What's On

PICK OF THE WEEK

Cadillac Desert

Tuesday, June 24

9-10:30 p.m. (PBS)

TV highlights for the week of June 22-28. All times are Eastern; check local listings. Ratings are listed for shows when available.

SUNDAY - 6/22

Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist (Comedy Central, 10-10:30 p.m.): Comedians Fred Stoller, Louis C.K., and Ron Lynch take the couch in the season-opener of the award-winning comedy. Also, on Friday, Comedy Central airs a marathon 18 episodes from the satiric cartoon's first three seasons. (TV-G)

MONDAY - 6/23

Evening at Pops (PBS, 8-9 p.m.): Conductor Keith Lockhart opens the 28th season with a program on "The American Spirit."

Biography (A&E, 8-9 p.m.): Al Gore is the man of the hour in this favorable program about the vice president. (TV-G)

TUESDAY - 6/24

Cadillac Desert (PBS, 9-10:30 p.m.): A city's municipal water department is a usually less-than-enthralling topic, but not when the city is turn-of-the-century Los Angeles. This well-done, four-part documentary focuses on the transforming power of water, liquid gold to the arid American West, which turned L.A. into a sprawling metropolis.

Part 1 focuses on the man largely responsible: William Mulholland, the Water Department chief. In his quest to bring water to L.A., he created "the world's longest garden hose," as Marc Reisner, on whose book the program is based, dubs the 230-mile-long aqueduct that sucked dry Owens Valley.

P.O.V. (PBS, 10:30-11:30 p.m.): In 1992, weeks before his first album was to come out, rapper Jesse Hall was murdered in Oakland, Calif., in what police call a case of mistaken identity. "Jesse's Gone" is creator Michael Smith's probing, if uneven, effort to show how a family deals with a senseless murder.

Especially poignant is the interview with Hall's mother, who recounts the last time she spoke with her son. "He said, 'Mama, I love you.' And I said, 'I love you, baby,' and I didn't realize when he closed that door, it was like he was closing his life away forever." Jesse's father and grandfather talk openly about their desire for revenge. But when a friend whom Jesse had bailed out of jail promised to kill his killer, his mother said, "Not in my son's name." Contains some graphic language.

WEDNESDAY - 6/25

Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse (PBS, 9-10:30 p.m.): In this documentary, the ballerina reflects on her intense artistic and personal relationship with choreographer George Balanchine. (See story, left.)

James Taylor Live by Request (A&E, 9-11 p.m.): JT's fans make requests via phone, fax, and the Internet. (TV-G)

SATURDAY - 6/28

Great Books (Learning Channel, 9 a.m.-3 a.m.): A marathon for bibliophiles, courtesy of TLC. Among these encores of past programs, including "Gulliver's Travels" and "The Scarlet Letter," are two newcomers: "Don Quixote" (9-10 p.m.), an interesting but repetitive look at Cervantes's masterpiece, followed by an hour on the Dickens classic "Great Expectations."

TV-Y All Children

TV-Y7 Directed to Older Children

TV-G General Audience

TV-PG Parental Guidance Suggested

TV-14 Parents Strongly Cautioned

TV-M Mature Audience Only