Two North Carolina murder cases, both most famous for their wrongful convictions and for the long prison terms served by those convicted, are examined tonight on Investigation Discovery and on WRAL.

The Investigation Discovery channel will devote tonight's episode of "Cold Blood" to the 1982 murder of Deborah Sykes in Winston-Salem. Darryl Hunt (right) was charged and convicted of the brutal murder in 1984, but Hunt didn't commit the crime. He served nearly 20 years in prison before DNA evidence exonerated him in 2004.

Tonight's episode features interviews with Hunt, a friend of Sykes, Sgt. Chuck Byrom of the Winston-Salem Police Department, attorney Mark Rabil, and former Winston-Salem Journal reporter Phoebe Zerwick.

I ran out of time and didn't get a chance to screen this entire episode, but Fayetteville is once again in the spotlight in a true crime show on the Investigation Discovery channel.

Tonight's episode of Sins & Secrets" looks at the 2000 murder of Air Force Capt. Marty Theer. Theer's wife Michelle was eventually convicted of planning the murder, which was carried about by her Army Ranger boyfriend. 

"Sins & Secrets" is a series that profiles a different notorious crime in each episode, but casts the city in which the crime took place as another character in the story. So tonight's story -- told through dramatic re-enactments and interviews with local officials and journalists -- will have a good bit of Fayetteville history sprinkled in.

Click below to read more and to watch a video preview of tonight's episode.

A new true crime series debuting on the Investigation Discovery channel tonight puts the spotlight on a salacious story of murder and sex in Fayetteville.

"Scorned: Love Kills" (10 p.m., Investigation Discovery) opens with the story of the 2002 murder of U.S. Army Special Forces Maj. David Shannon. David and his wife Joan Shannon (left) were involved in the "swinging" lifestyle in Fayetteville (members of the "Fayetteville Gang Bangers," no less) but things got out of hand when Joan fell in love with one of her conquests and wanted out of her marriage. And since stupid people think murder is easier and cheaper than divorce, she started planning his death.

The grossest thing about this case is that Joan Shannon involves one of her teenage daughters in her plot.

Suvivor: South Pacific (8pm, CBS) - Members of the jury interview the final three castaways before voting for the winner. This takes two hours. The winner is announced in the "Survivor Reunion" show at 10pm.

Downton Abbey (8pm, UNC-TV) - UNC-TV begins repeats of one of the best TV shows of the year tonight. If you missed it earlier, set your DVRs right now. Tonight we get the first two episodes of this 4-episode series, which follows the entailment woes of Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville, right), his wife (Elizabeth McGovern, right), their three daughters, and his mother (Maggie Smith). It's way better than I've made it sound here. Just trust me on this one. (Note: episode 3 will air on Dec. 25 and episode 4 will air on Jan. 1. Season 2 begins on Jan. 8.)

Allen Gregory (8:30pm, Fox) - In the series finale, Allen woos Principal Gottlieb with bribery. No second season for this stinker.

Dexter (9pm, Showtime) - In the sixth season finale, Dexter (Michael C. Hall) and the Homicide department try to stop the Doomsday Killers from committing one final murder, while Debra deals with a new emotional situation.

The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (9pm, ABC) - A vindictive Jack Frost (Martin Short) wreaks havoc at the North pole for Santa (Tim Allen) in the third installment in the "Santa Clause" franchise.

Homeland (10pm, Showtime) - In the Season 1 finale, a near catatonic Carrie (Claire Danes) is confined to bed as Saul (Mandy Patinkin) puzzles over the unnerving implications of her timeline. Meanwhile, Walker settles on a perch from which to complete his mission, and Brody (Damien Lewis) preps for the vice president's policy summit. Great first season -- so glad it's coming back for a second.

On the Case with Paula Zahn (10pm, Investigation Discovery) - A look at the 2008 murder of Lucy Johnson in Gastonia. The pregnant mother of two was found shot twice in the head in her burning home, and her family and friends pointed police to several possible suspects. The 31-year-old ER nurse was twice divorced and embroiled in a custody battle with an ex-boyfriend. But as the investigation unfolded, police stunned everyone by zeroing in on the most unlikely of targets.

