(CNN) Cultural immortality belongs to a very few, a subject that comes up in a pair of documentaries this week devoted to 20th-century icons, John Lennon and Richard Pryor.

The A&E presentation "John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky" is the more intimate of the two -- a deep dive into the making of Lennon and wife Yoko Ono's "Imagine" album in 1971, which feels like must-see TV for rock fans. Later in the week, Paramount Network will air "I Am Richard Pryor," the latest in a series of "I Am" biographies devoted, frequently, to those who died too soon.

Culled in part from an extensive trove of home video -- including never-before-seen footage shot around Lennon's place in Tittenhurst Park, England -- with up-to-date interviews, "John & Yoko" provides a glimpse of Lennon in his studio/home, interacting not only with his wife but in recording sessions with fellow Beatle George Harrison, guitarist Eric Clapton and producer Phil Spector.

Much of the documentary focuses on the romance between Lennon and Ono, while acknowledging the vicious and often bigoted response elicited by the perception that she "broke up" the Fab Four.

There's also a strong sense of the idealism that informed Lennon's solo work and his forays into politics, which as detailed here includes the decision to return his Member of the Most Honorable Order of the British Empire medal, or MBE, to the Queen in 1973 as a form of protest. Separately, the special contains an unsettling illustration of the burdens of fame, as Lennon patiently and calmly deals with an obsessive fan who has shown up unannounced at his home.

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