CATEGORY: MADE FOR TV

Time travelers

Three high-school outcasts shake up their school’s social structure by inventing a time machine in the Disney channel film “Minutemen.” The machine allows them to help other misfits from enduring humiliating situations. Jason Dolley and Steven R. McQueen, star.

MINUTEMEN

Friday, 8 p.m., Disney Channel

CATEGORY: DOCUMENTARY

Brain drain

Once thought of as an advanced surgical procedure for mentally ill patients, the lobotomy became synonymous with medical butchery. Championed by neurologist Walter J. Freeman, the lobotomy caught on fast and was soon being performed at some 50 state asylums, often with devastating results. Only a decade after his rise to fame, Freeman was decried as a moral monster and the procedure as one of the most barbaric mistakes of modern medicine.

THE LOBOTOMIST

Monday, 9 p.m., PBS

CATEGORY: DRAMA

Planting a seed

Shirley Schmidt (Candace Bergen) defends Missy Tiggs who, after being dumped by her husband, stole some semen and artificially impregnated herself. Shirley finds herself going up against Alan Shore (James Spader) when he’s hired to represent the man whose seed was lifted. Meanwhile, Jerry Espenson defends an ex-girlfriend who loses her teaching job after hugging a student.

BOSTON LEGAL

Tuesday, 10 p.m., ABC

CATEGORY: COMEDY

The pickup artist

Daniel (Eric Mabius) gives Betty (America Ferrera) a plum assignment – to interview Phil Roth. At first, Betty is ecstatic because she thinks she’s getting face time with novelist Philip Roth. Then it turns out that it’s a different Roth – a guy who writes books on how to pick up women. Meanwhile, Amanda (Becki Newton) and Marc (Michael Urie) hatch a plan to reach out to the man they believe is Amanda’s natural dad. And Daniel hooks up with a new babe.

UGLY BETTY

Thursday, 8 p.m., ABC

CATEGORY: DRAMA

Sperm bank break-in

The robbery of fertilized embryos from a sperm bank call for Detectives Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) to track down the thief. Clues from the clinic’s security tape lead Benson and Stabler to a long list of suspects including James and Victoria Grall (Mark Moses and Janine Turner), two publicity-hungry extremists. The detectives race against the clock to find the missing embryos, but that isn’t the only clock that’s ticking — Olivia considers her own fertility and the possibility of motherhood.

LAW & ORDER: SVU

Tuesday, 10 p.m., NBC