All-American Muslim (10pm, TLC) - Lowe's may not like it, but series goes on. Tonight, the end of the month of Ramadan means Coach Zaban's team is no longer fasting, but their playoff hopes may also be over if they don't win their next game.

A true crime program airing tonight on Investigation Discovery will tell the story of the 2001 death of Kathleen Peterson from the perspective of Kathleen's daughter, Caitlin Atwater.

Kathleen Peterson's husband Michael Peterson (left) was convicted in 2003 of murdering her in their Durham home.

Peterson is currently seeking a new trial. A hearing on that is scheduled for next month.

"The Devil You Know," airing at 10 p.m., features interviews with Atwater, as well as Art Holland of the Durham Police Department, and Fred Atwater, Kathleen's first husband.

The episode airing tonight is called "Stairway to Hell." (The murder trial was the subject of a 2004 documentary by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade called "The Staircase.")

"The Devil You Know" describes itself as a series that "delves into the secret lives of men and women who masquerade as law-abiding citizens but, behind the charade, are hiding deadly intentions from their loved ones." The shows offers first-hand accounts from friends and family members to tell the stories.

Investigation Discovery airs on 251 and 1251 on Time Warner Cable. On DirecTV you'll find it on 285 and 1285; AT&T U-Verse has it on 260 and 1260; Dish Network has it on 192.

At least in concept, "The Injustice Files" (Investigation Discovery, 9 tonight) is one of those shows that the noble among us think television minds should be producing.

As the title suggests, the show opens the file on unsolved cases; here, that means the investigations in the Civil Rights-Era Cold Case Initiative, a unit charged with looking at racially-motivated homicide investigations that happened before 1970.

For the show, the FBI's Cynthia Deitle partners with African-American documentary filmmaker Keith Beauchamp, who helped uncover new facts in the 1955 Emmett Till murder. Beauchamp, it's hoped, can get people to talk that haven't yet, thus giving the families of the murdered justice.

"Hardcover Mysteries," a new murder mystery series from the Investigation Discovery channel, introduces an interesting twist to the popular true crime television genre: This variation features best-selling mystery authors discussing the real life "stranger than fiction" stories that inspired some of their own popular novels.

In the first episode, debuting Monday night at 9pm, writer David Baldacci gives a storyteller's perspective on the October 1964 murder of a prominent Washington D.C. socialite and artist who had close personal ties to President John F. Kennedy and to some powerful players in the CIA.

When I was growing up there was one woman we never took candy from on Halloween because everybody knew she poisoned kids and put razor blades in her apples.

Of course we didn't have any evidence and no one we know had been poisoned. I don't even know how this woman got that rep. It was an urban legend, a story probably created because some kid thought the woman was mean or creepy.

Yet, urban legends can be powerful and based in truth. That's the terrain covered in Cropsey (Investigation Discovery, 9 tonight), an eerie and thoughtful documentary that tells the story of Staten Island, NY's urban legend and the real-life events that fueled it.

Den Brother (8pm, Disney) - An original Disney Channel movie in which a cocky hockey star played by Hutch Dano ("Zeke and Luther") is suspended for showing off and forced to become the substitute leader of his little sister's Bumble Bee troop. The sting of the assignment is lessened when he meets the beautiful leader of another troop, played by Kelsey Chow.

Wife Swap (8pm, ABC) - Tonight is the sixth season finale and I just wish it was the series finale instead.

Whale Wars (9pm, Animal Planet) - The Sea Shepherd collides with a Japanese vessel and discovers a hole in the side of their ship with water gushing through.

Cropsey: The Urban Legend (9pm, Investigation Discovery) - A two-part documentary that examines a series of child murders from the 1980s that became linked to an urban legend. The second part airs at 10pm. Read more in Adrienne's review.

Dual Survival (10pm, Discovery) - A post-hurricane scenario has the hosts foraging in garbage for survival resources, and their course takes them to the coast of the Dominican Republic, which is littered with stinging creatures.

The focus of tomorrow night's Investigation Discovery show "Extreme Forensics" will be the 1995 murder of a Wilmington high school student who was abducted, beaten to death, and dumped in Durham.

Danny Pence was a student at Laney High School in Wilmington when two young people kidnapped him in Wrightsville Beach and drove  him to Durham to murder him and steal his car.