The Sixties, SBS One, 7.30pm

The focus is on social change in this episode of the handsomely produced 10-part documentary series about a momentous decade in America. It chronicles the way in which the women's movement grew from the civil-rights push and then takes in the origins of the environmental movement before moving on to the early stirrings of gay rights activism. There's abundant, well-chosen archival footage, as well as an array of astute interviewees. The impact of pioneers, including Rachel Carson, Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan and Cesar Chavez, is highlighted.

Kitchen Cabinet (premiere), ABC, 8pm

Annabel Crabb opens the fourth season of her illuminating political interview series by ascending from Sydney Harbour to the domain of an elder statesman. Former prime minister Bob Hawke and his wife, Blanche d'Alpuget, greet her in their waterfront aerie, give her a quick tour of the pool room and proudly display their facing offices before d'Alpuget makes a strategic exit. Then Hawke cooks a lunch of steamed fish with ginger and shallot sauce, assisted by d'Alpuget's son, Louis, who rises to the occasion in a tux. The conversation ranges across the former Labor leader's warm memories of his upbringing, his partnership with treasurer Paul Keating and meetings with foreign dignitaries. There's advice for the current federal Opposition Leader, mention of the healing properties of black cherries, a brief admission of regret and passing discussion of Crabb's proposal that all politicians are a bit bonkers. Dessert is cream puffs accompanied by a spot of golf-putting on the roof. The encounter is like a glimpse of an ageing lion in his den. Hawke is a little shaky but still spirited and mentally agile. Crabb has a capacity to be charming and disarming, and to lob in some meaty questions between mouthfuls.

The Walking Dead, SBS2, 9.35pm

The world is a perpetually menacing place in Glen Mazzara's horror series. As the third season starts, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his hardy yet exhausted band of survivors are seeking shelter. A prison looms as a possibility, after they've massacred the zombie inmates. In their campaign to find a relatively safe haven, heads are severed, limbs hacked off and blood flows. Not for the squeamish.

Debi Enker

PAY TV

Alan Carr: Chatty Man, UKTV, 9.30pm

Warm. Unpretentious. Smutty. These are three words that spring to mind when it comes to Alan Carr. Then springs the all-important fourth: Funny. Carr's repartee with his guests is so quick and clever that Chatty Man could only be improved by ditching his opening monologue. There'd be no loss in doing away with the tepid topical gags, and plenty to gain from letting the pony have his head that bit longer. Tonight's first guest is British singer-songwriter Jessie J, who knows just what to bring in terms of having fun and making a point. The big-name guest is Lionel Richie, who is in good humour, telling some little-known stories before finding himself in the middle of a barmy tribute that he won't soon forget. Chatty Man remains a real treat, and Carr a fine peer for the otherwise peerless Graham Norton (who you'll find chatting to Don Johnson and Cheryl Cole from 8.30pm).

The Leftovers, Showcase, 8.30pm

Things remain murky - as befits something developed by Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof. But this second episode provides clues as to where things might be headed three years after 2 per cent of the world's population disappeared. Especially when small-town police chief Kevin (Justin Theroux) asks his mad dad (Scott Glenn) about what he fears is hereditary insanity.

Brad Newsome

MOVIES

Shane (1953), ABC2, 1.35am (Wednesday)

Director George Stevens (A Place in the Sun, Giant) could be prone to obtrusive excess, and there's no denying this 1953 western about a mysterious former gunfighter defending homesteaders veers towards the mythic, but there's enough unsaid in Shane to keep it on an even keel. The titular lead performance by Alan Ladd, as the veteran frontier hand who rides into a contentious Wyoming valley, is in some ways a very modern performance, refusing to commit the character so that friction spills over into his relationships, most notably with the wife (Jean Arthur) of the struggling rancher (Van Heflin) who takes him in, offering employment and the suggestion of an actual home. Like The Searchers, it suggests those who make the frontier safe can never stay to enjoy the peace, and must keep moving, accompanied only by the ghosts they carry and, in this case, the plaintive cries of the little boy (Brandon deWilde) who idolises him.

Ghost Rider (2007), Action Movies (pay TV), 6.35pm

A flailing comic book adaptation, Mark Johnson's Ghost Rider begins with a teenage boy, Johnny Blaze (Matt Long), selling his soul to Mephistopheles (an urbane Peter Fonda) to save the life of his father, a motorcycle stunt rider. Twenty years later, having been kept alive by the possessor of his soul, the adult Johnny (Nicolas Cage) is called into action to serve as the Devil's bounty hunter, the Ghost Rider, when Lucifer jnr, Blackheart (Wes Bentley), decides to take over the family business; there's also a girl (Eva Mendes), a wisecracking sidekick (Donal Logue) and a mentor figure (Sam Elliott), all as generic as the lack of names suggest. Cage's wilderness years were also looming, but there are scenes here - away from the garish, overextravagant digital effects - where he remains alive to the performance's possibilities, be they perverse or comic, that Johnson doesn't see. When Johnny, also a stunt rider, receives the crowd's applause, his stance is that of Elvis on stage.

Craig Mathieson