PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
This 1985 one-hour documentary was the third Ken Burns program shown on PBS, after 1981’s Brooklyn Bridge and a modest but informative 1984 study called The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God. Statue of Liberty hits on many of the themes, and all of the production methods, that would come to be known as Burns hallmarks. Why repeat the program now? Because the New York landmark has been closed since Hurricane Sandy hit the area last October, and repairs are scheduled to be completed in time for the tourist attraction, and seminal American symbol, to reopen next month, on July 4. Check local listings.
AMC, 8:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: After watching the two hours that make up tonight’s Season 3 premiere, I’m still not sure how enthusiastically to recommend it. I continue to love, and respond to, the abrasive but oddly endearing characters of Holder (Joel Kinnaman) and Linden (Mireille Enos) – but they’re on different paths for most of these first two hours. And the central guest star, Peter Sarsgaard as Death Row prisoner Ray Seward, barely has time to interact with either of them yet. So will this season be a tighter, more satisfying murder mystery? Or another ramble down red herring lane, like the crushingly disappointing two-season case that preceded it? Only time will tell, and I’m not sure whether even its ardent fans should forgive, forget, and give it the time to prove itself.
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
Question: Is it just me, or are the women on Game of Thrones doing all the interesting things this season, wielding all of the power, and demonstrating most of the ruthlessness? (Answer: It’s not me. Or I.) Exhibit A: Lena Headey as Cersie Lannister.
AMC, 10:00 p.m. ET
Question: Is it just me, or is
Mad Men turning into a period fable about disconnected doppelgangers, with Jon Hamm’s Don Draper at one end of a dark mirror, his new agency partner at the other end, and Elisabeth Moss’s Peggy caught in the middle? (Answer: It’s not me. Or I. Especially since tonight's episode is titled "A Tale of Two Cities." For corroboration and elucidation, see Eric Gould’s
Cold Light Reader.)
HBO, 10:30 p.m. ET
Because of last week’s pre-emption, this is only Episode 3 of this new Christopher Guest series, so its hero (played so amiably by Chris O’Dowd) is still investigating his family tree in the United Kingdom. Last episode, in search of information about his family roots, he made a horse’s ass of himself (literally, as part of a two-man costumed athletic competition). Tonight, sister Bea (Nina Conti, who’s great) takes her talking monkey puppet and accepts a job as a wedding entertainer. It does not go well.