‘Dark Winds’ is a return classic westerns

For those paying attention, the contemporary Western is hot. “Yellowstone” ranks among the most-watched series on all forms of television, be it broadcast, cable or streaming. The new series “Dark Winds” (9 p.m. Sunday, AMC and AMC+, TV-14), hedges its bets a bit, available on both traditional cable and streaming. And, set in 1971, it’s not entirely contemporary — but it’s close enough.

The action begins in the downtown of a Southwestern city, where a band of outlaws lands a helicopter in a busy intersection and proceed to rob an armored car. The camera follows the helicopter to Monument Valley and the enormous Navajo Nation that surrounds it. Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon, “Reservation Dogs,” “Fargo”) of the tribal police happens upon a violent crime scene. An older man has had his eyes shot out in a shabby motel room rented by a blind and elderly female healer. The healer’s teenage assistant is also found dead, the body showing no external wounds or signs of drugs or poison. It’s as if an otherworldly power had claimed her life.

These two crimes set the tone for “Dark Winds,” a tale of earthbound mysteries and supernatural forces, and the violence from the outside that may or may not be linked to the Navajo Nation.

Leaphorn is joined by a new assistant, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon, “Roswell, New Mexico”), a handsome Navajo who left the reservation to attend the University of California at Berkeley. Just why he would return is a mystery to Leaphorn.

Both men are visited by FBI Special Agent Whitover (Noah Emmerich), who believes the thieves and their helicopter may be linked to a Native American radical group finding shelter in Monument Valley.

Whitover and Leaphorn waste no time showing mutual contempt for each other and a disregard for each other’s investigations. To a busy FBI agent, the motel incident just means two more dead Indians, and to Leaphorn, the robbery can be filed under “white people’s problems.”

Based on a series of novels by Tony Hillerman, “Dark Winds” trades in some serious mystical malarky, but is sufficiently grounded in police work and tribal melodrama to keep things interesting. That, combined with scenery that screams “epic Western,” should be enough to keep viewers coming back for more.

“Becoming Elizabeth” (10 p.m. Sunday, Starz, TV-MA) takes a bawdy look back at the early days of the “Virgin Queen.” Action begins with the death of King Henry VIII. While the crown is quickly placed on the petulant child Edward VI (Oliver Zetterstrom), a struggle to become his trusted adviser becomes fierce.

Meanwhile, Catherine Parr (Jessica Raine), the last of Henry’s six wives, is under the sexual spell of Thomas Seymour (Tom Cullen), whom she will soon wed in unseemly haste. Teenage princess Elizabeth (Alicia Von Rittberg) lives under their roof, all the more convenient for the flirty advances of her randy new stepdad.

All of this is taken from history, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need a scorecard to know the players. The religious struggles and dynastic disruption that Henry left behind requires some serious explication. “Becoming” focuses instead on earthier matters, but that doesn’t make it easy to follow.

The big business of vice looms large in “The Booze, Bets and Sex that Built America” (8 p.m. Sunday, History, TV-14). The first episode examines the families and individuals who built empires, retelling the origin stories behind such brands as Jack Daniels and Budweiser as well as the story of the Duke tobacco fortune. Later installments will focus on the legal wrangling that made Nevada a center of legalized gambling, divorce and prostitution.