On the tube: Kung fu, teen angst, the First Lady of the Press and more

TV Lookout |

"The hardest brick is the easiest to break," says martial-arts master White Crane as he places a tomato on a stack of bricks, then presses downward and shatters the bricks while leaving the tomato intact.

"The bricks are nothing," White Crane tells his protégé. "Only your own will, your intentions, are important."

Eastern wisdom is abundant, and action, too, in "Kung Fu Killer," which brings together David Carradine (White Crane) and Daryl Hannah for the first time since the "Kill Bill" films.

This two-part miniseries, set in China in the late 1920s, follows White Crane, an orphaned son of Western missionaries who was raised as a Wudang monk, on his journey for revenge and justice.

Infiltrating the underworld, he meets Jane Marshall (Hannah), a lounge singer from Brooklyn on a mission to find her brother, who is being held captive by the same warlord whose mercenaries raided White Crane's temple.

"Kung Fu Killer" was shot on location in China, with principal photography at Heng Dian Studios in the Zhejiang Province. A lush, lively saga in which Hannah makes her singing debut, it premieres at 10 tonight and Monday on Spike (www.spike.com).

Other shows to look out for:

• They're just an average group of 17-year-olds in Bristol, England. But the dramedy "Skins" takes a far-from-average look at them and their coming of age. The gang is led by Tony, who's handsome and popular. His best mate, Sid, is forever lusting after Tony's dishy girlfriend, Michelle, while Tony takes advantage of Sid's insecurity. Chris is the class clown. Jal can play her clarinet like no one in the British Isles. Anwar claims to be a practicing Muslim but doesn't let the Koran interfere with less spiritual pursuits. The lovable Cassie is a self-destructive anorexic. And that's not all the characters who populate this series, already an award-winner on British television. It premieres at 9 tonight on BBC America (www.bbcamerica.com).

• Presidents come and go, but journalist Helen Thomas — who covered nine of them during her career of more than a half-century — will forever be known as the First Lady of the Press. Since her days reporting on President Kennedy, it was Thomas who often asked the first question at White House press conferences, then concluded each session with, "Thank you, Mr. President." A documentary portrait, "Thank You, Mr. President: Helen Thomas at the White House" tells her story, with her hearty participation as, now in her 80s, she reflects on her illustrious career, and the mission she shared with the rest of the White House press corps. "Presidents deserve to be questioned, perhaps irreverently, to bring them down to size," declares Thomas, who began as one of just a handful of women correspondents. The film, directed by Rory Kennedy, premieres at 9 p.m. Monday on HBO (www.hbo.com).

• Josh Bernstein doesn't know if there was really a great flood around the time of Genesis or a chap named Noah who built an ark. But Bernstein isn't the sort to just sit around and wonder. He plunges into that rich mystery, and others, to try to find answers on his new Discovery Channel series, "Into the Unknown." An explorer, writer and wilderness educator, Bernstein devotes an episode to chasing the rumor that life might have started not on Earth, but Mars. He tries to track down a reason for the sudden disappearance five centuries ago of the Chachapoya tribe in Peru. And on the premiere at 10 p.m. Monday (dsc.discovery.com), he revisits the Roman Empire to investigate gladiators. Were they slaves? Or celebrities?