The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching

last updated 8 January 2015

Breaking the Huddle: The Integration of College Football

The struggle for racial equality was fought on the college football gridiron as well as in the streets, with athletes such as Darryl Hill, the first African-American player in the Atlantic Coast Conference, braving abuse to integrate the sport. Hill is just one of many trailblazers who give first-person accounts in this stirring documentary, which climaxes with the 1970 showdown between USC and “Bear” Bryant’s legendary Crimson Tide. Monday, Aug. 8, at 7 p.m., HBO

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

Sixteen marksmen (two of them female)—including a former Navy SEAL, two Homeland Security agents, and a couple of self-taught enthusiasts—compete for a $100,000 prize as the competition series returns. In the Season 3 opener, they divide into pairs for shoot-offs with one of the most powerful handguns ever made. And in the elimination challenge, two contestants attempt to shoot accurately while “riding shotgun” atop a bouncing stagecoach. Tuesday, Aug. 9, at 10 p.m., History

Eric Esch, the super-heavyweight boxer better known as Butterbean, is a sheriff’s deputy in his hometown of Jasper, Ala. Investigation Discovery’s first foray into docuseries follows him on patrol with the narcotics unit, where he cuts an imposing figure with his shaved head and 400-plus-pound frame. In the premiere, he helps to close in on a suspected meth lab. Tuesday, Aug. 9, at 10 p.m., Investigation Discovery

This offbeat but compassionate documentary looks at the phenomenon of “real-life” superheroes: ordinary (albeit eccentric) people who don makeshift masks and costumes and set out to right wrongs in their communities. Some are basically charity volunteers in spandex, distributing help to the poor. But others risk their safety as unarmed vigilantes—and skate perilously close to entrapment by trying to lure muggers. Thursday, Aug. 11, at 11:30 a.m., HBO

Brisk and often bloody, this British action series follows the testosterone-laced adventures of a soldier of fortune who joins a covert intelligence unit. In the premiere, they battle terrorists who have seized control of a New Delhi hotel. Based on a novel by former soldier Chris Ryan, the series is about as plausible (and violent) as a combat video game, but good production values and colorful locations make it quite watchable. Friday, Aug. 12, at 10 p.m., Cinemax

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox