Best Bets on TV Tonight

"Sleeper Cell" (10 p.m., Showtime): This gripping 10-part cable drama series brings something fresh to America's airwaves: A Muslim character who is a hero in the ongoing battle against terrorism. Michael Ealy plays Darwyn al-Sayeed, an FBI agent who goes undercover to infiltrate a Los Angeles-based Islamic terrorist cell run by a charismatic extremist (Oded Fehr). Once inside, Darwyn gets a feel for the complexities and apparent contradictions of the religious teachings that drive the maniacally obsessed "warriors."
"Pope John Paul II" (9 p.m., CBS; concludes Wednesday): This is a sweeping, two-part miniseries that tells the remarkable life story of the man who endured the effects of the Nazi occupation of Poland and communist rule on his way to becoming the most popular Pontiff of modern times. Cary Elwes plays the young Karol Wojtyla and Jon Voight handles the role through the Vatican years. This production is broader in scope and much richer in detail than ABC's recent Pope film.
"Da Vinci and the Code He Lived By" (9 p.m., History Channel): Born in obscurity, his parents unmarried, in a tiny Italian village in 1452, Leonardo da Vinci didn't have the brightest prospects. Suffice it to say he overcame such disadvantages with his remarkable curiosity, intelligence and drive (which even fueled a bitter jealousy of Michelangelo, who supplanted him as the pre-eminent artist in Florence). "Da Vinci and the Code He Lived By" is a History Channel documentary examining the life and work of a man clearly far ahead of his time. Achievements include his 17-year sojourn in Milan, where he began keeping his famous notebooks (which reached 15,000 pages by the time he died) and painted the 29-foot mural "The Last Supper"; and "Mona Lisa," which he died never having finished -- or leaving a clue as to the subject's identity.