Snoop Dogg narrates "Uprising: Hip-Hop & the LA Riots" (9 p.m., VH1). The documentary recalls the civil unrest that rocked Los Angeles in late April 1992, leaving 53 people dead and countless businesses looted and burned.

"Uprising" revisits the rage that accompanied the telecast of amateur video footage showing Los Angeles police officers beating a black man named Rodney King, and the incendiary

violence that followed the officers' acquittal.

Featuring interviews with

musicians and ordinary citizens caught up in the violent frenzy, the film discusses how the popular "gangsta" rap of the period all but predicted the street chaos and became a virtual soundtrack to the unfolding calamity.

The King video marked a real turning point in media. For decades, dating at least to the 1949 publication of George Orwell's novel "1984," people had focused on the government's use of surveillance cameras to control and pacify the population. The King video showed how ordinary people could monitor the authorities and shine a spotlight on injustice and abuse. The proliferation of video cameras and phone cameras in the last two decades has accelerated this trend, enabling people all over the world to watch street uprisings in Iran in 2009, the uprising in Egypt in early 2011 and the ongoing rebellion in Syria.

Ubiquitous cameras have not banished tyrannical regimes or ended police brutality, but they have made it harder to hide or deny abuses.

The period discussed in this film also marked the high tide of rap and hip-hop music as

serious, engaged and enraged social commentary. It was said then that rap was the CNN of the 'hood. As it has evolved over the years and put more emphasis on bling, it has become more like QVC.

---TV-themed DVDs available today include season one of "Felicity."

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

---Rachel and Kurt make their big-city tryout on "Glee" (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14).

---"American Experience" (8 p.m., PBS) profiles black American track star Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It was quite a statement at a spectacle designed to showcase Hitler's belief in the invincible superiority of the so-called Aryan race.

---Results and elimination on "The Voice" (9 p.m., NBC).

---A virus looms on a "Hawaii Five-O" crossover episode of "NCIS: Los Angeles" (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14).

---Fears of romantic retreat on "New Girl" (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14).

---Eliminations on "Dancing With the Stars" (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).

---"Frontline" (9 p.m., PBS) presents part two of "Money, Power and Wall Street," a survey history of the economic collapse of 2008.

---The fishing season seems to last too long on "Deadliest Catch" (9 p.m., Discovery, TV-14).

---Suspicion abounds when Carrie's oldest foe becomes a victim on "Unforgettable" (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).

---Designers vie to turn their dreams into product placements on "Fashion Star" (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).

---An illegal immigrant facing deportation wants to give birth in the United States on "Private Prac tice" (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).

CULT CHOICE

An aging fisherman (Spencer Tracy) struggles to keep the catch of a lifetime in the 1958 adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's short novel "The Old Man and the Sea" (10:15 p.m., TCM).

SERIES NOTES

---A suspicious fire sparks a change in procedures on "NCIS" (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).

---Mike tries to make amends on "Last Man Standing" (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).

---Billy Ray Cyrus guest stars on "90210" (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG).

---Holly's secret revealed on "Cougar Town" (8:30 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).

---Abby mulls a sketchy offer on "The L.A. Complex" (9 p.m., CW, TV-14).

LATE NIGHT

---David Barton is scheduled on "The Daily Show With Jon Stew art" (11 p.m., Comedy Central).

---Sofia Vergara, Paul F. Tompkins and Tig Notaro appear on "Conan" (11 p.m., TBS, r).

---Seth Meyers and Father John Misty appear on "Late Show With David Letterman" (11:35 p.m., CBS).

---Jay Leno welcomes Cameron Diaz, William Shatner and Lee Brice on "The Tonight Show" (11:35 p.m., NBC).

---Civil Twilight appears on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (midnight, ABC).

---Mark Ruffalo, Mario Batali, Steve and JoAnn Ward and Santigold visit "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" (12:35 a.m., NBC).

---Craig Ferguson hosts Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Lennon Parham on "The Late Late Show" (12:35 a.m., CBS).

Kevin McDonough can be reached at kevin.tvguy@gmail.com.