This week we’re watching a docuseries about the U.S.-Mexico border, the Oscar-winning 1996 film starring Ralph Fiennes and lots more.
Between network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, April 3-9. Details and times are subject to change.
Monday
CAN YOU BRING IT: BILL T. JONES AND D-MAN IN THE WATERS 8 p.m. on WORLD. “AfroPop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange,” a documentary series about life across the African diaspora, is kicking off a new season with an exploration of the legacy of the choreographer-director Bill T. Jones’s seminal ballet, “D-Man in the Waters.” At the height of the AIDS epidemic, the disease ravaged the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, taking the lives of its co-founder, Zane, and the dancer Demian “D-Man” Acquavella; this dance was inspired by a series of group improvisations as a reflection of the troupe’s struggles and losses. Through the intercutting of vintage recordings of the Jones/Zane company and present-day footage of students learning the ballet — Jones drops into rehearsals to offer feedback — the film is a “passionate and moving” exploration of the dance piece’s endurance, writes Glenn Kenny in his Critic’s Pick review for The New York Times.
LA FRONTERA WITH PATI JINICH 9 p.m. on PBS. This award-winning docuseries featuring stories from the U.S.-Mexico border is back for a second season, with the show’s Emmy-nominated host and executive producer, the chef Pati Jinich, expanding her travels to the Mexican states of Baja California, Sonora and Chihuahua. In addition to showcasing the culture and cuisines of these areas, the series will also cover how timely issues like L.G.B.T.Q. rights, climate change and immigration play out in the regions.
Tuesday
AMERICA AND THE TALIBAN 10 p.m. on PBS. This three-part documentary series from the award-winning producers and directors Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith (“In Search of Al Qaeda”) draws upon 20 years of reporting and new interviews with American and Taliban officials to tell the story of modern U.S.-Afghanistan relations. The series begins with the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City and follows the U.S.’s attempt to destroy Al Qaeda, ending with the Taliban’s 2021 takeover of Kabul.
Wednesday
GROWING BELUSHI 9 p.m. on DISCOVERY. The actor and comedian Jim Belushi (younger brother to the late actor comic John Belushi), his family and his team of farmers at Belushi’s Farm are back after building a cannabis business in southern Oregon from scratch in the first two seasons of the show. The third season follows Belushi and his crew as they work to turn their business into a national brand, documenting the high jinks and hiccups along the way — like a fire that destroys the farm’s barn, drying facility and half a million dollars’ worth of cannabis.
Thursday
THE ENGLISH PATIENT (1996) 5:15 p.m. on FLIXe. Based on the 1992 Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name by Michael Ondaatje, this Oscar-winning film is set in WWII-ravaged Italy in a bombed-out monastery, where a combat nurse, Hana (Juliette Binoche), is caring for an amnesiac, English-accented burn patient (Ralph Fiennes), scarred beyond recognition. The film intersperses scenes of Hana’s budding love for Lt. Kip (Naveen Andrews), a Sikh sapper in the British Indian Army, with the English patient’s flashbacks of his own tragic love affair. In her review for The Times, Janet Maslin described the movie as a “dreamlike, nonlinear tale” that “swoops gracefully from past to present, from one set of lovers to another, from the contours of the body to the topography of the desert sands.”
Friday
THE LEGACY OF J DILLA 10 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. on FX. This feature from The New York Times Presents series is a portrait of the revered rap producer, J Dilla, who died in 2006 at the age of 32. Born in Detroit as James Dewitt Yancey, J Dilla was a prolific music producer who left an indelible mark on the hip-hop landscape through his original work and collaborations with artists like Erykah Badu, Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest and D’Angelo. Through exclusive interviews with his family and those close to him, the documentary explores J Dilla’s life and why he has been celebrated far more since his death than during his life.
Saturday
CASABLANCA (1942) 8 p.m. on TCM. Set during World War II, this Academy Award-winning film focuses on Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), an American expatriate and the owner of Rick’s Café Américain, a shady but popular nightclub in Casablanca, Morocco. The film follows the dilemma that arises when the thief Guillermo Ugarte (Peter Lorre) gives Rick travel papers he plans to sell later, only to die in police custody before doing so. Now Rick must decide whether to give them to the woman who broke his heart, Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), and her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), a Resistance leader escaping German officials. Bosley Crowther described the film as “a rich, suave, exciting and moving tale,” in his review for The Times.
Sunday
GOSPEL SUPERFEST EASTER JAM 5 p.m. on BET. Some of the biggest names in gospel music are coming together in Ohio to celebrate Easter Sunday. This worship and music event will feature performers such as Pastor Donnie McClurkin, Deitrick Haddon and Le’Andria Johnson.
A GRAMMY SALUTE TO THE BEACH BOYS 8 p.m. on CBS. Members of the Beach Boys — Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, David Marks and Bruce Johnston — are featured guests at this event celebrating the group’s win of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The tribute event at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles will feature live performances by Andy Grammer, Beck, Fall Out Boy, Weezer and John Legend, in addition to appearances by Tom Hanks, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen and John Stamos.
Source: Television - nytimes.com
