Dive into documentaries Seaspiracy and The Day Sports Stood Still

By Saloni Gajjar | March 24, 2021 | 5:00am

TV Lists Aretha Franklin

Dive into documentaries Seaspiracy and The Day Sports Stood Still

Ali Tabrizi in Seaspiracy (Photo: Lucy Tabrizi); Chris Paul in The Day Sports Stood Still (Photo: HBO)

Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Wednesday, March 24. All times are Eastern.

Top picks

Seaspiracy (Netflix, 3:01 a.m.): This new documentary, directed by Ali Tabrizi, examines the detriments of the global fishing industry. That’s right, a Netflix documentary that is not about true crime. Sort of. Seaspiracy aims to uncover the ocean and environmental destruction caused by humans. Think plastic, fishing gear, pollution, illegal fishing, heartbreaking hunting practices. Tabrizi initially set out to celebrate marine life, but what he ended up uncovering challenges the notions of sustainable fishing and how humanity is endangering marine life, and by extension, the planet.

Most Popular

The Day Sports Stood Still (HBO, 9 p.m.): Directed by Antoine Fuqua, this documentary chronicles how the Covid-19 outbreak affected the sports world after the shutdown in March 2020, how the NBA reopened competitive sports through “a bubble,” and the athletes’ prominent role in the national reckoning surrounding racial injustice, which reached a peak during the pandemic. The documentary features interviews with NBA All-Star and NBA Players Association president Chris Paul, who is also an executive producer; Mark Cuban; NBA players Donovan Mitchell, Danilo Gallinari, and Karl-Anthony Towns, who lost his mother and six other family members to the virus; NFL’s Laurent Duvernay-Tardif; MLB’s Mookie Betts; Olympian Laurie Hernandez; LPGA’s Michelle Wie West; and others.

Regular coverage

Riverdale (The CW, 8 p.m.)

Wild cards

Who Killed Sara (Netflix, 3:01 a.m.): In this Brazilian murder-mystery series, Alejandro Guzman, or Alex (Manolo Cardona), is wrongfully accused of his sister Sara’s death. After serving 18 years in prison, he is determined to find out who killed Sara and how it connects to a majorly corrupt family.

Genius: Aretha (National Geographic, 9 p.m., season finale): The third season of Genius, which focuses on music legend and civil rights activist Aretha Franklin, will wrap up tonight with episodes seven and eight. Read Danette Chavez’s interview with the show’s director Anthony Hemingway. The A.V. Club also has an exclusive clip from the final installments, which include a look at Franklin’s marriage to veteran actor Glynn Turman (who walked away with Fargo season four, it must be said).

How The Universe Works (Science Channel/Discovery+, 9 p.m., season premiere): For space buffs, the ninth season of How The Universe Works, narrated by Mike Rowe, will open with an episode titled “Journey To A Black Hole.” The show will air on the Science Channel, but it, and its past eight seasons, will be available to stream on Discovery+.