American Masters: Harper Lee—Hey, Boo
After being rejected by 10 publishers, To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960, won a Pulitzer for first-time author Harper Lee, and spawned an Oscar-winning movie. Both the book and movie remain enduringly popular, yet Lee, who described herself as “a chronicler of small-town Southern life,” never published another novel. Admirers of the author, including Oprah Winfrey, Rick Bragg, and Tom Brokaw, share reminiscences and insights. Monday, April 2, at 10 p.m., PBS; check local listings
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Survivor meets Top Chef in this engaging new series as three professional chefs travel to the Caribbean island of Dominica, where they must assimilate local cuisine and submit their own versions for judging. Required to dig, hunt, and fish for ingredients while facing a storm and a time limit, all three remain good-humored and game. Future locales include Fiji and Louisiana. Tuesday, April 3, at 10 p.m., BBC America
God Is the Bigger Elvis
Dolores Hart was a rising film star who made movies with Elvis Presley and Montgomery Clift before abandoning her Hollywood career to become a Benedictine nun. This Oscar-nominated documentary is a warm portrait of the now 73-year-old prioress, showing the onetime lead of Where the Boys Are adhering to monastic traditions, embracing certain 21st-century technologies, and receiving annual visits from her former fiancé. Thursday, April 5, at 8 p.m., HBO
Scandal
From Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes comes this new drama starring Kerry Washington as a former White House aide who runs a crisis-management firm. Her challenges in the premiere: a war hero about to be arrested for the murder of his girlfriend, and an intern threatening to accuse the president of an affair. Though improbable (the alpha-female heroine’s instincts seem virtually superhuman), the show has refreshing verve. Thursday, April 5, at 10 p.m., ABC
Independent Lens: Being Elmo— A Puppeteer’s Journey
Everybody knows Elmo, Sesame Street’s furry red waif, but this award-winning documentary profiles the man behind the Muppet. As it traces Kevin Clash’s path from staging backyard puppet shows in his boyhood Baltimore to creating a beloved children’s icon, the film celebrates the power of pursuing lifelong passions. Thursday, April 5, at 10 p.m., PBS; check local listings
Other highlights
St. Louis Cardinals at Miami Marlins
On major-league baseball’s opening night, the world champion Cardinals take on the Marlins in the hosts’ new Miami home, Marlins Park. Wednesday, April 4, at 7 p.m., ESPN
The Big Bang Theory
Physicist Stephen Hawking guest-stars as himself, when this series’ brilliant nerd, Sheldon Cooper, meets his idol. Thursday, April 5, at 8 p.m., CBS
Nurse Jackie
Emmy winner Edie Falco returns for a new season as the titular drug-addicted nurse, who now must contend with an ambitious new hospital administrator, played by Bobby Cannavale. Sunday, April 8, at 9 p.m., Showtime
