If you're having trouble picking up KACV...

We're on the air with a new transmitter and antenna...if you watch KACV over the air with an antenna, you'll need to re-scan or re-program your box to pick up the new and improved signal...still having problems? Email me at jwsmith@actx.edu and I'll contact you.
We're out until January 3...may you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

"Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did...

She just did it backwards and in high heels.” The famous quote from Texas Governor Ann Richards is just one of the ways Holland Taylor brings her back to life these days.
The Emmy-winning actress has been on stage, in movies and on television, from The Practice, the Truman Show, Two and a Half Men and The L Word. But her solo show about Texas governor Ann Richards will certainly get Evan Smith's attention tonight on Overheard.
8pm

Just how did Pluto stop being a planet?

Live from Lincoln Center returns to the New York City Ballet for "George Balanchine's The Nutcracker." 7pm

When the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium stopped calling Pluto a planet, director Neil deGrasse Tyson found himself at the center of a firestorm -- a firestorm led by angry, Pluto-loving elementary school students.
Nova examines the controversy...9pm

FRONTLINE does CHRISTIANITY...

Nothing says Christmas like the pomp and majesty of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir...holiday music with orchestra and dancers...7pm

And a special 2 part series from FRONTLINE begins tonight on the epic story of the rise of Christianity. Drawing upon new and sometimes controversial historical evidence, viewers are transported back two thousand years to the time and place where Jesus of Nazareth once lived and preached and challenges familiar assumptions and conventional notions about the origins of Christianity. Be prepared to learn something you didn't know...9 - 11 pm

After they saw the Statue of Liberty...

"Forgotten Ellis Island" is the first film to be produced about the abandoned immigrant hospital on Ellis Island. Massive and modern, the hospital was America's first line of defense against contagious, often virulent disease from other countries. Many never-before-published photographs are featured in the film as well as excerpts from oral histories with medical staff, ward matrons, and patients. As America wrestles once again with the issue of immigration, this film looks at some of the issues then, and now...9pm

Lucy - you have some 'splainin to do...

As our December Membership Drive winds down, some weekend highlights...

Friday night we premiere artZONE 4, our local production featuring art in the Panhandle. Tonight's focus is on young piano prodigy J.T.Hassell in a performance at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church...8pm

When "I Love Lucy" debuted in the fall of 1951, it became an instant sensation, defining the situation comedy format, and turned its unlikely star, Lucille Ball, into a legend. This program revisits the life of Lucille Ball - the first female television superstar and first solo female head of a major studio. "Finding Lucy" also showcases the most extensive set of film clips from the comedienne's life, thanks to an unprecedented agreement between "American Masters," CBS and the estate of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz...Saturday at 6:30

On Sunday, get a double shot of the Irish sound...Christmas with The Celts celebrates the holidays by bringing Irish and Scottish music - which was the underpinning of today's American Country music - full circle to the world famous home of country music, the historical Ryman Auditorium...Sunday at 8pm

Classic Irish songs "The Water Is Wide," "Green Grow The Rushes," "A Woman's Heart" are performed in Celtic Woman: Believe...Sunday 9:30

Don't it make your brown eyes blue...

The still lovely Crystal Gayle answers that question quite well tonight as we present Country Pop Legends...a fun walk down memory lane with new performances from Glen Campbell, Hank Locklin, Bill Anderson, BJ Thomas, the Bellamy Brothers, the Browns and more...mixed in with classic full-length vintage gems from the vaults. The country pop hits of the 50's, 60's and 70's are alive and kickin' tonight during our pledge drive...7pm

Tommy Lee Jones considers him a hero...

Tonight our pledge drive continues with a local bent...our documentary about the prisoner of war camp in Hereford during WWII, and the fascinating interaction with the both the community and St. Mary's Catholic Church needs to inspire a screenplay...Cathedral in the Desert: The POWs of Hereford Camp 31...7pm

At 7:35 we introduce the Lubbock PBS doc about the south plains connection to hang gliders during the war in Through Thin Air...followed by our close up look at the life of Charles Goodnight, from rancher and Texas Ranger, to cattle baron and pillar of the community...not to mention his marriage at age 91...8:55pm

Still crazy, after all these years...

