Momentous Moments in ‘Heroes’

While “Spider-Man” and the latest “Star Wars” film celebrate mythic male heroes, Lifetime spotlights the everyday female kind tonight in “Our Heroes, Ourselves” (7 p.m.). Marlo Thomas executive produced and hosts the show, in which four women look back on a moment that changed their lives.

After shrimper Diane Wilson read that her tiny Texas county had the nation’s highest rate of toxic disposal, she launched a crusade to get companies to reduce the waste they discharge into the bay of San Antonio.

For Maria Gomez Murphy, the childhood memory of a sign, “No Mexicans or dogs allowed,” turned her into a fighter. Now she helps Mexican Americans in Nogales, Ariz., gain access to health care through her group, the Way of the Heart.

As a teen, Isis Sapp-Grant led a Brooklyn girl gang, but when a dying comrade told her, “You know, Isis, you can do better than this,” she tore herself away from that life. Now a social worker, she helps others do the same.

Jaki-Lyn Taylor, a scholarship student from Montana who lived in 40 foster homes, spoke at a congressional hearing about abuses in the orphan care system. A senator taken by her courage hired Taylor, who plans a career as a lobbyist for orphans.

As centerpiece of Lifetime’s monthlong “Be Your Own Hero” campaign, this show should serve its purpose by inspiring others.