The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching

last updated 8 January 2015

Today

Leading up to the first presidential debate, the morning show will travel to cities in four battleground states, examining their culture and assessing how the two campaigns are faring there. On Monday the program will be broadcast from Philadelphia; Tuesday from Tampa; Wednesday from Norfolk, Va.; and Thursday from Detroit. Sept. 22–25 at 7 a.m., NBC

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Simon Baker (The Guardian) stars in this new police drama as a former TV psychic who is now a consultant to the California Bureau of Investigation. As in USA’s Psych, the sleuth has no real powers, but simulates them through shrewd observation. Though the premise is derivative, Baker gives an intriguingly layered performance as a character who is glib and charming on the surface but actually quite dark. Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 9 p.m., CBS

On Sept. 24, Swiss daredevil Yves Rossy will attempt to fly across the English Channel at 120 mph, using a homemade jet wing. Combining footage from cameras on the launch plane, a helicopter, and Rossy’s jet pack, this special will document his flight that same night. Wednesday, Sept. 24, at 9 p.m., National Geographic Channel. If weather interferes, the special will air Thursday at 9 p.m. or Friday at 8 p.m.

Comedians Matt Lucas and David Walliams launched many catchphrases in the U.K. with their sketch series Little Britain, in which they played a teeming gallery of grotesques. Those characters (including a double-talking teenage girl and a receptionist who answers “Computer says no” to virtually all requests) accompany them to this American version. They’re joined by new, equally bizarre ones. Sunday, Sept. 28, at 10:30 p.m., HBO

The filmmakers at Warner Bros. in the 1930s and ’40s had “a vision of the world that was darker, more cynical, and more problematic than any other studio,” film scholar Neal Gabler remarks in this three-night documentary. This comprehensive look at one of Hollywood’s most adventurous film factories—lavishly larded with classic clips, engaging anecdotes, and incisive commentary—is as brisk and piquant as Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, and the other great films produced at Warner in its heyday. The five-hour overview by film critic Richard Schickel traces the studio’s history from the silent era (when its only star was Rin Tin Tin) through the advent of sound, the Depression, World War II, and the coming of television. Clint Eastwood narrates. Tuesday–Thursday, Sept. 23–25, at 9 p.m., PBS; check local listings

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