Best-bets for June 9: A mythical heroine (Stargirl) and a real one (Oprah)

1) “Stargirl,” 8 p.m., CW. This is the sort of episode – sober, serious, unnerving – a show might have in its fourth season; here, remarkably, it’s the fourth episode of the first season. As part of a five-minute prologue, wordless and compelling, we learn why a classmate is despondent. Then Courtney (Brec Bassinger, shown here in the first episode), an upbeat type, tries to recruit her as a fellow superhero. The result is well-made and involving. Read more…

1) “Stargirl,” 8 p.m., CW. This is the sort of episode – sober, serious, unnerving – a show might have in its fourth season; here, remarkably, it’s the fourth episode of the first season. As part of a five-minute prologue, wordless and compelling, we learn why a classmate is despondent. Then Courtney (Brec Bassinger, shown here in the first episode), an upbeat type, tries to recruit her as a fellow superhero. The result is well-made and involving.

2) “Where Do We Go From Here?” 9 p.m., Oprah Winfrey Network, plus Discovery, HGTV, TLC, ID, Food and more. Amid the current race-relations crises, we need Oprah Winfrey more than ever, Now she’s back, with a two-night special that will sprawl across the Discovery cable channels, plus apps and social media. She’ll talk with writers and historians, plus Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Georgia politician Stacey Abrams, filmmaker Ava DuVernay and her “Selma” star, David Oyelowo,..

3) “Modern Family,” 9 and 9:30 p.m., ABC. Here are the reruns that were set for last week, then bumped by a news special. First, the entire family goes to Paris. Then Phil visits his dad; it was the final “Modern Family” episode for Fred Willard, who died last month at 86.

4) “American Experience: Stonewall Uprising,” 9 p.m., PBS (check local listings). A half-century before the current black-rights protests, a different group was protesting police treatment. This documentary relates the 1969 confrontation that propelled the gay-rights movement. More documentaries are scheduled forc Friday.

5) “The Betty Broderick Story,” 10 p.m., USA. The two-hour opener saw Dan Broderick (Christian Slater) plod his way to the top –Ivy League medical AND law degrees – while his wife (Amanda Peet) raised their four kids. This hour – the third of eight – starts with them on opposite sides of friends’ marital woes. It’s a so-so start; a camera in perpetual circles doesn’t count as directing. But then come two quietly potent scenes – first at a marriage-encounter session and then in the final minute.

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