Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Leopards are the ultimate cat...

They are the most feline, the most intelligent, the most dangerous, and, until recently, one of the least understood. Leopards hunt from South Africa to Siberia, from Arabia to Sri Lanka, and are the most widespread predator of their size on land. A leopard is a cat that walks by itself, unseen, secretively. They are the beautiful killers that live in the shadows. This film accumulates the evidence and puts together a psychological profile of this extraordinarily cunning cat. We learn how these cats rarely move without a completely premeditated strategy.  NATURE...7pm



 

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Remembering the quest for the elusive brass ring...

Long before the days of giant theme parks, the United States had many,many amusement parks where families gathered for a cool escape on a hot summer day. This program celebrates these pre-Disney parks, visiting Playland in Rye, New York; Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana; and California's Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, where vacationers can still reach for the brass ring on the merry-go-round. The special also checks out some old wooden roller coasters and other classic rides.
Rick Sebak narrated GREAT OLD AMUSEMENT PARKS...8pm 




Monday, July 29, 2013

A new way to look at autism...and ourselves.

"Neurotypical" is an exploration of autism from the point of view of autistic people themselves. Four-year-old Violet, teenaged Nicholas and adult Paula occupy different positions on the autism spectrum, but they are all at pivotal moments in their lives. How they and the people around them work out their perceptual and behavioral differences becomes a remarkable reflection of the "neurotypical" world -- the world of the non-autistic -- revealing inventive adaptations on each side and an emerging critique of both what it means to be normal and what it means to be human.
POV: NEUROTYPICAL...9pm

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

This show is a modern day Indiana Jones story: a tale of deception, treasure, intrepid adventurers and international realpolitik.

Did a 19th-century British landowner really discover gold, jewels and the charred bones of the Lord Buddha in an underground chamber on his estate? When Colonial estate manager, Willie Peppe, set his workers digging at a mysterious hill in Northern India in 1898, he had no idea what they'd find. Just over 20 feet down, they made an amazing discovery: a huge stone coffer, containing five reliquary jars, over 1000 separate jewels, and some ash and bone. One of the jars had an inscription that appeared to say that these were the remains of the Buddha himself. This seemed to be the most extraordinary find in Indian archaeology. But doubt and scandal have hung over this amazing find for over 100 years. For some, the whole thing is an elaborate hoax. For others, it is no less than the final resting place of the leader of one of the world's great religions, who died nearly 2,500 years ago. On the heels of PBS' series chronicling the life of Buddha, don't miss the final piece...SECRETS OF THE DEAD: BONES OF THE BUDDHA...9pm 


Monday, July 22, 2013

What's it really like in China? These bloggers get the word out...

"High Tech, Low Life" follows two of China's first citizen-reporters as they document the underside of the country's rapid economic development. A search for truth and fame inspires young vegetable seller "Zola" to report on censored news stories from the cities, while retired businessman "Tiger Temple" makes sense of the past by chronicling the struggles of rural villagers. Land grabs, pollution, rising poverty, local corruption and the growing willingness of ordinary people to speak out are grist for these two bloggers who navigate China's evolving censorship regulations and challenge the boundaries of free speech.POV: HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE...9pm


Friday, July 19, 2013

The weekend begins with the Shaw Festival: Behind the Curtain...

This documentary provides unprecedented access and a behind-the-scenes look at the Shaw Festival, one of North America's longest running, most distinctive and exciting theater experiences. In following the process of getting the play from the page to the stage, we get insights into every aspect of theater production. SHAW FESTIVAL: BEHIND THE CURTAIN...Friday at 8pm



Saturday nights POV presents "Only the Young", about three unconventional Christian teenagers coming of age in a small Southern California town. Skateboarders Garrison and Kevin, and Garrison's on-and-off girlfriend, Skye, wrestle with the eternal questions of youth: friendship, true love and the promise of the future. With sun-drenched visuals, lyrical storytelling and a soul-music soundtrack, this film embodies the innocence and candor of its youthful subjects -- and of adolescence itself. POV: ONLY THE YOUNG...Saturday night at 10pm 



And it wouldn't be Sunday on PBS without a program from Britain. Highclere Castle might be famous for being the backdrop to the world's most successful costume drama, but behind the doors of this fairy tale castle still lives a real Lord and lady. This is the behind the scenes story of one of  England's most spectacular country houses. SECRETS OF HIGHCLERE CASTLE...Sunday at 7pm

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Austin City Limits is bringing you some southern twang, pink guitars...

shotgun mic stands and serious country with this encore episode featuring Miranda Lambert and Jeff Bridges. Grammy winner Miranda Lambert has become a household name since her appearance on Nashville Star back in 2003 and is now, undoubtedly, one of country music’s biggest names.
The highly acclaimed actor/singer Jeff Bridges also appears in this episode, singing hits from the Grammy-winning Crazy Heart soundtrack as well as songs from his 2011 self-titled debut.AUSTIN CITY LIMITS...7pm


Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Did you know that the Titanic had 2 nearly identical sister ships?

