'NYPD 24-7' goes to the scene of the crime

"NYPD 24-7" opens with a call about a suicide in a Manhattan subway station, where the body lies along the tracks below the station platform.

Detective Steve DiSchiavi has seen it all in his career, but sometimes there's a twist. Like this time: This guy had wanted to be killed by the train, but when it stopped short he went to Plan B and offed himself with the pistol he was carrying.

"Kinda like being a Boy Scout, I guess," says DiSchiavi in world-weary wonder. "Always being prepared."

Then a call comes in that a young woman has been stabbed in the lobby of her boyfriend's apartment building and clings uncertainly to life.

Bagging the assailant consumes DiSchiavi and fellow cops from the Manhattan South homicide squad as the winding, often frustrating case unfolds. By the end of this premiere of the ABC News documentary series, they have their man.

Airing at 9 p.m. Tuesday, the seven-episode "NYPD 24-7" occupies the usual time slot of "NYPD Blue" and, lest a viewer still fails to make the connection, Dennis Franz, star of the long-running cop drama, serves as narrator.

In the style of earlier ABC News miniseries "Hopkins 24-7" (an inside look at a hospital) and "Boston 24-7" (chronicling a year with a big-city mayor), "NYPD 24-7" shadows members of the New York's Homicide, Special Victims and Crime Scene units over a 16-month period.

"We see stuff that nobody should have to see," says DiSchiavi. Here's a chance for viewers to get a glimpse.

Other shows to look out for:

-- It's tough enough being a 15-year-old boy just trying to grow up. It's even tougher when your parents are divorcing. But then on top of it all, you learn your dad is gay, and that he's fallen in love with someone new -- another man. Anton Yelchin ("Hearts in Atlantis") plays the son and title character in "Jack," a Showtime Original Picture for All Ages that premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. Directed by Lee Rose (Showtime films "A Girl Thing" and "What Girls Learn"), "Jack" also stars Stockard Channing ("The West Wing") and Ron Silver ("Reversal of Fortune") as Jack's parents.

-- More history, more mysteries are on tap for the second season of PBS' "History Detectives," returning Monday at 9 p.m. (check local listings). Revealing the historical significance of artifacts, buildings and legends from across America, each of 12 hourlong episodes tackles three unanswered mysteries. Among those in the season premiere: Was a New Jersey home designed and built by Thomas Edison -- unrecognized up to now for architectural skills -- as the home's current resident believes? And what about a pipe owned by a "History Detective" viewer, said to have been given to her ancestor, an Indian agent, by the warrior Chief Red Cloud more than a century ago: Would he have made such a gesture toward a U.S. government official?

-- More than a half-century after his death at 29, Hank Williams lives on, not only through his own records, but through his songs performed by artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Norah Jones, Perry Como, Dinah Washington and British punk band The The. PBS' "American Masters" profiles this country superstar in a 60-minute portrait featuring interviews with his widow, Billie Jean Horton, as well as with his musician descendants, son Hank Jr. and grandson Hank III. The composer of such classics as "Your Cheatin' Heart" and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," Williams got ideas for his heartache-ridden songs from comic books, he said, and knew full well why so many listeners connected with him: Everybody loves to feel sorry for themselves. "Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues" airs at 8 p.m. Wednesday (check local listings).

-- "Everyday People" is a gentle, insightful film about a Brooklyn diner, its workers and its customers. What will be the impact on each of them when its owner decides to close up shop and sell the property to a large-scale developer? "Everyday People" pits personal priorities against the welfare of the community while it explores the tensions between business and friendship. Directed by Jim McKay ("Girls Town," "Our Song"), the film was an official selection at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Its stars include Reg E. Cathey ("The Mask," TV's "Oz") and Jordan Gelber, currently on Broadway in the Tony-winning musical, "Avenue Q." It airs at 9 p.m. Saturday (June 26) on HBO.

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EDITOR'S NOTE -- Frazier Moore can be reached at fmoore(at)ap.org