Thursday, March 31, 2011

If it seems too good to be true, then...

What should investors do when someone swindles them out of their hard-earned life savings? What happens when a seemingly legitimate retirement investment turns out to be a scam? TRICKS OF THE TRADE — OUTSMARTING INVESTMENT FRAUD answers these questions and more by revealing the five most common persuasion tactics of con artists and the underlying psychologies of financial scams. Profiles of real-life fraud victims and interviews with seasoned investment investigators and state securities regulators illustrate the signs of a possible scam...and dispels some myths about who is susceptible to the con...8pm

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

NOVA gets up close to the quake...

The facts and figures are astonishing. The March 11th earthquake was the world's fourth largest earthquake since record keeping began in 1900 and the worst ever to shake Japan. The seismic shock wave released over 4,000 times the energy of the largest nuclear test ever conducted; it shifted the earth's axis by 6 inches and shortened the day by a few millionths of a second. The tsunami slammed Japan's coast with 30 feet-high waves that traveled 6 miles inland, obliterating entire towns in a matter of minutes. JAPAN'S KILLER QUAKE combines authoritative on-the-spot reporting, personal stories of tragedy and survival, compelling eyewitness videos, explanatory graphics and exclusive helicopter footage for a unique look at the science behind the catastrophe...8pm

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Dunking for Dollars at the Big Dance...

"Money and March Madness," an inside look at the multi-billion dollar business of the NCAA and its brand of amateur college sports, is a much anticipated story to air just before this year's final four in Houston. FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman gains access to Sonny Vaccaro, a former marketing executive at Nike, Adidas and Reebok, who helped bring about the rapid commercialization of college basketball. Vaccaro's success made coaches, administrators and companies rich. But the players remain at the mercy of the NCAA, which, despite a new $10.8 billion contract for its basketball tournament, has continued to insist that the athletes don't get paid. Questions about the nature of amateur college sports, the effects of mountains of money pouring in to basketball programs, and the awkward position that players and coaches find themselves in...tonight's FRONTLINE...9pm

Monday, March 28, 2011

A priest, a rabbi, and an American Statesman walk into a bar...

ANTIQUES ROADSHOW rides into Dallas, Texas, where everything is larger than life, including a few examples from a collection of more than 600 antique American flags. Appraisers at the Dallas Convention Center flag down another jaw-dropping piece of artwork: an 1847 oil painting by noted 19th-century artist James Henry Beard, titled The Illustrious Guest - featuring the famous American statesman Henry Clay as a guest in a tavern - valued at $300,000 to $500,000. 7pm

Watch the full episode. See more Antiques Roadshow.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Ken Burns' "The Civil War" on my iPhone? Too Cool...

apparently, there's an app for that! And it's Free...check out the PBS app for iphone and ipad at the Apple App Store.

Don't forget Austin City Limits on Saturday night...Grammy Award-winners the Foo Fighters rock the ACL stage with songs from their latest album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace...10pm

How does the simple act of planting trees lead to winning the Nobel Peace Prize? In 1977, Wangari Maathai of Kenya suggested rural women plant trees to improve a degraded environment. Under her leadership, their tree-planting grew into a nationwide movement that achieved much more than that...and brought Maathai the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. Independent Lens...11pm.

Watch the full episode. See more Austin City Limits.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

"Wade in the Water" like it really needs to be heard...

Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter Patty Griffin, along with friends Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin and Mike Farris, sing original and classic gospel numbers in this performance of tunes from "Downtown Gold" last year. Critically acclaimed since arriving on the scene in the mid nineties and forming collaborations with everyone from Linda Ronstadt and the Dixie Chicks, to Bette Midler and Miranda Lambert, she's a major musical force...AUSTIN CITY LIMITS...7PM


Watch the full episode. See more Austin City Limits.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

What began as a curiosity -- two spectacle lenses held a foot apart -- ultimately revolutionized human thought...

NOVA examines how a simple instrument, the telescope, has fundamentally changed our understanding of our place in the universe. The series takes viewers on a global adventure of discovery, dramatizing the innovations in technology and the achievements in science that have marked the history of the telescope. This tale of human ingenuity involves some of the most colorful figures of the scientific world -- Galileo, Kepler, Newton, William Herschel, George Hale and Edwin Hubble -- leading up to today's colossal telescopes, housed in space-age cathedrals or orbiting high above the Earth. Now at the center of an international space race, a new generation of ever-larger telescopes is poised to reveal answers to longstanding questions about our universe and, in turn, to raise new questions...2 hour series starts at 8pm

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Can you name 3 women artists? How about 2?...

