Morgan Freeman and Real-Life Shawshank ‘Escapes,’ ‘Supergirl’ Finale, A Snowboarding Legend, Storm Front on ‘La Brea’

Great Escapes With Morgan Freeman

An Oscar nominee for his memorable role in 1994’s great-escape classic The Shawshank Redemption, Morgan Freeman looks back at some real-life prison breaks that made headlines in an eight-part docuseries. The episodes, starting with the infamous Alcatraz escape in 1964, use dramatic re-enactments, sometimes with archival footage, maps and other visual effects to reveal the elaborate planning of these risky ventures. Future episodes deal with the escape from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y. (basis of an excellent Showtime docudrama) and the HM Maze Prison in Northern Ireland.

Supergirl

After six seasons of saving the world, Kara the Woman of Steel (Melissa Benoist) and her superfriends team up to stop the dastardly Nyxly (Peta Sergeant) and Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) once and for all. The occasion brings back old pals Mon-El (Chris Wood), Jimmy Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) and Will Schott (Jeremy Jordan). After the heroics, it will finally be time to celebrate the nuptials of adoptive sister Alex (Chyler Leigh) and her one and only, Kelly (Azie Tesfai).

Dear Rider

The life of snowboarding pioneer, inventor and champion Jake Burton Carpenter is the focus of an inspirational documentary profile that also tracks the evolution of the sport he helped popularize all the way to the Olympics. The “godfather of snowboarding” founded his Burton Snowboarding business in 1977 in a Vermont barn, marketed to his “dear riders” in yearly catalogs, excerpts of which are narrated by Woody Harrelson, a close friend. Jake was able to realize his vision before health issues, including a rare nerve disorder and cancer, claimed his life too soon at 65 in 2019.

La Brea

If it weren’t so funny when they do it, you’d almost beg this perilously silly sci-fi adventure to stop referencing better shows, which happens again when stoner Scott (Rohan Mirchandaney) addresses a crisis by blurting, “Remember how they opened the hatch on Lost?” With the portal now closed, and a cataclysmic storm brewing, Eve (Natalie Zea) has become a pariah to the sinkholers, facing possible exile. Which at least would spare her some of the regrettable dialogue. Bonus points, though, for a plot twist that will allow the characters down below to wear some new clothes from time to time.

Inside Tuesday TV:

• Shetland (streaming on BritBox): The acclaimed Scottish mystery series based on the Ann Cleeves novels opens its sixth season on the day of DI Perez’ (Douglas Henshall) mother’s funeral. No time to grieve, when a high-profile lawyer is shot dead on his doorstep.
• Swap Shop (streaming on Netflix): A new series goes inside the popular radio show where collectors listen avidly to buy, sell or swap all manner of quirky and sometimes valuable merchandise.
• FBI: International (9/8c, CBS): Agent Forrester (Luke Kleintank) draws parallels to the disappearance years ago of his mother, a disgraced foreign service officer, in the team’s latest case, involving a seemingly abducted U.S. intelligence negotiator who holds nuclear secrets.
• Real PD: Kansas City (10/9c, Investigation Discovery and discovery+): A four-part series, filmed over a year’s time, follows cases investigated by the Kansas City, Kansas police department, starting with a fatal trailer-park shooting that points to a suspect with family ties.
• Chucky (10/9c, Syfy and USA): The devilish doll gets a new playmate when Jennifer Tilly reprises her campy role from the Child’s Play movies as Tiffany Valentine, the wacky girlfriend of the serial killer who lives on in the form of Chucky.
• New Amsterdam (10/9c, NBC): A plot that has bedeviled many a medical drama this year now lands at New Amsterdam’s door, when Max (Ryan Eggold) faces tough choices after the hospital is victimized by a ransomware attack.