Let’s forget any notion of summertime silliness.
This weekend (May 31 to June 2) has some important chances to ponder the past and present, in non-fiction and fiction. And all of these will be around afterward; consider:
— “When They See Us,” arriving Friday on Netflix. Ava DuVernay (“Selma”) produced and directed the four-part mini-series about the “Central Park Five” — young black men who spent a dozen years in prison for a rape they didn’t do.
— A chance to catch the current perspective of those five. Ken Burns, who produced a splendid documentary (directed by his daughter and son-in-law) in 2012, reflects on it with them on his website, www.pbs.org/kenburns/unum/themes.
— “Ask Dr. Ruth,” a documentary on the remarkable life of Ruth Westheimer. It arrives Saturday on Hulu.
— And one fictional tale that should be noted: Fans waited a dozen years for a movie finale to the terrific “Deadwood” series. At one point, co-star Ian McShane said flatly that it would never happen.
It did, finally. It debuts at 9 p.m. Friday on HBO, rerunning at 1 a.m. It’s also at 3:35 p.m. Saurday and 9 p.m. Sunday, then at 9:15 p.m. June 6 and 5:15 p.m. June 10. Summer is off to a serious start.