Yet another reason why PBS is like no other...this past June, Paul Simon and his eight-piece band filled the stage at Webster Hall, the historic New York City club. With many of the musicians who have played with him since Graceland, in a band of virtuosic, multi-instrumental players, Paul Simon's repertoire ranges from his years with Art Garfunkel ("Sound of Silence") through a solo career which produced classics including "Kodachrome," "Slip Slidin' Away," "Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes," and "Still Crazy after All These Years." Included in the evening are songs from So Beautiful or So What, considered his best work since Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints...Should be Magic...8:30

A very nice birthday present for Buddy...

KACV kicks off a "LIVE" pledge night with Buddy Holly: Listen to Me...a tribute show featuring everyone from Stevie Nicks and Linda Ronstadt to Brian Wilson, Jeff Lynne and Lyle Lovett...all crooning Buddy's best songs...not to be missed, and a fine example of the value of Public Television...7pm

Legends of the 1960s unite in this all-new live performance "My Music" special. Co-hosts Peter Noone and Davy Jones sing their biggest hits focusing on the years 1965 - 1969...with many artists and groups appearing for the first time on the "My Music" stage...60's Pop, Rock and Soul...8:30pm

Thank you, PBS, for transporting me to the park...

Tenor Andrea Bocelli plays to 75,000 in Central Park tonight, kicking off our week long December Membership Drive...and he's joined onstage by Tony Bennett, trumpeter Chris Botti, and Celine Dione...8pm

There's plenty of great musical performancea all weekend - pre-teen opera phenom Jackie Evancho, also tonight...10:30.

Saturday features a Classic Gospel Special and Christmas with Daniel O'Donnell...

Sunday's highlights include a replay of Andrea Bocelli and Jackie Evancho, and the premiere of Christmas with the Annie Moses Band...a very cool, classically trained young group who're all from the same family...hold on tight - their muscical abilities are astounding...check our website for the schedule.

Here we go again...

Alt-Rock supergroup Monsters of Folk hit the stage on Austin City Limits...7pm

Gail Collins's column for The New York Times examines politics and social issues with a sharp wit. She has been with the Times since 1995, and in 2001 became the first woman to serve as editor of the paper's editorial page. Collins is also the author of four books, including two examining the role of women in American culture and history...Overheard with Evan Smith...8pm

Friday night starts our December Membership Drive...we're featuring everything from Andrea Bocelli and Jackie Evancho to Buddy Holly and Christmas with the Annie Moses Band...be sure to watch and support public tv!

Suddenly, my troubles seem easy...

Like clockwork each year, 100 million monarch butterflies set off on an incredible journey across North America, flying 2,000 miles to reach their remote destination: a tiny area high in the mountains of Mexico. How do the butterflies achieve this tremendous feat of endurance - and how, year after year, do the monarchs navigate with such hair's-breadth precision. NOVA flies along, visiting the spectacular locations the butterflies call home and meeting the dangers they encounter along the way...The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies...8PM

The "un-won" war that never ended...

ANTIQUES ROADSHOW's visits Madison, Wisconsin and Denver...Highlights include an heirloom 1938 Martin D-18 guitar, and an angry 1976 letter from Frank Sinatra to Chicago Daily News columnist Mike Royko, auctioned off for charity by Royko and now worth $15,000...7pm

Korean War veterans remember the late 1940s and early 1950s, when young men from all over the country were being shipped off to defend South Korea against the advancing Red Army in the north. UNFORGETTABLE: THE KOREAN WAR recalls the "un-won" war that never ended...9pm

Turkey legs are for eating, drum sticks are for pounding...

Here we are, the day before Thanksgiving and a long weekend of football and music on the tube...and some mighty fine music at that.

We start off with In Perforance at the White House - Country style, featuring the exquisite Alison Krauss, James Taylor and Kris Kristofferson, among others...7pm

Then on Thursday Austin City Limits presents highlights from the Americana Music Festival, featuring Lucinda Williams, Gregg Allman, Robert Plant, Emmy Lou Harris and the incomparable Avett Brothers...a fantastic show from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville...Thursday at 7pm

Friday night at 8pm the PBS Arts Festival continues with tenor Placido Domingo performing with the LA Opera in Il Postino...and Saturday it's back to ACL with the Monsters of Folk...starts at 10pm...

Sometimes you can't tell a book by...

