The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching
Sacred Sites: King Arthur
Was King Arthur real? The new season of this docuseries about the world’s sacred places will eventually visit Mayan temples and travel the Camino de Santiago in Spain to explore whether the ancient pilgrimage route truly leads to the tomb of one of Jesus’ apostles and whether spiritual pilgrimages along the route predate Christianity. But the season opens at one of Arthur’s alleged burial sites, then tours England to sift through recent evidence that the legendary monarch is more than a figure from myth. Monday, Aug. 13, at 8 p.m., Smithsonian
Frontline: Our Man in Tehran
As another U.S. president engages in saber rattling with Iran, Thomas Erdbrink of The New York Times offers an insider’s portrait of the lives everyday Iranians lead when no one’s looking. Erdbrink, who met and married an Iranian woman soon after he was sent to the country 16 years ago, moves easily among a population that often quietly resists the social dictates of their theocratic leaders. A two-part tour. Monday, Aug. 13, and Tuesday, Aug. 14, at 9 p.m., PBS; check local listings
Disenchantment
Love Matt Groening but not up for more reruns of Futurama or Season 30 of The Simpsons? Say huzzah for Disenchantment, Groening’s first new series in decades, which rides hilariously in the slipstream of Game of Thrones. The show—set in a crumbling medieval world—follows the exploits of a hard-drinking rebellious princess voiced by Broad City’s Abbi Jacobson. Available for streaming Friday, Aug. 17, Netflix
Esme & Roy
Adults aren’t the only ones in for an animated treat. The folks behind Sesame Street have developed a cheery new series for preschoolers about a girl who babysits monsters with Roy, her oversize and hairy best friend. In each episode, Esme and Roy model imaginative ways to cope with the challenges presented by another of the adorable monsters in their care. Saturday, Aug. 18, at 9:30 a.m., HBO
America to Me
This is approximately what all reality TV should look like. In this 10-episode series, filmed across a single year at a diverse Chicago high school, Hoop Dreams director Steve James finds a dozen or so teenagers you’ll care about as they go about growing up and chasing dreams big and small. The series is never just about one thing, but the biggest question it asks has rarely been better examined: In a school that does so much right, why do black students lag behind white students in academic achievement? Sunday, Aug. 26, at 10 p.m., Starz
Other highlights
Born This Way
A fourth season begins for the Emmy Award–winning reality series about seven young adults with Down syndrome. Wednesday, Aug. 15, at 8 p.m., A&E
Lynyrd Skynyrd: If I Leave Here Tomorrow
Surviving members of the legendary Southern rock band tell the story of the group’s rise and how they kept the music and the name alive after a 1977 plane crash that killed two members. Saturday, Aug. 18, at 9 p.m., Showtime
Crime + Punishment
A stirring documentary follows 12 New York City cops who stood up to the NYPD, alleging that officers are compelled to meet arrest quotas. Available for streaming Friday, Aug. 24, Hulu
