Blast-offs from the past: a look at NASA missions

TV Lookout |

It's always kind of fitting when the U.S. space program is featured in a TV series. For millions of viewers, those early space missions played out as a thrilling TV series, with the real-life story line becoming more amazing and suspenseful with each flight

Looking back, it still is. "When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions" is a three-part look back that marks a half-century of U.S. manned spaceflight. It launches at 9 tonight on Discovery Channel.

Giving the series a never-seen-before vividness, Discovery has transferred original mission footage to high definition, giving these archival records heightened power.

It all begins, of course, with the pioneering Mercury program and its quest to put a man in space. NASA handpicks seven men as a new breed of hero.

Week two is devoted to the Gemini program, whose missions paired astronauts and introduced them to walking in space.

Then a few giant leaps, and Neil Armstrong made his "one small step" onto the moon. That's where the miniseries is headed for its third week. Then the shuttle program, with the Challenger disaster. Even now, the sight of that explosion is a shocking reminder: This was all never just a TV show.

Other shows to look out for:

They're father and daughter. They race cars. They're estranged from each other and stubborn rivals on the stock-car circuit. Now, with Kylie Shines burning up the track in this male-dominated sport, her legendary dad, Al, finds his career on a bumpy road. But he has more than that to worry about. Kylie and red-hot racer Kid Walker are having an affair. Al thinks she's moving too fast with this guy. His solution: a race for his legacy and his daughter's welfare. He challenges Kylie and her beau to a three-way race. "The Circuit," an ABC Family film, stars Michelle Trachtenberg, Billy Campbell as Al and Drew Fuller as Kid. It premieres at 8 tonight.

For those who remember the scandal of Roman Polanski, and those who don't, a fascinating documentary reopens this notorious case 30 years after it commanded world attention — and bred lasting misconceptions. "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired" is the saga of one of the world's most famous directors ("Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown"), who in 1977 was convicted of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. He pleaded guilty and served 42 days in jail.

But trapped in a judiciary maze as well as a media circus, he had reason to believe he would never find justice. He fled to France, where he remains, still a celebrated filmmaker at 74. The film includes an interview with the victim, Samantha (Gailey) Geimer, now 45, who, as a 13-year-old, had been posing for Polanski in a photo shoot. And it explores the miscarriage of justice that has left Polanski a lifelong victim, too. It premieres at 9 p.m. Monday on HBO.

The prime-time special "iCarly Saves TV" premieres at 8 p.m. Friday on Nickelodeon. The film is based on the popular "iCarly" series, a show-within-a-show that tracks its characters on- and off-Webcam as they create their own Webcast — and grapple with everyday tween problems. Miranda Cosgrove stars as Carly.