On the night of November 26, 2008, 10 men armed with guns and grenades launched an assault on Mumbai with a military precision that left 166 dead. Six were Americans. Lashkar-e-Taiba,a Pakistani militant group associated with Pakistan's secretive intelligence agency, the ISI took credit for the attack. But the man who had been casing the city for two years, developing a blueprint for terror was David Coleman Headley...because he had the perfect cover: he was an American citizen. FRONTLINE and ProPublica investigates the mysterious circumstances behind Headley's rise from heroin dealer and U.S. government informant to master plotter of the 2008 attack on Mumbai...9pm

The subject is Woody Allen...

and people will talk. The second part of the American Masters doc features Diane Keaton, Louise Lasser, Scarlett Johansson, Martin Scorsese, Dick Cavett, Larry David and so many more. And there's inspiration and process...why and how he makes what he makes...there are outtakes, shots of Allen giving direction to his actors and stories of major rewrites, the portable typewriter he has typed out every movie script, play and New Yorker piece since he began writing...key inspirations, from Bob Hope to Ingmar Bergman. And there's countless classic scenes from movies we can't forget...the bank robbery scene from Take the Money and Run. The translation scene from Bananas. The beautiful Gershwin music from Manhattan. And so many, many scenes from Annie Hall.
American Masters has outdone itself with this documentary on Woody Allen, and you owe it to yourself if you love movies to drink it in...8pm
last night's part 1 will be rebroadcast tonight at 1am)

Woody Allen in the editing room? Really?

Darlene Love, Tina Turner, Bonnie Raitt, and Debbie Harry are just a few of the women profiled in the film about the story of Women Who Rock...8pm

The President and First Lady host IN PERFORMANCE AT THE WHITE HOUSE, featuring performers Smokey Robinson, Natasha Bedingfield, Sheryl Crow, John Legend and others...9:30pm

Austin City Limits keeps the music rocking with highlights from the annual Americana Music Awards ceremony in Nashville... includes performances by Lucinda Williams, Gregg Allman and Robert Plant...Saturday at 10pm

For me the highlight of the weekend is this new, two-part documentary on Woody Allen...Exploring the ultimate "independent filmmaker's" writing habits, casting, directing and relationship with his actors, the editing room and his childhood haunts in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. New interviews with practically everyone who knows him...Woody Allen: American Masters...Sunday at 8pm

Direct from America's funny factory...

He's all over YOUTUBE and HULU...and he's hilarious. Wyatt Cenac reports for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as a fake news writer and correspondent. Fans can also find him doing standup on tour and in a soon-to-be released hour-long special...not quite sure Evan Smith knows what he's in for...check out OVERHEARD tonight at 8pm

Joe Hutto spent each day living as a turkey mother...

Deep in the wilds of Florida, writer and naturalist Joe Hutto was given the rare opportunity to raise wild turkeys from chicks...each day he went out and about as a "wild turkey" with his family of chicks, until the day came when he had to let his children grow up and go off on their own. As it turned out, this was harder than he ever imagined...and let's not even get into Thanksgiving!
Nature: My Life As A Turkey...7pm

Churchill had to make a very, very hard choice...

He could either trust the promises of the new French government that they would never hand over their ships to Hitler after their surrender. Or he could make sure that the ships never joined the German navy by destroying them himself. Secrets of the Dead: Churchill's Deadliest Decision reveals the darkest side of Britain's Finest Hour. This is the story of what Churchill did next, and why; and how 1,300 French sailors died as a result in what the French still call 'our Pearl Harbour'...7pm

The Globetrekker crew does Dallas, with stops at Cowboys Stadium and the Texas Book School Depository...Next it's Fort Worth and the National Cowgirl Museum and the historic Stockyards, then Austin and the State Capitol, followed by a sunset stroll across the Congress Avenue Bridge to watch the skies fill up with Mexican free-tail bats...see Texas from outsider's eyes...8pm

please pass the gravy...very carefully.

Plucked from ROADSHOW's appraisal archive, highlights feature an heirloom Tlingit Indian oil bowl and ladle, acquired by the owner's great-great-grandfather during a military posting to Sitka, Alaska, in 1877, valued at a jaw-dropping $250,000 to $300,000...ANTIQUES ROADSHOW special edition, "Tasty Treasures"...7pm

Followed by ANTIQUES ROADSHOW's "Simply the Best," showcasing objects deemed the finest examples of their kind ever seen...featuring a staggeringly rare 19th-century Rhode Island rifle and powderhorn, valued at $100,000 to $120,000...8pm

What would we do without them?

