CBS (9-11 p.m. ET)
The effectively low-key Henry Fonda, seemingly busier at 74 than either of his children, plays a cantankerous Florida drifter, Clarence Gideon, who had no lawyer to defend him when sentenced to prison for breaking and entering in 1961. Jose Ferrer is dynamic as Abe Fortas, the lawyer who appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which set aside Gideon's conviction and ruled every indigent has the right to a court-appointed attorney. This compelling docudrama also marks the TV film debut of Fay Wray, King Kong's ex, who left retirement at 72 to play Fonda's landlady.
THURSDAY, MAY 1
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