Freedom Riders (PBS) — It’s been 50 years since the nonviolent Freedom Riders took their interracial bus trip through the segregated South, and this documentary covers the nonviolent protesters who deliberately violated Jim Crow laws at the risk of their personal safety. Preview embedded below. (Pictured: James Zwerg after being beaten by a racist mob. You can learn more about him here.)

Castle (ABC) — Season 3 finale. A character that has been around since the beginning of the show will die tonight. How much you wanna bet it’s a black or Hispanic guy?

Chuck (NBC) — Season finale. It’s the long-awaited wedding of Chuck and Sarah. Honestly, I never understood the passion for this show. The little bit of charm that it has is more than negated by some of the hokiest action scenes on TV.

Real Housewives of New Jersey (Bravo) — Season premiere. Coke whore felon Danielle Staub is no longer part of the cast; she’s been replaced with two other women that I’m sure I’d hate if I ever wasted an hour of my life sitting through an episode.

OTHER SEASON FINALES: “Gossip Girl” (CW), “Hawaii Five-0″ (CBS), “How I Met Your Mother” (CBS), “Mad Love” (CBS), “90210″ (CW), and “Wedding Wars” (VH1).

LATE NIGHT GUESTS: Julianna Margulies and uber-douche Andy Cohen on Letterman; Eva Mendes on Leno; Zach Galifianakis on Conan; Eva Longoria and Ellie Kemper on Lopez; and Howie Mandel and Cee-Lo Green on Fallon. Why did we start using Cee-Lo’s last name? Are there other Cee-Los I should know about?

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For the last two decades, Ken Burns has entertained and educated people without cable by interviewing men with beards. Having already made documentaries about the Civil War and World War II, he’ll next tackle the American conflict in Vietnam. But don’t get too excited just yet — the new doc isn’t scheduled to air until 2016.

The series will explore the military, political, cultural, social, and human dimensions of what has been called “the war of lost illusions.” It will focus primarily on the human experience of the conflict, using eyewitness testimonies of so-called “ordinary” people – Americans as well as Vietnamese – whose lives were touched by the war. Parallel to the unfolding military narrative, the series will also tell the story of the millions of American citizens who became deeply opposed to it, taking to the streets in some of the largest protest demonstrations the nation has seen.

Whew, that’s a relief. Finally, someone is going to give baby boomers a chance to talk about Woodstock. Hey Ken Burns, can you sell this project by talking down to me?

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Shelley Duvall is the actress who was born to play Olive Oyl — and nothing else. Nonetheless, film directors in the 1970s were transfixed by her bug eyes and the rows of teeth in her Scylla-like maw, and so her grisly image lives on to make The Shining even creepier than it already is.

Duvall also produced and hosted PBS’s “Faerie Tale Theatre” from 1982 to 1987, which is the source of this haunting supercut of her saying, “Hello, I’m Shelley Duvall.” I’m positively transfixed by it. It leaves me hanging every time. I want her to say more. Like, “Hello, I’m Shelley Duvall, and I’m the inspiration for the monster version of Megan Fox in Jennifer’s Body.”

[Videogum]

Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides (PBS) — Part of the “American Masters” series, this documentary covers Bridges’s four-decade career in acting. In this preview clip, he drops in on the Little Lebowski shop in Greenwich Village. The cashier’s head almost explodes. (via Kottke)

Off the Map (ABC) — Series premiere. From “Grey’s Anatomy” creator Shonda Rimes comes this medical soap about doctors in the jungle. Rimes swears that it’s not “Grey’s Anatomy in the Jungle,” but… it’s “Grey’s Anatomy in the Jungle.” In a review that actually defends “Off the Map,” the A.V. Club calls it “pleasantly mediocre.” Wow. High praise. Be sure to tune in.

My Strange Addiction (TLC) — Click the inset screencap. That’s all you need to know about this show. (via suicideblonde)

Modern Family (ABC) — “24″ star Mary Lynn Rajskub guest stars as Mitchell’s old girlfriend. Man, the anglo-centric immigration authorities at Ellis Island really dropped the ball the day Mary Lynn’s ancestors came to the country.

Top Chef (Bravo) — The chefs have to catch a fish and cook it for dinner. Awesome. Fishing is never not exciting.

Human Target (Fox) — Two back-to-back episodes tonight. Little-known fact: Sarah Palin came up with the name for this show.

This past weekend, PBS aired the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor that was awarded to Tina Fey last week (watch highlights here), and the best part was probably Alec Baldwin’s appearance as the famed author and humorist. It works mostly because Baldwin oozes humorous charm with every word he speaks, but I especially liked this bit at the end:

“Tonight’s recipient of the Me Prize is the very talented and deserving Tina Fey. Tina… that’s a very funny name for a man. What? You’re kidding. For humor? But their brains aren’t shaped right!”

It’s true. Women should be restricted to making nests and nursing babies. And maybe some limited training at Subway in the field of sandwich artistry.

[NYT Arts Beat via NY Mag]