The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching

Prayer for a Perfect Season

Led by a dedicated coach and a player whose talent is paired with heartrending family problems, a financially strapped Catholic high school in New Jersey rides a roller coaster from despair to potential basketball glory. This documentary follows the team’s quest for a perfect 2010–2011 season, culminating in a gripping showdown with its archrival. Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 9 p.m., HBO

We Can’t Go Home Again

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

Nicholas Ray, director of such classics as Rebel Without a Cause, never finished editing his final film, an experimental collage that tells several stories simultaneously, in multiple film formats. Now it makes its world television debut in a reconstructed version. It’s followed at 12:45 a.m. by Don’t Expect Too Much, a documentary by the director’s widow about how Ray and his students made the film. Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 11 p.m., TCM

Whitechapel

When a series of murders in East London shows troubling parallels to the crimes of Jack the Ripper, a callow cop, a cynical veteran, and an armchair detective team up to solve the mystery. Rupert Penry-Jones, Phil Davis (Bleak House), and Steve Pemberton star in this clever six-episode series from the producers of Downton Abbey. Wednesday, Oct. 26, at 10 p.m., BBC America

The Education of Dee Dee Ricks

Dee Dee Ricks was a highly paid Manhattan hedge fund consultant when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. As she underwent treatment, she became aware of the inequities of American health care and applied her financial skills to raising funds for a Harlem cancer clinic. In this intimate and moving documentary, she chronicles her transformation into a philanthropist and activist. Thursday, Oct. 27, at 8:30 p.m., HBO

Grimm

The second new fall series with a revisionist take on fairy tales is decidedly darker than its ABC counterpart, Once Upon a Time. Grimm features David Giuntoli as an Oregon homicide detective who discovers he’s descended from a line of defenders against the supernatural. The show is basically Buffy the Vampire Slayer made over into a police drama, and it delivers some chills in its premiere. Friday, Oct. 28, at 9 p.m., NBC

Other highlights

Facing Trauma

This new docuseries follows a plastic surgeon and a clinical psychiatrist as they try to help victims of violent disfigurement recover both physically and emotionally. Wednesday, Oct. 26, at 10 p.m., Discovery Fit & Health

Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head

MTV’s intellectually challenged adolescent metalheads return, after 14 years, for the beginning of a new series of animated misadventures. Thursday, Oct. 27, at 10 p.m., MTV

Great Performances: Miami City Ballet Dances Balanchine & Tharp

George Balanchine’s Square Dance and Western Symphony and Twyla Tharp’s The Golden Section are performed by Edward Villella’s company. Friday, Oct. 28, at 9 p.m., PBS; check local listings