Sunday, August 22

	DATELINE NBC NBC, 7 p.m. ET This week is loaded with special programs devoted to the fifth anniversary of the landfall of Hurricane Katrina, and here’s one of the first. Brian Williams, whose reporting at the time was both memorable and passionate, hosts this one-hour retrospective, which is personal as well as historical.
	SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON TCM, 8 p.m. ET I saw this movie in theaters when it came out during Christmas week in 1960. I was seven years old, and thought the treehouse in this Disney adventure movie was one of the coolest things ever, and I wanted to move there. Fifty years later, I still do. I wonder if it has wireless?
	RUBICON AMC, 9 p.m. ET Who is Donald Bloom? I have no idea – but according to the promos, someone is looking for him in tonight’s episode five. Maybe he’s related to Leopold Bloom, the hero of James Joyce’s Ulysses. On this show, I wouldn’t rule anything out, even if it’s unlikely and obscure. ESPECIALLY if it’s unlikely and obscure.
	TRUE BLOOD HBO, 9 p.m. ET Eric has to defend his women, and himself, in tonight’s episode, which has many powerful vampires descending to wreak vengeance upon those who did harm to the Magistrate.
	MAD MEN AMC, 10 p.m. ET Series creator Matthew Weiner is fiercely protective about the contents of each week’s show, but the promos have leaked one important revelation: Somewhere in here, making her first appearance in weeks, is Don’s ex-wife, Betty Draper.

'Frozen Planet' -- Not Your Father's Wild Kingdom

Jane Boursaw

With the hundreds of nature documentaries that have aired over the years, you start thinking there must be nothing left for us to see on this Big Blue Planet. But that's just silly. This year alone, we've had James Cameron venturing to the deepest part of the ocean in a torpedo-shaped submarine, and shows like Discovery Channel's Frozen Planet. If you haven't yet checked it out, Discovery Channel is airing an all-day Frozen Planet marathon Sunday, April 22, from 1-9 p.m. -- this time the original UK version with David Attenborough narrating...(more)

'Veep' Is Hardly a Washington Monument

Ed Bark

Here's a new comedy series for those who expect absolutely nothing but incompetence, cynicism and crass opportunism from their elected leaders in Washington. Which might well cover most of us these days. Still, the timing may not be quite right for HBO's Veep, which is about as far removed from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and The West Wing as many able-bodied Americans are from a decent job . . . (more)

HBO's 'Veep': Four More Years!

Theresa Corigliano

I am still smiling, and I watched HBO's three preview episodes of Veep 10 hours ago. It's just that funny. In this new and very welcome half-hour comedy (debuting Sunday at 10 p.m. ET), Julia Louis-Dreyfus is pitch perfect as Selina Meyer, vice president of the United States. The catch to being the free world's second-in-command has always been . . . (more)

Thanks for Being a Part of Our Lives, Mr. Clark

Ed Bark

No one gets out alive, not even the man known for most of his adult life as "America's Oldest Teenager." Dick Clark died Wednesday at age 82 of a heart attack . . . Clark's principal legacies are American Bandstand, that staple of teen life in the 1950s and '60s, and the New Year's Rockin' Eve specials that date back to Dec. 31, 1972 . . . (more)

HAWAII FIVE-0

Catch up to Jack Lord's original bad-ass police authority -- who needs nuance? -- before CBS launches its modern 'reboot' this fall. The first nine action-packed seasons (1968-77) are out on DVD.

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