Tuning in: On TV this week.
Sunday Sept. 12
Star Wars: Empire of Dreams (A&E, 8-10 p.m.): It changed the movie business, the action-adventure genre, and the art of special effects. George Lucas's wondrous space opera may have had cartoonish elements, but it wowed the public like no other film. This engrossing documentary, which includes never-before-seen footage, reminds fans how difficult it was to make the film.
Jack and Bobby (The WB, 9-10 p.m.): No, it's not about Jack and Bobby Kennedy. This well-crafted story looks back from 2049 to our own time, as the story of a fictional US president unfolds. His boyhood with his brother and their eccentric college-professor mother is not a particularly happy one. The complexity of the storytelling, the fine cast featuring Christine Lahti as the mom, and the imaginative premise make this groundbreaking television.
Everwood (The WB, 9-10 p.m.): The series set in Colorado returns with a stirring episode about trust. Dr. Brown keeps an important secret from his son, Ephram, who can tell that something is amiss when he returns from a summer studying music in New York to find that his father has created a sound studio in the garage for him.
LAX (NBC, 10-11 p.m.): "Speedy" characterizes this tantalizing new drama. So much goes on in the first episode, you have to watch in high gear just to keep up. Daily life at the Los Angeles International Airport is weird, witty, and full of thrills and chills. As the story begins, the airport's director commits suicide. The same day his two friends, who happen to be his deputies, vie for his job even as a bomb threat, a loose dog on the runway, and the approach of the governor's plane keep the staff in crisis mode.