NOVA searches for great stories from the past...a B-29, on a secret reconnaissance mission over Russia, makes an emergency landing in Greenland. Pilot Darryl and his team rush to refurbish the plane before the harsh winter sets in. The second half of NOVA focuses on the Titanic's 2 sister ships, the Brittanic. Few people realize that the Titanic had two nearly identical sister ships, the Olympic and the Britannic. The Olympic had a successful career as a liner until she broke up in 1935, but the Britannic met a fate almost as unlucky as the Titanic's. Serving as a hospital ship in the Aegean, it was either torpedoed or struck a mine on November 21, 1916, and sank within an hour, yet only thirty of the crew of 1,100 died. Nova joins the search for the wreck of the Britannic and explores the evidence of its dramatic end. NOVA: B-29 FROZEN IN TIME...9pm

 


Tuesday, July 16, 2013

William Clark climbed a hill and saw what no white man had ever seen from the Northwest...

As Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and the Corps of Discovery passed the Missouri River and approached the Bitterroot Mountain Range, they grew desperate for horses and provisions to get through the seemingly endless, snow-covered peaks. Sacagawea and the Shoshone Indians--her native culture--came to the rescue and provided them with horses for their journey. Finally, on November 18, 1805, William Clark set out from their campsite in the Columbia River Gorge, climbed a hill and saw what no white man had ever seen from the Northwest: the Pacific Ocean. Their exploration of the West opened a new world to Americans and signaled the beginning of the end for Native Americans. This program, the second of a two-part series, recounts how this historic journey was really the discovery of the American future.  LEWIS & CLARK: THE JOURNEY OF THE CORPS OF DISCOVERY...7pm




From the courtroom to the living room (thanks to the hit television series CSI), 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. But how reliable is the science behind forensics? A FRONTLINE investigation finds serious flaws in some of the best-known tools of forensic science and wide inconsistencies in how forensic evidence is presented in the courtroom. From the sensational murder trial of Casey Anthony and the FBI's botched investigation of the Madrid terrorist bombing to capital cases in rural Mississippi, FRONTLINE documents how a field with few uniform standards and unproven science can undermine the search for justice...9pm

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Ninety years ago in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, the greatest archaeological find in history was made:

It made Tutankhamen the most famous name in ancient Egyptian history. But the real story has become shrouded in myth -- with many mysteries around the tomb unsolved to this day. This two-hour special combines the latest evidence from a team of archaeologists, anatomists, geologists and Egyptologists to build the ultimate picture of Tutankhamen. Blending 3D graphics, stylized reconstruction and action-adventure forensic investigation, the programs take a 21st-century approach to ancient history, following new scientific research and presenting fresh insights into how Tutankhamen was buried, why his tomb was the only one to remain intact and the enduring enigma around how he died.SECRETS OF THE DEAD: ULTIMATE TUT...Wednesday at 8pm


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

A documentary that took 20 years to make, looks at 2 American Families...


Since 1992, Bill Moyers and FRONTLINE have been following the story of two ordinary, hard-working families in Milwaukee - one black, one white - as they spent two decades in an extraordinary battle to keep from sliding into poverty. Two American Families chronicles the struggles of the Neumanns and the Stanleys as they try to hold onto their homes, their jobs, their health insurance, and a future for their children. A remarkable portrait of perseverance, the film raises unsettling questions about the changing nature of the U.S. economy and the fate of a declining middle class. FRONTLINE: TWO AMERICAN FAMILIES...9pm


Monday, July 8, 2013

Herman Wallace may be the longest-serving prisoner in solitary confinement in the United States...

He's spent more than 40 years in a 6-by-9-foot cell in Louisiana since 1967, for committing a robbery he admits. And he was subsequently sentenced to life for a killing he vehemently denies. "Herman's House" is an account of the remarkable expression his struggle found in an unusual project proposed by artist Jackie Sumell. Imagining Wallace's "dream home" began as a game and became an interrogation of justice and punishment in America.The film takes us inside the duo's unlikely 12-year friendship, revealing the transformative power of art.
INDEPENDENT LENS: HERMAN'S HOUSE...9pm



Friday, July 5, 2013

They've got a globe used for hundreds of years to teach geography...

and it shows California as a squiggle in the Pacific. That's the kind of historical perspective we are privy to in SECRETS OF ALTHORP - THE SPENCERS. Nineteen generations of Spencers, one of Britain's most eminent aristocratic dynasties, have lived for over 500 years at Althorp -- childhood home to the much beloved Diana, Princess of Wales, whose life is celebrated in an exhibition featuring some of her famous outfits. Her final resting place is a simple island in the middle of the lake marked by a memorial urn. The house has witnessed joys and tragedies and the estate is now in the hands of Diana's brother Charles the 9th Earl Spencer. He gives us a personal tour around this magnificent manor that is still very much a family home. For a fascinating look at royal life beyond the pond, catch SECRETS OF ALTHORP - THE SPENCERS...Sunday night at 7pm.


Tuesday, July 2, 2013

The story of Mount Rushmore's creation is as bizarre and wonderful as the monument itself.

High on a granite cliff in South Dakota tower the huge carved faces of four American presidents. Together they constitute the world's largest sculpture. The massive tableau inspires awe and bemusement. How, and when, was it carved? Who possessed the audacity to create such a gargantuan work? The story of Mount Rushmore's creation is as bizarre and wonderful as the monument itself. It is the story of hucksterism and hyperbole, of a massive public works project in the midst of an economic depression. And it is the story of dozens of ordinary Americans who suddenly found themselves suspended high on a cliff face with drills and hammers as a sculptor they considered insane directed them in the creation of what some would call a monstrosity and others a masterpiece. Narrated by Michael Murphy. Tuesday...8pm