Highlights (and lowlights) for the week ahead: Three college cronies are ready to take on the world after graduation. But before they hit the job market: a cross-country road trip beginning in New York.

Bad idea.

When their sophomoric prank at a major Manhattan art museum coincides with the bombing of that magnificent landmark, two of the pranksters, Jay Burchell and Tyler Fog, are blamed for the terrorist attack. Making things worse, they must face the prospect that the other member of the trio, the aptly named Will Traveler, might have framed them.

Unable to find Will after the blast, or to locate any hard evidence — not so much as a snapshot — proving their friend ever existed, Jay and Tyler are forced to flee, with the city in a panic and the FBI hot on their trail.

How do they keep from getting nabbed long enough to prove their innocence? How do they pin down the truth about the chum they knew as Traveler? What's the conspiracy behind the attack? And is Tyler's financier father their ally or foe?

Those are the mysteries propelling "Traveler," a new ABC serial drama. It premieres May 30, but a "sneak preview" airs on Thursday at 11 p.m. Matthew Bomer stars as Jay, Logan Marshall-Green is Tyler, and Aaron Stanford is Traveler ... whoever the heck he is.

Other shows this week to look out for>

[bul] Filmmaker Doug Block thought his parents had the perfect marriage — that is, until his mom died suddenly and his father quickly remarried. As Block and his sisters pack up their childhood home in suburban Long Island for his father's move to Florida with the new wife, they find a cache of their mother's journals that reveal they knew very little about their parents' lives. Block realises he has just a few short weeks before his 83-year-old father takes off for the Sunshine State, at which point a lifetime of memories will forever be packed away. What else can he do? He grabs his camera and heads home, determined to delve into his parents' marriage and confront this stranger who is his father. The result is "51 Birch Street," a documentary that raises the questions: Do we ever really know our parents? And if we were suddenly given the chance to know all about them, would we take it? The film airs 7 p.m. Tuesday on Cinemax.

[bul] Flash! Pocahontas didn't really save John Smith's life. Or so it now seems. As the nation marks this month's 400th anniversary of Jamestown, Virginia, PBS' "NOVA" has obtained exclusive access to a scientific discovery that presents a more nuanced version of the popular romantic legend. Long sought by archaeologists, Werowocomoco is the spot where, according to English colonist John Smith, a smitten Pocahontas saved him from execution by her father, the powerful Indian chief Powhatan. But recent research at Werowocomoco suggests Pocahontas did not act on romantic impulse, but was playing a role in a piece of political theatre directed by her father. "Pocahontas Revealed" offers the first footage of the artefacts discovered at the Werowocomoco site, where excavations provide a unique opportunity for science to explore events at what was one of the most important Indian villages on the East Coast. The film airs at 9 p.m. Tuesday (check local listings).

[bul] "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" is famous for the ripped-from-the-headlines tales. But the ink was barely dry for this week's episode: Titled "Bombshell", the story seems suspiciously similar to the saga of Anna Nicole Smith, the stripper-turned-model-and-wealthy-widow who died suddenly three months to the day before this episode's airing. Guest star Kristy Swanson pinch hits for Anna Nicole (here named Lorelei), while David Cross is terrific playing her weasly, opportunistic companion. As Detective Mike Logan (series star Christopher Noth) observes: "Every family gets a pass on one suspicious death. Two in one week — that's a little much." But don't worry. Logan cracks 'em both. "Criminal Intent" airs at 10 p.m. on Tuesday on NBC.

[bul] The United States is one of the only countries in the world that allows children under 18 to be prosecuted as adults and sentenced to life without parole. In Colorado, between 1992 and 2006, 45 teenage juveniles were sentenced to prison without the hope of ever being released. In the "Frontline" programme "When Kids Get Life," producer Ofra Bikel visits five young men sentenced to life without parole to examine their crimes and punishment, the laws that sanctioned their convictions, and the prospect of their never being free again. Example: Trevor Jones, who was trying to scam $100 from a classmate when his gun discharged and killed Matt Foley, who was attempting to purchase the weapon. Because the accident occurred in the commission of armed robbery, Jones is now spending his 10th year in prison and will never be free again. It airs at 10 p.m. on Tuesday on PBS.