grammy winner Jennifer Hudson. Wednesday, July 4. At 9 p.m. on NBC; at 10 p.m. on CBS

POV: The City Dark

When filmmaker and amateur astronomer Ian Cheney moved from rural Maine to New York City, he could no longer see stars in the night sky. In this award-winning documentary, he interviews experts about the effects of light pollution, both on animals that have their navigational instincts disrupted and on humans, whose health seems to be compromised by overexposure to artificial light. Thursday, July 5, at 10 p.m., PBS; check local listings

Perception

Using Monk and House as models, this new series casts Will & Grace’s Eric McCor-mack as another brilliant but damaged sleuth—this one a neuroscience professor who aids the FBI. In the premiere, he gets unexpected help investigating the murder of a drug company executive. Though far-fetched, the show benefits from McCormack’s vigorous performance; Rachael Leigh Cook co-stars. Monday, July 9, at 10 p.m., TNT

Voters in America: Who Counts

Recent changes to voting laws in Florida could affect this November’s presidential election. This documentary taps both critics who say the new laws will suppress voting by minorities and defenders who say that they will prevent voter fraud. A panel discussion, featuring the film’s producers and its narrator, Jesse Williams of Grey’s Anatomy, will follow the film. Sunday, July 15, at 8 p.m., CNN

Other highlights

Comic Store Heroes

Cameras follow the proprietors of New York’s Midtown Comics as they deal with colorful (and obsessive) collectors and prepare for a major convention. Friday, July 13, at 8 p.m., National Geographic Channel

Breaking Bad

A new season begins for this edgy drama—winner of six Emmys and a Peabody Award—about a high school teacher turned drug kingpin. Bryan Cranston stars. Sunday, July 15, at 10 p.m., AMC

Political Animals

Sigourney Weaver plays a U.S. secretary of state contending with both family and international crises in a new summer series that will run for six weeks. Sunday, July 15, at 10 p.m., USA