In the third installment of the fascinating series "America In Primetime", we
celebrate the "misfit"...unique characters who defied comic stereotypes and societal expectations to reflect America's diverse personalities. Interviews range from Alec Baldwin ("30 Rock"); Diablo Cody ("The United States of Tara"); Greg Daniels and Rainn Wilson ("The Office"), to Larry David ("Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Seinfeld")and Garry Shandling ("The Larry Sanders Show")...
What would we do without them? Sunday at 7pm

Then, there's the two ex-lovers who meet for lunch at their favorite haunt from years before. Will sparks reignite to rekinkle love or rage? Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman star in this funny, bittersweet drama adapted from Christopher Reid's captivating poem. Sex, temptation, guilt and revenge are all on the menu.
Sunday at 8pm

Photographing in Big Bend...

From landscape photography to performance theatre WESTERN PERSPECTIVE takes the audience on a journey to the creative side of West Texas. Learn more about what molds us into the unique characters, artists, and individual personalities who make up our wide and open spaces. As West Texas widens its creative boundaries we can only hope you will too...8pm

First go the monkeys, then go the camera people...

The most powerful raptor in the world, harpy eagles are barely ever seen, let alone filmed. In this extraordinary documentary, NATURE steps into the world of this monkey-eating eagle, risking injury to obtain intimate pictures of them bringing back large monkeys to the nest. But then, what do you know...one of these massive birds starts following the team...NATURE...7pm


Time. We waste it, save it, kill it, make it. The world runs on it. Yet, ask physicists what time actually is, and the answer might shock you: They have no idea. Even more surprising, the deep sense we have of time passing from present to past may be nothing more than an illusion. How can our understanding of something so familiar be so wrong? In search of answers, Brian Greene takes us on the ultimate time traveling adventure. You'll never look at your wristwatch the same way again...The Fabric of the Cosmos: The Illusion of Time...8pm

Behind the lines with FRONTLINE...

Secrets of the Dead: Japanese SuperSub investigates the startling story of Japan's creation of a tech masterpiece-an aircraft carrier submarine that could blow up the Panama Canal and attack the U.S. How close did Japan's secret sub come, and how did we stop it? Find out tonight at 7pm

As dictators are toppling like dominoes, FRONTLINE offers a rare look from inside war ravaged Syria...we travel with undercover reporter Ramita Navai into some of the most dangerous areas to meet members of the opposition movement forced into hiding. Navai experiences first-hand life as a fugitive when she is trapped in a safe house with three opposition coordinators on the government's most wanted list...reality TV at it's "realest"...9pm

Well...nobody's perfect...

The last line in the movie "Some Like it Hot" speaks for a generation with the exception, of course, of Marilyn Monroe...Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and now Antiques Roadshow appraises her dress from the film...valued upwards of a quarter of a million dollars...tonight at 7 & 7:30pm.

Part One of "Looking for Lincoln" explores how Abraham Lincoln the man was transformed into Abraham Lincoln the legend...8pm

If you missed it Sunday night, here's your chance to record some really intelligent television...it's Masterpiece Contemporary's "Page Eight", a contemporary spy thriller starring Bill Nighy (Love Actually), Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient) and Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener). Written and directed by Sir David Hare (Oscar-nominated adapter of The Reader and The Hours)...1am

Some say his ideas are a revolution in education...

Damen Lopez changed his school from a career-ender to the model facility in California in just seven years. During his tenure the school, the largest in the district, became an excellent model that performed within the top ten percent of all schools within the state of California. How did he do it? Damen’s model affects nearly 60,000 students in 18 states. Tonight he sits Face to Face with Ellen Robertson Green in the KACV studios tells how he does it, and how we all play a part in helping children, especially those living in poverty, be successful...8pm

Are we complex enough to appreciate the simple?

Amazing night for television... physicist and author Brian Greene reveals "space" as a dynamic fabric that can stretch, twist, warp and ripple under the influence of gravity...definitely not the empty void we tend to believe. Nova does what only Nova can do in the premiere of "Fabric of the Cosmos: What is Space"...8pm

After the passing of Steve Jobs, PBS has produced a doc which takes an in-depth look at the genius who put life changing technology in the palm of our hands...
ONE LAST THING (a tribute to his lecture style) tonight at 9pm

And the winner is...

The 50-year anniversary of the atomic bomb provides the perfect opportunity share a very chilling story with the world. Beginning in the 1950s, American and Soviet scientists engaged in a dangerous race to see who could build and detonate the world's largest bomb. The story of the race has never been fully told.
Tonight on Secrets of the Dead...7pm

Something to watch while answering the doorbell...

