American Masters: Cab Calloway—Sketches
The electric singer, dancer, and bandleader—whose exuberant “hi de ho” scatting broke down color barriers in the American music industry—roars back to life in this energetic documentary. Two of Calloway’s daughters and a handful of band members help retell the performer’s story, from his debut at Harlem’s Cotton Club through his immortalization as a character in the Gershwin brothers’ Porgy and Bess. Monday, Feb. 27, at 10 p.m., PBS; check local listings
Exporting Raymond
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When the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond, Phil Rosenthal, traveled to Moscow in 2009 to put together a Russian version of the long-running sitcom, he discovered that everybody really doesn’t love Raymond—or at least can’t understand American humor. In this comic chronicle of the adventure, Rosenthal offers witty insight into an East/West culture gap. Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m., HBO
American Experience: The Amish
“We want to be separate from the world but friends with the world,” says one of the subjects in this rare inside look at the religious sect known for its rejection of post-19th-century technologies. The elegiac film explores how unwritten rules govern everything from clothing to marriage practices among the 250,000 Amish faithful in America, and highlights the community’s unusual readiness to forgive after a gunman killed five Amish schoolgirls in 2006. Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 8 p.m., PBS; check local listings
Frontline: Inside Japan’s Nuclear Meltdown
Eyewitness accounts re-create the tense early hours and days at the Fukushima nuclear plant after an earthquake and tsunami triggered meltdowns last March. Interviewees include Japan’s prime minister, executives at the Japanese power company TEPCO, and plant workers who were forced to make desperate decisions inside the plant’s pitch-dark reactor buildings. Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 10 p.m., PBS; check local listings
GCB
In this new satirical soap, a young widow reluctantly returns to her hometown, Dallas, where classmates she tormented in high school are hungry for vengeance. Based on the novel Good Christian Bitches, this spoof of religious hypocrisy and Texas excess is too broad to offend, but lively enough to attract viewers of Desperate Housewives. With Leslie Bibb, Annie Potts, and Kristin Chenoweth as a Scripture-quoting queen bee. Sunday, March 4, at 10 p.m., ABC
Other highlights
Prophets of Science Fiction: Robert Heinlein
Blade Runner director Ridley Scott looks at one of the pioneers of science fiction, highlighting Heinlein’s interest in self-reliance and his sometimes controversial politics. Wednesday, Feb. 29, at 10 p.m., Science
Psych
James Roday returns for the second half of his sixth season as a bogus psychic who helps a police department solve crimes. Wednesday, Feb. 29, at 10 p.m., USA
Breakout Kings
This brisk action series is back for a second season of following a group of convicts who team with federal marshals to pursue fugitives. Sunday, March 4, at 10 p.m., A&E
