Friday, April 27, 2012

The electric car is back...with a vengeance!

Filmmaker Chris Paine takes his crew behind the closed doors of Nissan, GM and the Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors to chronicle the story of the global resurgence of electric cars. This new generation of car is America's future: fast, furious and cleaner than ever. Independent Lens follows the race among major car-makers to be the first, the best and to win the hearts and minds of the public around the world...it's the future of the automobile itself. INDEPENDENT LENS...Saturday 11pm 

Thursday, April 26, 2012

He can see Paradise by the dashboard light...


 His 1977 record Bat Out of Hell is one of the best-selling albums of all time...more than 43 million units sold worldwide. As an actor, everything from roles in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Fight Club to episodes of House, M.D...He’s back in the spotlight this month with a brand-new album, Hell in a Handbasket, and is laying it all out for Evan Smith on tonight's OVERHEARD...8pm 

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The temp at its core - a staggering 27 million degrees Fahrenheit...


You know it as the sun. Scientists know it as one of the most amazing physics laboratories in the universe. Now, with the help of new spacecraft and Earth-based telescopes, scientists are seeing the Sun as they never have before...even re-creating what happens at the very center of the Sun in labs here on Earth. Such experiments may help us predict and track solar storms that have the power to zap our power grid, shut down telecommunications, and ground global air travel...storms that have happened before-but never in the modern era of satellite communication. SECRETS OF THE SUN...8pm 

And speaking of power, our modern electric power grid has been called the biggest and most complex machine in the world - delivering electricity over 200,000 miles of high-tension transmission lines. Travel around the country with host Yul Kwon, as he reflects on the challenges of keeping the power flowing in AMERICA REVEALED...9pm

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

a "New Era", when everyone could be rich...in 1929.

By 1929, Charles Mitchell, President of the National City Bank (now Citibank), had popularized the idea of selling stock and high-yield bonds directly to the smaller investor. Mitchell and a very small group of bankers, brokers, and speculators manipulated the stock market, grew wealthy, and helped create the economic boom of the Twenties. This film chronicles the year the boom went bust through the words and experiences of the descendants of these titans of finance. "The Crash of '29" captures the unbounded optimism of an age, at a time when the stock market promised permanent prosperity...7pm 

Then...FRONTLINE tells the inside story of the origins of the modern financial meltdown and the battle to save the global economy. Over two consecutive weeks, the films explore key decisions, missed opportunities and the unprecedented moves by the government and banking leaders that have affected the fortunes of millions of people...8pm

Monday, April 23, 2012

I would totally go for the Burl Ives puppet...

In Atlanta, host Mark Walberg looks at a circa 1939 copy of Gone With The Wind, signed by the author and the cast of the film; then jumps to Providence, Rhode Island and some original production puppets from the 1964 animated film Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer; plus a rare 1908 first edition copy of Anne of Green Gables, bought at a flea market for about $5 and since stored in an attic, valued at $12,000 to $18, 000...7pm and 8pm 

Join host Yul Kwon as he journeys across the continent by air, road and rail, and lands in Las Vegas, where he sees how transportation analysts are keeping traffic at bay by revolutionizing the use of one basic tool: the traffic light...AMERICA REVEALED...9pm

Thursday, April 19, 2012

In college, his teacher was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...

Julian Bond's history as an activist stretches back to 1960, when he began leading sit-ins in Atlanta, and reaches across movements including civil rights, peace and advocacy for economic justice. Bond helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, held office for a total of ten terms in the Georgia General Assembly, and has also served as chair of the NAACP, a major leader of the Southern Poverty Law Center and a powerful force behind many other groups.
OVERHEARD with Evan Smith...8pm

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Vacation in a giant shopping mall...on the ocean.

The average cruise ship has doubled in size in just the last ten years. Some engineers fear that these towering behemoths are dangerously unstable,and the recent tragedy of the Costa Concordia has raised new questions about their safety. Now, NOVA brings together marine engineering and safety experts to explain famous cruise disasters...are we on the brink of a 21st century Titanic? NOVA...8PM

And Yul Kwon journeys across the continent by air, road and rail, venturing behind the scenes with the workers who get us where we need to go...he listens in on a call with NASA, the secret service, the military and every major airline to learn how our national flight plan works today. The second installment of AMERICA REVEALED...9pm

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

It's way harder than it looks...

From the courtroom to the living room, forensic science is king. Expertise on fingerprints, ballistics and bite mark analysis is routinely called on to solve the most difficult criminal cases - and to put the guilty behind bars. From the sensational murder trial of Casey Anthony and the FBI's botched investigation of the Madrid terrorist bombing, FRONTLINE documents how a field with few uniform standards and unproven science can undermine the search for justice...
CSI, here we come...9pm

Monday, April 16, 2012

This show is making me hungry...

Tonight we re-broadcast the first episode of America Revealed, dealing with the world's most productive food machine that feeds nearly 300 million Americans every single day...9pm

Friday, April 13, 2012

We really do keep ART alive...