From Oscar-winning producers comes WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?, an examination of some of today's most pressing issues: parenting and work, partnering and independence, and economics and art. The film follows four diverse female artists - representing a variety of ages - fighting to honor both their vision and their families every day. In seeking this balance, the women find that their art often inspires their parenting and, conversely, their families often inspire their art. WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS? also answers the question that a lot of women ask...do I work and have a career, or get married and have a family...what if I do both?
WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS...7pm

Monday, March 21, 2011

This is how we change things...

"A Class Apart" tells the little-known story of a band of underdog Mexican-American lawyers who took their case, Hernandez v. Texas, all the way to the Supreme Court, where they successfully challenged Jim Crow-style discrimination against Mexican Americans. In the landmark legal case, prosecution lawyers forged a daring legal strategy, arguing that Mexican Americans were "a class apart" and did not neatly fit into a legal structure that recognized only blacks and whites.
American Experience: A Class Apart...8pm

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

And you thought Hobbits weren't real...

NOVA presents exclusive coverage of new excavations that were undertaken in the summer of 2007 at the site of Ling Bua on the island of Flores, Indonesia. These are the first investigations of the cave site since the sensational discovery of tiny and bizarre human fossil bones at the site in 2004. NOVA investigates the furious scientific debate currently raging on what the "Hobbit" bones represent. Are they fossils of a previously unknown primitive branch of the human family? Or are they remains of a dwarf race of modern humans suffering from a strange pathological condition?
NOVA: Alien From Earth...8pm

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

On the eve of the "Big Dance", tough love on the court...

THE STREET STOPS HERE follows legendary high school basketball coach Bob Hurley Sr. In his 36 years at St. Anthony High School, he's won 23 state titles, three national championships with 957 career wins. This film reveals the coach's life-long struggle to inspire and motivate those around him in order to keep the doors of a poor, inner-city school open. This is also the story about the teenage athletes fighting their way out of the poverty and desolation that surrounds them, armed with little more than a basketball and the hard wisdom of a fierce, demanding coach...7pm

And one of my favorite Independent Lens features, this film about advertising and inspiration, reveals the work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising creatives of our time -- people who've profoundly impacted our culture, yet are virtually unknown outside their industry. These artists and writers all brought a surprisingly rebellious spirit to their work in a business more often associated with mediocrity or manipulation: responsible for "Just Do It," "I Love NY, " "Where's the Beef?," "Got Milk," "Think Different," and brilliant campaigns for everything from cars to presidents. They managed to grab the attention of millions and truly move them...and if it moves you, then it's got to be art, baby...8:30pm

Friday, March 11, 2011

Everything but Topo Gigio!

Lot's of excellent music this weekend...Lawrence Welk, Daniel O'Donnell, All Star Bluegrass and Ed Sullivan's Rock & Roll Classics on Saturday...check listings for exact times.

On Sunday things get tricky...as the last day of our Spring Membership Drive, we like to make programming changes that reflect what's most popular throughout the pledge period...so your printed listings and cable listings may not be right on...here's the line-up for Sunday:

12:40 PM JOHN WOODEN: VALUES, VICTORY AND PEACE OF MIND

2:00 PM GREAT PERFORMANCES: BILLY JOEL LIVE/SHEA STADIUM

4:00 PM LES MISERABLES 25TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT AT THE O2

8:00 PM ED SULLIVAN’S ROCK AND ROLL CLASSICS – THE SIXTIES

10:00 PM AMERICAN MASTERS: TROUBADOURS: CAROLE KING/JAMES TAYLOR & THE RISE OF THE SINGER-SONGWRITER

Be sure to check our Les Mis and American Masters...the very best we've aired!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

For those of you wondering, what's an album?

AIRPLAY: THE RISE AND FALL OF ROCK RADIO documents the history of rock radio - from the AM deejays to the FM pioneers who played and promoted music which could be found on the alleged "albums"...AIRPLAY shares the story of the 50-year struggle for the soul of music radio, told by the deejays and the artists they made stars. Musicians like Crosby, Stills and Nash, Grace Slick, Little Steven Van Zandt, Bob Weir along with legendary disc jockeys talk about the hits and the history they made together through interviews, archival footage and airchecks, some never seen or heard on television before...9pm



And hear Billy Joel sing in New York's famed Shea Stadium...hallowed ground of the big Beatles concert of the 60's, on Great Performances: Billy Joel at Shea Stadium...7pm

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Just before the "tournament" begins, a word from Coach Wooden,...

John Wooden, a remarkable player and coach who taught his players more than how to play basketball. He taught them practical tools that would allow them to live life in the real world. Adding insights & personal experiences are LA Lakers coach Phil Jackson & Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, & Bill Walton...John Wooden: Values, Victory and Peace of Mind...7pm



Then it's pickin' and grinnin' with All Star Bluegrass Celebration at 8:30, followed by
Weavers: Wasn't That a Time with Pete Seeger...10pm

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Where Goldie Hawn came from...

