A family’s saga: ‘Far East Deep South’
The best thing about studying history is challenging assumptions and preconceived notions. The documentary “Far East Deep South” follows a Chinese-American family as they search their ancestral roots, a trip that takes them to the most unlikely place: The Mississippi delta. There they discover that their relatives were hardly alone and that they were part of a complicated story of Chinese immigrants in the South in the years before integration.
“Far East Deep South” streams on the World Channel PBS app and arrives just more than a week after the Academy Awards ceremony recognized the 2020 drama “Minari,” a tale of a Korean family in Arkansas.
A creation of PBS Boston affiliate WGBH, the World Channel is available on some cable systems and can be streamed as World Content on the PBS app via Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku.
Other PBS streaming apps include All Arts. Developed by WNET, the New York PBS affiliate, All Arts offers a vast library of arts-related series and documentaries both contemporary and deeply archived.
You can watch recent installments of “Great Performances” and “American Masters” as well as vintage classical music performances and interviews with artists including Edward Hopper and profiles of Keith Haring, dating back decades. It’s free and can be accessed without any cable subscription verification. It’s a real hidden gem.
› In a world without wit, bludgeoning noise and pointless violence reign supreme. Disney+ launches the animated series “Star Wars: The Bad Batch.”
To celebrate another arrival in the ever-expanding Lucas empire, TNT airs the 1983 adventure “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” (7:30 p.m., TV-PG). This was the last of the original three “Star Wars” movies released in theaters before a long hiatus was broken in 1999 with the release of “The Phantom Menace.” BBC America chimes in with two helpings of “Spaceballs” (8 p.m. and 10 p.m., TV-PG), the 1987 parody directed by Mel Brooks.
› A goofy adaptation of Homer’s “The Odyssey” featuring a tale of chaingang fugitives (George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson), the 2000 Coen Brothers comedy “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (8 p.m., AMC, TV-14) yielded a best-selling soundtrack of roots music and contemporary interpretations. The film’s title refers to a movie Joel McCrea’s character is researching in the 1941 Preston Sturges comedy “Sullivan’s Travels.”
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› A day off proves eventful on “The Resident” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
› Contestants must groom their dogs to resemble celebrities on “Pooch Perfect” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
› “Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr.” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) concludes its seventh season with interviews with comics Lewis Black and Roy Wood Jr.