Hard as Nails
Justin Fatica, an unordained Catholic preacher in upstate New York, has drawn attention and aroused controversy with his Hard as Nails youth ministry. This lively profile captures the 28-year-old firebrand as he employs his attention-grabbing techniques, which include haranguing troubled teenagers and having them haul wooden crosses. Monday, Dec. 17, at 8 p.m., HBO
Great Performances:
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Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
This boisterous opera by composer Kurt Weill and librettist Bertolt Brecht is set in a city of licit vice founded by ex-convicts—a satirical version of Berlin during the Weimar Republic. Broadway’s Patti LuPone and Audra McDonald co-star with operatic tenor Anthony Dean Griffey in a recording of this year’s Los Angeles Opera production. Monday, Dec. 17, at 9 p.m., PBS
NOVA: Missing in MiG Alley
During the Korean War, American F-86 Sabres and Soviet MiG-15 fighters fought deadly battles above North Korea. NOVA explores the groundbreaking technology that went into both planes and follows the heart-rending efforts of families to learn what happened to downed Sabre pilots, many of whose fates remain undetermined to this day. Tuesday, Dec. 18, at 8 p.m., PBS
Independent Lens: An Unreasonable Man
Furor over Ralph Nader’s influential role in the 2000 presidential election has eclipsed the praise he once received for championing consumer safeguards, according to this engrossing documentary. Tracing Nader’s long, contentious career, it paints a portrait of a personality whose intractability can be seen as a virtue or a tragic flaw—or both. Tuesday, Dec. 18, at 9 p.m., PBS; check local listings
The True Story of Charlie Wilson
This profile of the colorful Democratic congressman from Texas, who secretly funneled money to Afghan fighters during the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, coincides with the opening of the film Charlie Wilson’s War. Interviewees include Aaron Sorkin, who wrote the movie, and Wilson himself. Saturday, Dec. 22, at 8 p.m., History Channel
Other highlights
Explorer: Last Christians of Bethlehem
In the wake of 2002’s siege of the Church of the Nativity, Explorer finds tourists few and tensions high in Bethlehem. Wednesday, Dec. 19, at 8 p.m., National Geographic Channel
The Ninth Annual Home for the Holidays
Sheryl Crow and Carole King are among the performers slated for this special, which showcases inspirational stories of adoption. Friday, Dec. 21, at 8 p.m., CBS
American Originals: Levi’s
A profile of Levi Strauss & Co., from its storied beginnings in the Old West to its current strategies to regain supremacy in the denim business. Sunday, Dec. 23, at 9 p.m., CNBC
All listings are Eastern time.
Show of the week
In God’s Name
French filmmakers Jules and Gedeon Naudet survived the collapse of the World Trade Center, an experience they chronicled in the Emmy- and Peabody-winning film 9/11. Since then, the two brothers have traveled the world seeking perspective from spiritual leaders on such issues as intolerance, terrorism, and war. This documentary features interviews with an array of religious leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI, the Dalai Lama, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, as well as their counterparts among Jews, Hindus, Muslims both Shiite and Sunni, Sikhs, Shintoists, Lutherans, Baptists, and Russian Orthodox—faiths whose combined followers number more than 4 billion. The film presents a unique opportunity to meet 12 people of extraordinary influence and hear their insights into the very meaning of life. Sunday, Dec. 23, at 9 p.m., CBS
Movies on TV this week
Tuesday, Dec. 18
The Full Monty (1997)
Six unemployed British steelworkers attempt a career change as male
strippers in this sleeper comedy smash. With Robert Carlyle. 10 p.m., FMC
Wednesday
Maria Full of Grace (2004)
In her film debut, Catalina Sandino Moreno earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance as a Colombian teenager who becomes a drug mule. 7:15 p.m., HBO Signature
Thursday
Being John Malkovich (1999)
A clerk stumbles upon a secret portal into John Malkovich’s mind in this surreal comedy featuring John Cusack, Catherine Keener, and the eponymous actor himself. 6:30 p.m., IFC
Friday
Cries and Whispers (1972)
Two sisters’ lies come to light as they tend the sickbed of a third in Ingmar Bergman’s piercing drama. Sven Nykvist’s cinematography won an Oscar. 8:30 p.m., Sundance
Saturday
Quiz Show (1994)
Director Robert Redford’s dramatization of the TV quiz show scandals of the 1950s earned four Oscar nominations. Ralph Fiennes and John Turturro star. 8 p.m., Flix
Sunday
The King of Kings (1927)
Director Cecil B. DeMille gives the story of Jesus a reverent but spectacular treatment in this silent classic. Midnight, TCM
New on DVD
Deep Water (2006)
This award-winning documentary relates a 1968 yacht race around the world, in which an amateur in a disintegrating boat faced a desperate choice: financial ruin if he turned back, sure death if he went forward.
(PG, $25)
