Prime rating, July 30

The best of this week's TV

Monday, July 30, 2007

Great Performances

• Wednesday, 8 p.m., KRMA-Channel 6

Do you like good music? That sweet soul music? If so, tune into Rocky Mountain PBS-Channel 6 at 8 p.m. Wednesday, when Great Performances offers an insightful look at the Memphis-based R&B powerhouse Stax Records.

Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story coincides with the 50th anniversary of the label, which proved a mighty counterweight to Motown in the '60s before falling on hard times.

The Stax stable included Isaac Hayes, Rufus and Carla Thomas, Otis Redding, Mel and Tim, Sam and Dave and Booker T. & the MGs.

Unlike Motown's slick, glossy sound, Stax went for urban funk, with heavy horns and a driving bass line. Its problem wasn't lack of talent or airplay, it was lack of distribution - it had trouble getting its product into suburban stores.

The documentary offers lots of concert footage, including rare material on Redding, whose death in a plane crash shook Stax to its core. The label struggled on, producing movies such as Shaft, for which Hayes won an Academy Award for best score.

By the '70s, Stax was overextended and facing bankruptcy. It closed its doors and its artists fled. The label has been revived recently, but is a shadow of its former self.

Stax was a place where neighborhood folks could walk in off the street and, in rare instances, become a star. And it was all started by a white brother and sister whose initial plan was to record country music.

Today

• My Boys

8 p.m., TBS

Last season, audiences and critics cheered the comedy about P.J. (Jordana Spiro, left), a Chicago female sportswriter and her mosly-male circle of friends, including Loveland's Kyle Howard (right), who portrays Bobby. It's back tonight with more tales about sports, poker nights and dating.

TBS

Tuesday

• Flipping Out

8 p.m., Bravo

High-powered Los Angeles real-estate agent Jeff Lewis is trying to be a house flipper, but he finds out it's not as easy as it appears. So he flips out - a lot. And if you miss it at 8, it's on again at 9.

Thursday

• Shark Tribe

8 p.m., Discovery

For the 20th season, it's Shark Week on Discovery (it started Sunday). On this night, the program travels to the remote shores of New Guinea to unravel mysteries of local shark whisperers, who, with no need for bait, "call in" sharks from their tiny canoes and catch them in their hands.

Friday

• Drake & Josh

6 p.m., Nickelodeon

The brotherly comedy goes out with a bang, as in a made-for-TV movie, Drake & Josh: Really Big Shrimp. Josh (Josh Peck) flubs up an opportunity for stepbrother Drake (Drake Bell) to get a record deal.

Saturday

• Masters of Science Fiction

9 p.m., ABC

Each week famous directors get to dabble in sci-fi stories. In A Clean Escape, the series premiere this week, On Golden Pond's director tells the tale of a man (Sam Waterston, right) with amnesia and the dangerous secret he doesn't remember.

Sunday

• Human Weapon

9 p.m., History Channel

The art of karate and its history are explored during a visit to Okinawa, Japan. Included: one of the hosts endures Iron Body Training and challenges a black-belt karate champion.

Mike Pearson