Remote Patrol

THE WIRE
Sundays at 9 on HBO

Still one of the most underappreciated crime shows on television, The Wire kicks off its ever subtle third season with the precarious power struggles among Baltimore drug dealers and crime fighters alike.

THE LOST BOYS OF SUDAN
September 28 at 10 on PBS

Peter and Santino lost their families during the civil war in Sudan, along with 20,000 other young men. This poignant, bittersweet documentary trails them on their journey from a refugee camp to resettlement in Texas. "We have heard it is like going to heaven," one of the teens says beforehand, but somehow the boys remain cheerful and cheeky even when faced with a more prickly reality.

FILM SCHOOL
Fridays at 10:30 on IFC

Just as The Apprentice and America's Next Top Modellaunch new seasons, would-be indie filmmakers throw their hats into the reality ring too. This 10-part series about NYU film school students skips between figures like Leah, an artsy 24-year-old who gets bogged down while trying to make a personal film about her needy mom; meanwhile, Alrick faces scaling down his wildly ambitious ideas for a comic-book-style treatment of the Amadou Diallo story.

DR. VEGAS
Fridays at 10 on CBS

I was hoping I'd like this new series starring Rob Lowe as a casino doctor and ex-Sopranos star Joe Pantoliano as his boss. Both actors struck out last season in separate lame series; unfortunately they don't do much better this time with a charming but tepid take on all the old Vegas clichés.