TV This Week

SUNDAY

The bird is the word: The documentary “In Search of the California Condor” offers rare footage, shot in 1945, of the broad-winged vulture in its native habitat and charts ongoing efforts to bring it back from the brink of extinction. (KCET, 8 p.m.)

The new special “9/11: Heroes of the 88th Floor” salutes Francis De Martini and Pablo Ortiz, two brave souls who worked to free others trapped in the World Trade Center’s North Tower, only to lose their own lives in the building’s collapse. (TLC, 9 p.m.)

MONDAY

He played a big fan in “Big Fan” and voiced Remy the rat in “Ratatouille,” but the special “Patton Oswalt Finest Hour” finds the comic’s comic (below) doing what he does best: Performing his stand-up before a live audience. (Showtime, 10 p.m.)

TUESDAY

They’re coming home, they’ve done their time: When last we left “Sons of Anarchy,” our hog-riding antiheroes were headed for the pokey. But they’re out now and rolling into a fourth season. Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman and Katey Sagal star. (FX, 10 p.m.)

WEDNESDAY

You look like you’ve seen a ghost! If that’s the case, you might just be a “Paranormal Witness.” Regular people tell purportedly true tales of eerie encounters, which are then dramatized for your spine-tingling delectation, in this spooky series. (Syfy, 10 p.m.)

THURSDAY

With all that lockout mishegoss now in players’, owners’ and fans’ rearview mirrors, it’s time for a little “NFL Football.” The defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers host the previous year’s champion New Orleans Saints in the league’s regular-season opener. (NBC, 5:30 p.m.)

FRIDAY

One was the “2,000 Year Old Man,” and the other is… a ,2000-year-old man! But seriously, folks, a comedy legend and a venerable talk-show host swap showbiz stories in the new special “Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again.” (HBO, 9 p.m.)

SATURDAY

Life or limb: Oscar nominee James Franco (below) gives a disarming performance — sorry — as a hiker caught between a rock and a hard place — again, sorry —in the badlands of Utah in director Danny Boyle’s fact-based 2010 drama “127 Hours.” (HBO, 8 p.m.)