"Art in the Twenty-First Century" Season Six begins tonight...13 profiles of artists from five continents gathered into four, one-hour thematic episodes: Change, Balance, History and Boundaries...from Nigeria to New York City, from Beijing to Brazil, the programs reveal the artists at work and speaking in their own words as they demonstrate the power of art...8pm

On Saturday ACL features John Legend and the Roots...10pm

And on Saturday, Independent Lens presents an up close, day to day look from the inside of an Alzheimer's treatment facility..."You're Looking At Me Like I Live Here But I Don't"...11pm

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Jim worked in hospice care for years...then he became a client...

What really happens with hospice care is examined through the story of Jim Holston, and his quest to spread the word about end of life issues...with an attitude that will lift your heart.
LIVE STRONG. DIE WELL...tonight at 7pm

Consider the Conversation sheds light on the modern American struggle with communication and preparation at the end-of-life. Throughout the film, there are intimate accounts of the emotional, spiritual, physical and social burdens associated with dying. Consider the Conversation examines multiple perspectives on end-of-life care...and in doing so brings the issue out into the open for a very important discussion...7:30pm

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Where FOOD comes from (hint: not the store!)

Join host Yul Kwon to learn how the biggest, most productive food machine the world has ever known feeds nearly 300 million Americans every day. Embark on a trip that begins with a pizza delivery route in New York City, then goes across the country to California's Central Valley, where nearly 50 percent of America's fruits, nuts and vegetables are grown, and into the heartland for an aerial look at our farmlands. Meet the men and women who keep us fed - everyone from industrial to urban farmers, crop-dusting pilots to long-distance bee truckers, modern-day cowboys to the pizza deliveryman...America Revealed...9pm

Monday, April 9, 2012

Wait...does this mean Grover's a puppet too?

As a teenager growing up in Baltimore in the 1970s, Kevin Clash had very different aspirations from those of his classmates -- he wanted to be a puppeteer, part of Jim Henson's team, the creative force responsible for the magic of SESAME STREET. Kevin's transformation into the beloved Elmo is told in the award winning doc Being Elmo...tonight at 8pm

Thursday, April 5, 2012

You'll love Elmo even more after this...

Tonight's special broadcast of Independent Lens is a treat. Combining archival footage with material from the present day, filmmaker Constance Marks explores Kevin Clash's story of his transformation into Elmo in vivid detail, and chronicles the meteoric rise of Jim Henson in the process...Being Elmo...8pm

Friday brings MICHAEL GRAVES: THE WAREHOUSE, providing a window into the creative life of one of the United States' most recognized architects and designers. The world-renowned architect transformed a once derelict warehouse into his private home...a brilliantly executed living space, marrying the structure's original 1920s artisan design with exquisite personal touches - from the Italian poplars lining the driveway to the thousands of books in his two-story library...MICHAEL GRAVES: THE WAREHOUSE...Friday at 9:30

Due to our pledge drive, we are catching up with some PBS programming that is just too good to let go...Sunday afternoon we present the last part of Masterpice Classic: Little Dorrit, as well as part one of Great Expectations...part 2 of that show airs later that evening...the afternoon shows begin at 2pm...have a good weekend!

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

What are things made of?

It's a simple question with an astonishing answer. Fewer than 100 naturally occurring elements form the ingredients of everything in our world -- from solid rocks to ethereal gases, from scorching acids to the living cells in our body. David Pogue, lively host of NOVA's popular "Making Stuff" series takes NOVA on a roller coaster ride through nature's hidden lab and the compelling stories of discovery that revealed its secrets.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The Big Dig costs 5,000 lives...

On August 15th, 1914, the Panama Canal opened connecting the world's two largest oceans and signaling America's emergence as a global superpower. American ingenuity and innovation had succeeded where, just a few years earlier, the French had failed disastrously. The story of the canal features a cast of colorful characters ranging from an indomitable President to visionary engineers to tens of thousands of workers from around the world, rigidly segregated by race. Using an extraordinary archive of photographs and footage, Interviews with canal workers and first-hand accounts of life in the Canal zone, director Stephen Ives and producer Amanda Pollak (New Orleans, Roads to Memphis) unravel the story of one of the world's most significant technological achievements...The Panama Canal: American Experience...8pm

Monday, April 2, 2012

Frankly my dear...I would rather read some "Mockingbird"...

Antiques Roadshow heads to El Paso where highlights include a collection of signed Andy Warhol soup cans, and a collection of signed Cormac McCarthy first editions...7pm

"Gone with the Wind" created two of the world's greatest lovers, Scarlett and Rhett...won a Pulitzer Prize in 1937 and has sold more than 30 million copies. Born into Atlanta's upper crust in 1900, author Margaret Mitchell challenged the stifling social restrictions of being a woman and a writer and a force to be reckoned with...American Masters: Margaret Mitchell...8pm

"To Kill a Mockingbird" has been a national treasure for five decades -- it is still selling nearly a million copies a year. And the courtroom image of Gregory Peck, as the passionate Atticus Finch, gave us an enduring picture for the novel's message. Behind it all was a young Southern girl named Nelle Harper Lee, childhood friends with Truman Capote, who once said she wanted to be Alabama's Jane Austen...American Masters: Harper Lee...9pm