TV Smarts

Some broadcast and cable programs contain material included in the public school curriculum and on standardized examinations. Here are viewing tips:

* Today--”Alaska” (TRV 8-9 p.m.) A look at our largest state, including its kayakers, glacier climbers and denizens of a town called Chicken, population 25, where there’s no electricity, running water or phones.

* Friday--”Life & Times: Special on the Mentally Ill” (KCET 7-8 p.m.) In the years since the state of California closed many public mental-health facilities, Los Angeles County’s Twin Towers jail has become the largest de facto mental institution in the nation. Hosted by Warren Olney and Val Zavala.

* Saturday--”Rush for Riches--Gold Fever and the Making of California” (CSPN2 5-6 p.m., repeats 8 p.m.) This BookTV interview program features historian J.S. Holliday discussing his book on the 1849-1884 Gold Rush. Also, “Sita and Son” (DISC 8-9 p.m.) Nature documentary about a family of wild tigers in a protected area in India’s Badhavagarh National Park.

* Sunday--”CNN Perspectives: Soldiers of Peace--A Children’s Crusade” (CNN 7-8 p.m.) In 1996, a group of children in Colombia, ages 7-18, became the first children to earn a Nobel Peace Prize nomination for their work in bringing an end to civil war in their nation. For more information, see https://www.turnerlearning.com.

* Monday--”The Red Cross” (TLC 10-11 p.m.) See how the American Red Cross conducts relief efforts at more than 70 disaster scenes, including interviews with volunteers from across the country.

* Tuesday--”John Paul II: The Millennial Pope” (KCET 9-11 p.m.) A look at the charismatic, self-confident pontiff credited with strengthening the Catholic Church and making economic inequality a moral issue.

* Wednesday--”Charles Atlas: Modern-Day Hercules” (A&E; 5-6 p.m., repeats 9-10 p.m.) There really was a 97-pound weakling, who at the age of 15 developed an exercise program to transform himself into “The World’s Most Perfectly Developed Man.” Promoted by a comic strip showing a beach bully kicking sand in the face of a scrawny kid and getting knocked down after the kid built up his muscles, Atlas’ exercises became the most popular in the world.

*

Compiled by Richard Kahlenberg in consultation with Crystal J. Gips, dean of the School of Education, College of St. Mary, Albany, N.Y. Columns at https://www.latimes.com/tvsmarts.