Before SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, or THE DAILY SHOW, or THE COLBERT REPORT, there was ROWAN AND MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN, capturing the zeitgeist of the era with its anarchic energy and pop aesthetic. Combining the black-out comedy of the vaudeville tradition with a 1960s-style "happening," featuring psychedelic costumes, graphics, graffiti, and the ability to inject multiple funny phrases into popular language. THE BEST OF LAUGH-IN is a tribute to the show which not only transformed television but became an important training ground for an entire generation of young writers and comic talent...7pm



In the wake of the turbulent 1960s, Carole King, one of the great songwriters of the '60s, started playing piano in James Taylor's band, creating a bond that they still share today. It is through them and their unique voices that we chronicle this group of musicians, who played before, after, and alongside them. The story is told through archival footage, much of it never before seen, which is intercut with the vivid recollections and incisive reflections of a wide cast of characters. Along with King and Taylor, contributors include David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Chris Darrow, Kris Kristofferson, J.D. Souther, and Elton John. As my good friend Wyatt says, "It's the soundtrack of our lives"...American Masters...8:30pm

Monday, March 7, 2011

Hippie Highbrow and diggin' in the dirt...

The pledge drive continues with Trans-Siberian Orchestra premiering a new show - Beethoven's Last Night - as the band imagines what might have transpired in the mind of the great composer had he wanted to play guitar instead of piano...7pm

Then at 8pm we feature our latest doc on the "Buried City" just outside of Perryton, the panhandle's own personal archaeological dig...kids, corn, and ancient culture all combined into a fascinating history important to our area...Can You Dig It?...8pm

We continue the history lesson as we revisit "Natural Wonder of Texas: Palo Duro Canyon" and we retrace the timeline for the formation of our favorite panhandle surprise...8:40pm

Friday, March 4, 2011

I am a man of constant sorrow...

The March Membership Drive continues this weekend with a wide variety of music to keep us happy...Lawrence Welk, James Taylor & Carole King, Daniel O'Donell, Harry Connick Jr., the 25th anniversary production of Les Miserables to name a few...but for me the highlight happens Sunday afternoon...for the first time, the legends of bluegrass are brought together with the stars of traditional country music and a new generation of bluegrass performers — all on the same night. ALL-STAR BLUEGRASS CELEBRATION is staged at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville — the original home of the Grand Ole Opry, and the national birthplace of bluegrass music...

Host Ricky Skaggs welcomes a Who’s Who of bluegrass music today: country icon Vince Gill; superstars the Dixie Chicks; legends Earl Scruggs, Ralph Stanley and the Del McCoury Band; and the new generation represented by Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless, Travis Tritt and Nickel Creek. The program also highlights the first bluegrass song to win the prestigious Country Music Association song of the year, “Man of Constant Sorrow,” from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack...don't even try to sit still - can't be done...Sunday at 2pm

Thursday, March 3, 2011

"Love Me Tender" is Elvis as you've never seen him...

If it's Elvis, we must be in a membership drive...a major reason for Elvis Presley's massive, unprecedented appeal to women audiences of all ages was his love songs. Always a true romantic, Elvis recorded many, many love songs throughout his career, beginning with "I Want You I Need You I Love You" in 1956. Entire eras of his remarkable life and career can be evoked by the mere mention of the title of one of his many love songs. Mention "Love Me Tender" and a hundred images spring to mind. The same can be said for his many other songs of romance.
Elvis and his love songs had remained an unexplored area of Elvis' remarkable career. Now, "Love Me Tender - The Love Songs of Elvis" tells the warm story of the tender side of the King of Rock and Roll...7pm

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Hey Mr. Tambourine man, play a song for me...

Tonight our special programming for the March Membership Drive continues as world travel Rick Steves explores Europe and Spain...then we continue our most excellent music as folk legend John Sebastian reflects and remembers the very best of The Folk Years in an all new show which remembers archival folk era classics...with a new live reunion of folk singers including Barry McGuire, Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, The Chad Mitchell Trio, Chad & Jeremy, Jesse Colin Young of The Youngbloods and more...all beginning at 7pm.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

It Had To Be You...It Had To Be You...

We kick off our March Membership Drive with a good one...Harry Connick Jr. returns to Broadway in a program of favorites, featuring a 20-piece swing band and a 10-piece string section, with the star on both a Steinway grand and upright honky-tonk piano. He really needs the upright to get cookin' in that classic New Orleans style...Great Performances...7pm

The new episode of ArtZONE follows with a photography exhibit, poetry, and the Woody Witt Jazz Quartet on their stop in Amarillo during a worldwide tour...9pm