Escapism, thy name is “Robin Hood” (8 p.m., today, BBC America). For all of the attempts to update this swashbuckling story, “Robin” offers old-fashioned thrills and plenty of reminders of how this tale inspired and informed our entertainment history from Westerns to the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” sagas.

The makers have intentionally modernized Robin Hood’s (Jonas Armstrong) language, and Marian (Lucy Griffiths) shows contemporary spunk, even if she does play hard to get. They have the evil sheriff of Nottingham (Keith Allen) launch a dastardly ambush with the phrase “It’s showtime!”

But worry not, purists. This “Robin Hood” still teems with acrobatic fights above battlements and improbable escapes from certain death.

¢ The devilishly clever British chatfest “The Graham Norton Show” (9 p.m., BBC America) returns for a third season of pushing the boundaries of American television. Tonight’s guests include actors Tony Curtis and Kevin Bacon.

¢ Imagine a small city where every resident sleeps on top of a nuclear reactor that happens to be next to a huge weapons depot located underneath one of the world’s most dangerous airports. No, I’m not talking about Springfield on “The Simpsons,” but the everyday conditions documented in the 10-part, five-night series “Carrier” (8 p.m., PBS, Sunday through Thursday).

Filmed over a sixth-month period on the USS Nimitz while on deployment in the Persian Gulf, “Carrier” offers interviews with many among the 5,200-person crew.

¢ “Celebracadabra!” (8 p.m., Sunday, VH1) sports not only one of the stupidest titles in TV history, it’s proof positive that Carnie Wilson (“101 Celebrity Slim Downs,” “Gone Country,” “Inside Edition”) will appear on just about anything.

¢ “Nazi Scrapbooks from Hell” (8 p.m., Sunday, National Geographic) looks at two photo collections that were not supposed to survive the Holocaust. One documents the arrival of Hungarian Jews in 1944 at the Aushwitz death camp. Another collection is at once more innocuous and chilling. It documents camp guards and personnel at moments of leisure – playing with dogs and enjoying a blueberry harvest – a little down-time before resuming the grueling task of gassing and burning thousands of new arrivals every day. One expects that only monsters could do such work, but these pictures reveal the camp workers to be ordinary folk – just like you and me. And that’s all the more horrifying.

Today’s highlights

¢ In addition to her movie “Baby Mama,” the “SNL” comic Amy Poehler lends her voice to the new kids cartoon “The Mighty B!” (9:30 a.m., Nickelodeon).

¢ Ariel’s dream helps Alison’s investigation on “Medium” (7 p.m., NBC).

¢ Ralph Fiennes joins the cast as Lord Voldemort in the 2005 sequel “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” (7 p.m., ABC).

¢ Spend six hours at the DMV with the “Parking Wars” (7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., A&E) marathon.

¢ Scheduled on “48 Hours Mystery” (9 p.m., CBS): A wife and mother’s secret emerges after her disappearance.

Sunday’s highlights

¢ Henry sends More to the tower on “The Tudors” (8 p.m., Showtime).