Civics set to song? A “Schoolhouse Rock” for a new generation, the animated Netflix series “We the People” offers lessons about the Bill of Rights, active citizenship, the role of the courts, the power of the First Amendment, the three branches of government and other basic lessons. Each installment has a different animation style, set to different songs by H.E.R., Janelle Monae, Brandi Carlile, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Adam Lambert, Cordae, Bebe Rexha, KYLE, Andra Day and poet Amanda Gorman. Executive producers include Barack and Michelle Obama.
“We the People” begins streaming on July 4.
— “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular” (8 p.m., Sunday, NBC, TV-PG) returns to a new “normal.” Renee Elise Goldsberry and Ryan Eggold host the live fireworks and music by Black Pumas, Coldplay, OneRepublic and Reba McEntire. PBS’s “Capitol Fourth 2021” (8 p.m., Sunday, TV-G) also returns to form, with a musical celebration of the nation’s 245th birthday.
— If Saturday’s cable movies have a theme, let’s call it “June’s over and weddings aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.”
Hallmark, the go-to channel for unchallenging romances, offers the 2021 bauble “It Was Always You” (9 p.m., TV-G). Here, an overworked bride-to-be doesn’t just chuck Mr. Wrong on the brink of their wedding. She takes up with his brother! I’d like a Hallmark follow-up, just to see how his family navigates Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The Showtime offshoot Showcase offers two very different films that will make viewers resist the urge to tie the knot. The 2009 comedy “I Love You, Man” (7:45 p.m.) stars Rashida Jones as a bride-to-be who finds her fiance (Paul Rudd) consumed with his bromance to a new best bud (Jason Segel). The 2017 drama “I, Tonya” (9:30 p.m.) recalls Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), arguably the worst ex-husband who ever lived, a man who tarnished Tonya Harding’s (Margot Robbie) rags-to-riches skating narrative by staging an attack on her Olympic rival. Something to savor while awaiting Tokyo’s opening ceremonies. And while wading into a July that may not be a good month for brides.
— The 2021 documentary “The One and Only Dick Gregory” (9 p.m. Sunday, Showtime, TV-MA) recalls an influential comedian and activist from the civil rights era. Gregory spoke up about racism in front of white audiences at a time when many comics were more deferential. The title of his 1964 memoir was the N-word. So just walking around with Dick Gregory’s book was an incendiary act.
Gregory’s politically charged comedy gave way to a career of activism as he got older. He became associated with numerous causes, from feminism to Native American rights, questioning the findings of the Warren Commission and a dedication to vegetarianism, nutrition and healthy living, particularly as they affected minority communities, often located in neighborhoods bereft of nutritious choices.
Those too young to recall Gregory’s activism in the 1960s might associate him with his work in the 1980s, helping morbidly obese individuals shed the weight that was killing them.
The film is filled with interviews with fellow comics, writers and others influenced by Gregory’s humor and audacity, including Kevin Hart, Chris Rock, Lena Waithe, Dave Chappelle, Wanda Sykes, W. Kamau Bell, Harry Belafonte, Lillian Gregory, Steve Jaffe and Christian Gregory.
— Kevin Costner and Diane Lane star in the 2020 thriller “Let Him Go” (8 p.m. Saturday, HBO, streaming on HBO Max), as parents who lose their son in a riding accident and then discover that his widow and their only grandson may be in peril. The film has received positive reviews for its believable portrayal of grief and how subtly it transforms into a full-blown thriller.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Major League Baseball (7 p.m., Fox). Check local listings for regional coverage.
— Auto racing (8 p.m., CBS).
— A single mom in search of a new start in a small town is pulled into intrigue when her new friend goes missing in the 2021 shocker “A Date With Danger” (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).
— Flint tries to ensure domestic tranquility on “Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty” (8 p.m., BBC America, TV-PG).
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (7 p.m., CBS): Russia’s cyberattack on America; a profile of Ken Burns; New Orleans’ St. Augustine High School Marching Band.
— The Yankees host the Mets in interleague Major League Baseball (7 p.m., ESPN).
— McCall’s daughter witnesses a rubout on “The Equalizer” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— A spy passes himself off as an artist on “Little Birds” (9:30 p.m., Starz, TV-MA).
CULT CHOICE
— A writer (Joseph Cotten) of pulp fiction discovers that his old friend (Orson Welles) has committed monstrous deeds in the ruins of postwar Vienna in director Carol Reed’s brooding 1949 adaptation of Graham Greene’s “The Third Man” (4 p.m. Saturday, TCM, TV-14). The movie’s theme, performed on a zither, spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts!
SATURDAY SERIES
“America’s Got Talent” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) … “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (8 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … A diet for a small planet on “Shark Tank” (9 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … “48 Hours” (10 p.m., CBS, r) … “Dateline” (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) … Claire’s dad visits on “The Good Doctor” (10 p.m., ABC, r, TV-14).
SUNDAY SERIES
— Burns becomes an undercover boss on “The Simpsons” (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) … “Celebrity Family Feud” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-14) … Saving Sara on “D.C.’s Legends of Tomorrow” (8 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG) … Moon becomes a Bigfoot agnostic on “The Great North” (8:30 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14).
Smoke signals from Hetty on “NCIS: Los Angeles” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … A deception bites back on “Bob’s Burgers” (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) … “The Chase” (9 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … Illusionists audition on “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” (9 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG) … Peter works as a nurse on “Family Guy” (9:30 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) … Wedding plans on “NCIS: New Orleans” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … “To Tell the Truth” (10 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG).
