SUNDAY,8 p.m.

Search for Noah’s Ark

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL “…the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat,” we read in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 8. Just where Noah and his family and the animals were, we do not know; but this special tells of searchers and their methods.

SUNDAY,9 p.m.

The Sinking of the Lusitania

DISCOVERY CHANNEL On May 7, 1915, the German submarine U-20 sank the British liner RMS Lusitania off Cobh, Ireland, with a loss of 1,198 lives. This documentary describes the resultant outrage around the world — a reaction that in the United States prompted some to start calling for U.S. entry into the then-raging First World War.

MONDAY,9 p.m.

American Experience:  Amelia Earhart

PBS Amelia Mary Earhart (1897-1937) thrilled her fellow Americans with her aviation exploits, such as becoming the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic and the first across North America. While trying to fly around the world along the equator in 1937, she and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in the Pacific. A re-air from 1996.

MONDAY,9 p.m.

Cities of the Underworld: Rome’s Hidden Empire

HISTORY CHANNEL No, this is not a crime show, just one in a new series about the archaeological treasures beneath today’s great cities. In Rome, Domitian’s Stadium lies under the Piazza Navona, some of Trajan’s Basilica is below a fashion gallery and a cult’s temple is underground near the Circus Maximus. Archaeologists show us how cities build upon layers of construction. Re-airs 1 p.m. Saturday. Advisory: TV-PG.

WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY

Pope Benedict XVI in Brazil

EWTN See the Holy Father arrive in Brazil (3:30 p.m. Wednesday; re-air, 9 p.m.); meet the president (9:30 a.m. Thursday) and young people (4:30 p.m. Thursday), celebrate Mass (7:30 a.m. Friday) and meet Brazil’s bishops (2:30 p.m. Friday).

THURSDAY,8 p.m.

Mega Movers: Ships Moving Ships

HISTORY CHANNEL Look in on the design and building of a submersible vessel so massive that it could transport the huge aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan if it were ever disabled; and watch another heavy-lift ship transport a minesweeper. Advisory: TV-PG.

SATURDAY, 10:30 p.m.

Guilty of Treason

FAMILYLAND TV “After taking so many things, the world can still rob us of this or that, but it cannot take our faith in Jesus Christ,” wrote Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty in 1948, knowing that Hungary’s Soviet puppet regime was about to arrest him. This drama from 1950, starring Charles Bickford as the cardinal and featuring Bonita Granville and Paul Kelly, captures a Catholic hero’s goodness in the face of communism’s stark evil.

Dan Engler writes from

Santa Barbara, California.