TV smarts

Some broadcast and cable programs contain material included in the public school curriculum and on standardized examinations. Here are weekend home-viewing tips:

* Today. “My America . . . or Honk if You Love Buddha� (KCET, 10-11:30 p.m.) This is a documentary about a “road guru� and all-around eccentric, the 70-year-old actor Victor Wong, and a set of other offbeat and distinctive Asian Americans (Korean, Filipino, Japanese, Hmong, Vietnamese and Chinese). Wong’s career includes roles in “Seven Years in Tibet,� “The Joy Luck Club� and “The Last Emperor.� This film was made during a coast-to-coast odyssey, reminiscent of the fictional events in the Jack Kerouac novel “On the Road,� by Academy Award nominee Renee Tajima-Pena.

* Friday. “Oskar Schindler: The Man Behind the List,� (A&E;, 5-5 p.m., repeating 9-10 p.m.) This is a documentary corroborating a story told in the Academy Award-winning movie “Schindler’s List,� in which a Nazi businessman during World War II thwarted his government’s efforts to kill more than 1,000 Jewish men and women who worked at his factory.

* Saturday. “Cyrano de Bergerac� (Bravo, 2-5 p.m.) This is a filmed version of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Broadway production of the Edmond Rostand play, translated from the French and adapted by British novelist Anthony Burgess (“A Clockwork Orange�), and starring Derek Jacobi.

Also, “The Chicago Seven,� (TLC, 7-8 p.m.). This is a documentary about the leaders at the demonstration against the 1968 Democratic Party Convention in Chicago, their subsequent arrest, trial and careers.

* Sunday. “Far From the Madding Crowd� (KCET, Part I, 9-11 p.m., with Part II airing May 17, 9-11 p.m.) This production, part of PBS’s “Masterpiece Theatre� series, is based on Thomas Hardy’s 1874 English novel about an unconventional heiress who juggles the attentions of three suitors. Paloma Baeza stars. Series host is Pulitzer Prize winner Russell Baker.

--Compiled by Richard Kahlenberg in consultation with Crystal J. Gips, associate dean, College of Education, Cal State Northridge