On Friday, April 17, Albuquerque’s Public Academy for Performing Arts (PAPA) will host a screening of black-and-white silent films with original piano performances by film and piano lab students. The event will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. at the charter high school’s campus (4665 Indian School NE, Suite 101). Tickets are $3 at the door. This film and music event is a fundraiser to help PAPA students attend the Desert Light Film Festival in Alamogordo on Friday, April 24. PAPA Advanced Film students have been invited to project their experimental dance films onto the dunes of the White Sands National Monument as part of the grand finale for the film festival. Desert Light is a competition for middle school and high school students sponsored by New Mexico State University at Alamogordo and the Otero County Film Office.

Easygoing Southern California documentary wizard Stacy Peralta (Dogtown and Z-Boys, Riding Giants) turns his attentions away from the recreational pursuits of his youth to more serious topics of SoCal culture in Crips and Bloods: Made in America. In his usual dazzling style (half MTV/half Ken Burns), Peralta gives viewers a compact and meaty history of South Central L.A.’s gang problem.

Still looking to fill gaps in its Thursday night schedule (See ya, “Kath & Kim.” Not like we’ll miss ya.), NBC has talked the creators of “The Office” into contributing another sitcom. Though “Parks and Recreation” isn’t an actual spin-off of “The Office,” it’s as close in subject and tone as a show can be. Wisely, the show is designed as a vehicle for star Amy Poehler.

“Alaska: Most Extreme” (Discovery 7 p.m.) Discovery Channel continues its Alaska Week promotion with this travel special documenting the Last Frontier’s extremes—from weather to altitude.

“Untamed Alaska” (Discovery 7 p.m.) Not only is Alaska extreme, mind you, it’s also untamed.

“Prison Break” (KASA-2 8 p.m.) Believe it or not, FOX’s seemingly limited concept action series enters its fourth season tonight. Apparently these guys are quite adept at breaking out of prison but really lousy about not getting caught and being sent back to prison—at which point they have to break out again, fulfilling the titular promise for yet another season.