NEW YORK ? It's the definitive filmed documentary of the civil rights era.

Nearly two decades after its 1987 premiere, "Eyes on the Prize" returns to the air on Monday on PBS' "American Experience" with the first of three weekly two-hour instalments that cover the struggle for equality from the Montgomery bus boycott to the Voting Rights Act.

Produced by the late filmmaker Henry Hampton, "Eyes on the Prize" recounts the fight to end decades of discrimination and segregation where whites and blacks could not attend the same school, ride the same bus or otherwise share equally in American life. The tale is told from the point of view of ordinary men and women whose extraordinary actions launched a movement that, however belatedly, helped America make good on its most basic promises.

Airing at 10 p.m. Bermuda time on Monday, the first instalment includes "Awakenings ? 1954-56", which chronicles individual acts of courage that inspired black Southerners to fight for what was due them: Mose Wright testifying against the white men who murdered young Emmett Till, and Rosa Parks refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama.

Then, at 11 p.m., "Fighting Back ? 1957-1962" charts the collision of states' rights loyalists with federal authorities in the 1957 battle to integrate Little Rock's Central High School, and then again with James Meredith's 1962 challenge to segregation at the University of Mississippi. In both instances, a Southern governor squared off with a US president; violence erupted; integration was carried out.

Subsequent editions will air on October 9 and 16, concluding with "Bridge to Freedom ? 1965" and passage of the Voter Rights Bill.

Eight additional hours of this much-honoured series will air in the future.

"The Game" (Sunday, 9.30 p.m.; CW) is a lightweight sitcom about women who play the game of being wives, girlfriends, groupies and moms of pro football stars. In particular, Tia Mowry is cast as a medical school student who juggles her studies with the demands of her boyfriend (Pooch Hall), a rookie with the San Diego Sabers. Also starring Coby Bell, Hosea Chanchez, Wendy Raquel Robinson and Brittany Daniel, "The Game" seldom scores.

"Friday Night Lights" (Tuesday, 9 p.m.; NBC) is a drama about football that even viewers who care nothing about football will love. Breathtaking in how it captures ordinary life set against extraordinary passions and world-class skills, this is the saga of a small Texas town and its high school team, the Panthers ? the nation's top-ranked high school football squad. And in this first week of their season, the newly appointed head coach (Kyle Chandler) has no choice but to kick things off with a win. As the tension mounts, "Friday Night Lights" proves itself a winner.

"The Nine" (Wednesday, 11 p.m.; ABC) begins with the chance meeting of strangers at a Los Angeles bank branch, where they are held hostage for two days by a pair of gunmen. But the long-range mission of this gripping drama is to track the aftereffects of those who were there (including the perpetrators) ? lives changed and intertwined in ways none of them could have imagined. The strong ensemble cast includes Tim Daly, Scott Wolf, Chi McBride and Kim Raver.

Finally, Bill Moyers looks at Beltway corruption in "Capitol Crimes", a 90-minute documentary that begins three weeks of "Moyers on America" investigations. Airing on Wednesday at 10 p.m., "Capitol Crimes" chronicles the rise of lobbyist Jack Abramoff from an ambitious young ideologue to a kingpin of Republican Washington. Abramoff has pleaded guilty in an influence-peddling scandal and is cooperating with a wide-ranging Justice Department probe of alleged corruption on Capitol Hill and in the executive branch. Moyers describes the Abramoff affair as "perfidy and politics that boggles the imagination" ? and yet the possibility for more Abramoffs to rise, he adds, is unchanged: "The system remains as vulnerable as ever." Following the documentary is a discussion of the scandal's implications led by Moyers.