•Emmy-winning filmmaker Liz Garbus teams with her father, civil rights attorney Martin Garbus, for an examination of the First Amendment in the HBO special Shouting Fire: Stories From the Edge of Free Speech (tonight, 9 ET/PT). You'd expect the special to be in favor of free speech, but you may be surprised to see that the chronicled assaults on that freedom come from both the left and the right — and that the film looks at the issue from both sides.

•Brenda teams up with Fritz on another case on a new outing of The Closer (TNT, 9 ET/PT), and once again, they clash. Let's hope this isn't going to be a running story.

•If you've wondered how The Big Bang Theory (CBS, 9:30 ET/PT) was able to transform itself from a good sitcom into a terrific one, take a look at this very funny repeat. As often happens, the entire cast shines in this story, which sends Leonard, Raj and a lovesick Wolowitz to Las Vegas. But it's the scenes between Penny and a locked-out Sheldon that really showcase Bang's growth, because their interaction and growing bond make both characters simultaneously more amusing and more real. And that's not an easy sitcom trick to pull off.