TCM Guest Programmer: Jules Feiffer
The Pulitzer Prize–winning cartoonist helps introduce an evening’s worth of favorite films: Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), featuring elaborate production numbers by Busby Berkeley; My Man Godfrey (1936), starring William Powell as a vagrant who becomes the butler of a madcap heiress; and the hard-boiled crime thrillers They Drive by Night (1940) and This Gun for Hire (1942). Tuesday, March 20, at 8 p.m., TCM
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Great Performances at the Met: Satyagraha
Philip Glass’s stirring 1980 opera about Gandhi’s early activism in South Africa had its Met premiere in November. This marvelously inventive staging features large-scale puppets, and the lyrics—lifted from the Bhagavad Gita and assembled by Constance DeJong—are projected on the stage in supertitles. Tenor Richard Croft is exceptional and affecting as young Gandhi. Sunday, March 25, at noon, PBS; check local listings
Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr.
The Harvard scholar returns with two new genealogies of prominent Americans. The first takes him to New Orleans, whose colorful history is reflected in the family histories of musicians Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis. In the second, he looks at the contrasting backgrounds of two African-American politicians: U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia and Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, N.J. Sunday, March 25, at 8 p.m., PBS; check local listings
MythBusters
A new season of fun with the scientific method begins when hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage agree to be abandoned on a desert island to determine if duct tape is the only tool needed for human survival. It’s now been nine years since the former Hollywood special-effects experts began going to extremes to test the veracity of various urban myths. Soon up for examination: whether driving in stilettos makes you unsafe at the wheel. Sunday, March 25, at 9 p.m., Discovery
Other highlights
Republican Presidential Debate
Ray Suarez of PBS Newshour and Ralph Hallow of The Washington Times are moderators of this debate from Portland, Ore. Monday, March 19, at 9 p.m., PBS; check local listings
Smash
Marilyn: The Musical is presented to potential investors as the series welcomes guest-star Bernadette Peters, playing the lead actress’s mother. Monday, March 19, at 10 p.m., NBC
The Good Wife
Alicia (Julianna Margulies) is assigned to a group investigating a suspicious police shooting. Friends alumnus Matthew Perry begins a recurring role as the panel’s chairman. Sunday, March 25, at 9 p.m., CBS
