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Featured This Week:

A look at how the global climate crisis is impacting California with W. Kamau Bell.

Plus, Forensic Files II returns with eight new episodes.

WATCH: Native Americans have a secret to managing wildfires

California battles flames in growing climate crisis

This week, United Shades of America looks at the extreme wildfires impacting California and explores how communities have learned to coexist with this frequent destruction. 

Spanning more than 18,000 acres, California’s latest wildfire threatens to ravage the beloved Yosemite National Park and displace thousands of residents.  Experts say that California’s Oak Fire is one of the latest woes of global climate change. The increasingly dry summers and prolonged mega-droughts of the past few years have made California ripe for wildfires. In July alone, the state has seen its share of 23 wildfires – three of which have exceeded 500 acres.

Here's what Bell wrote about the challenges facing the Golden State:

“While individual Californians like myself can do things to prevent the spread of wildfires, like making sure any land our homes are surrounded by are well maintained and regularly landscaped, we can't do nearly as much as the state government of California and the federal government of the United States of America.

And before you think I'm exaggerating about the federal government's responsibility, here is a stat for you. Federal agencies own over 45% of California's land. FORTY-FIVE PERCENT!

Much of that land is the beautiful natural landscape that California is known for. And it is the exact type of land that fire swallows up quickly in a wildfire. All that California beauty has to be rigorously and studiously maintained. While there are regular people who are working hard every day to get that message out there —  to offer solutions and to literally fight those fires —  it isn't enough."

United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell airs this Sunday at 10 p.m. ET. You can also catch up on the season now on CNNgo. 

WATCH: The new trailer for Forensic Files II

Calling all true crime fans! Forensic Files II is back

HLN’s highly-acclaimed Forensic Files II returns with eight new episodes this Sunday, July 31.

At 10 p.m. ET, the series kicks off with Blanket Denial, which follows the case of a 24-year-old old criminology student who was found murdered and wrapped in a blanket alongside a desolate road in Brooklyn. Initially, no foreign DNA was found on her body, but carpet fibers allowed experts to hunt down the killer. 

The 30-minute episode is followed by Unraveled, which chronicles an investigative search for the killer of a 79-year-old woman found dead in her home. The only solid evidence was a couple of shell casings, but new technology uncovers a surprising story. 

Sunday’s new episodes air at 10 and 10:30 p.m. ET/PT and will also be available on CNNgo.

WATCH: Ethan Hawke: 'My last act will be my best act'

Ethan Hawke says daughter Maya provided inspiration while making The Last Movie Stars

When Academy-nominated actor Ethan Hawke was approached with the idea of directing a documentary about one of Hollywood’s most enigmatic duos, he almost turned it down. But he said the magic of their story changed his mind. 

“I tried very hard to say no. I knew it would be a lot of work,” Hawke admits in a rare interview on CNN's New Day. “[Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward] were a beacon of light of what an American actor could be and that light was missing in people’s lives."

What initially started out as Hawke’s pandemic project gradually transformed into the CNN Film The Last Movie Stars, which chronicles the 50-year love story and acting careers of Woodward and Newman. It was directed by Hawke and features narration by George Clooney, Laura Linney, and others.

The six-part documentary, now streaming on HBO Max, proved to be an overwhelming creative challenge that relied heavily on the help and insights of Hawke’s family and acting community. After pouring over hundreds of pages of transcripts, Hawke found himself enthralled in a “huge life” interwoven with colorful, emotional, and heartwarming memories of the late couple. 

“In zooming with my daughter [Stranger Things star Maya Hawke] I had a discovery… that in every relationship there isn't this one person and one person. There's this shared space that is the two people together,” Hawke said. “The romantics in all of us want to know how they did it and how they were able to share their lives with one another and have a lifelong love affair.”

Want to learn more? Click here to watch Hawke’s full interview.