ROADSHOW gets strange on Halloween with a Weller pottery humidor in the shape of a skull; a chair once belonging to Chang Boker, the owner's great-grandfather and half of the 19th-century's world famous conjoined twins, Chang and Eng; and a collection of tin cans from a 19th-century dump...valued at $10,000 to $14,000.
Tonight at 7pm

From the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the high class "roast" known as The Mark Twain Prize sets it's sights on Will Ferrell with friends Christina Applegate, Jack Black and Zach Galifianakis...and music from Green Day...8pm

Roseanne & Murphy Brown? Watch out...

Edward Villela, George Balanchine, and Twyla Tharp...a mash-up of signature works from these dance masters including the critically acclaimed "Square Dance & "The Golden Section." Miami City Ballet is the performing entity bringing these pieces back to life for the PBS Fall Festival of the Arts...Friday at 8pm

Saturday on Austin City Limits, the classic sounds of the Steve Miller Band...10pm

And Sunday we premiere America in Primetime...examining the modern era tube we all grew up with and it's has effects on society. Witness the transformation of women from model housewives to complex, and sometimes controversial, characters. Interviews include Roseanne Barr ("Roseanne"); Candice Bergen ("Murphy Brown"); Eva Longoria and Felicity Huffman ("Desperate Housewives"), Robert and Michelle King and Julianna Margulies ("The Good Wife"); James L. Brooks and Mary Tyler Moore ("The Mary Tyler Moore Show"); Shonda Rhimes and Sandra Oh ("Grey's Anatomy")among others...7pm

The man with the red shoes...

If you've listened to public radio at almost any time, in almost any place, you probably know Garrison Keillor's voice and his work. A Prairie Home Companion began in 1974, and today it's broadcast around the world to more than four million listeners each week...Saturday afternoon just wouldn't be the same without it. Keillor's other work includes The Writer's Almanac and more than a dozen books. Tonight Evan Smith sits down with Garrison, and gets all the latest from Lake Woebegone...OVERHEARD WITH EVAN SMITH...8pm

What if we looked at war as though women mattered?

That's the question the ground breaking PBS series Women, War, and Peace poses
to the viewer...and the answer is both shocking and uplifting.
Tonight's episode tells the story of three brave Afghan women who, in the midst of peace talks with the Taliban in 2009, organize to protect women's rights. Peace Unveiled takes viewers behind the scenes, and reveals the Afghani government from the inside out, exposing the resistance women must overcome to make their voices heard in the political process...8pm

Beer, guitars and radioactive wolves...must be Monday night !

Early in the evening, ANTIQUES ROADSHOW travels to Milwaukee for the city's traditional German Fest, where host Mark L. Walberg and appraiser Stuart Whitehurst soak up the atmosphere, among other things, and talk about collectible German beer steins. And then they look at the real treasure - a much sought after 1952 Fender Esquire guitar...7pm

Later you have an opportunity to record the excellent Nature episode "Radioactive Wolves", broadcast Sunday night, about wildlife surviving alongside the ruins of Chernobyl...followed by Masterpiece Mystery with the second installment of the new series "Case Histories"...all beginning at midnight.

Let your flannel freak flags fly…

Pearl Jam Twenty -- carved from never-before-seen archival footage and many hours of recently shot interviews and live performances -- is a definitive portrait of the groundbreaking band, as told by award-winning director and music journalist Cameron Crowe. The Seattle musicians became the sound of a generation, reluctantly moving from small clubs to the world stage, they resisted stardom, remaining true to their art and retaining truth in that art. As part of the ongoing PBS Fall Arts Festival, this film is an exciting addition to a classic lineup of programs…8pm

On Sunday we confront our own secret passions and admit to our one obsessive goal -- to raise the biggest giant pumpkin in the world. Lords of the Gourd follows Joe Pukos and his fellow competitors through the final harrowing days of harvest and the journey across New York State with the bulging behemoths strapped into the backs of their pick-ups…each hoping they have the biggest pumpkins to smash the world record...Sunday night at 10pm

He's the one who says " We're in some real pretty s***t now man..."

Absolutely the best thing about ALIENS...Evan Smith sits down with actor Bill Paxton tonight, and rehashes some of the most intriguing movies of the last 20 years...he landed his first movie role in 1975's Crazy Mama, but followed up with gems like One False Move, A Simple Plan, Aliens, Traveler, Apollo 13, to name just a few...and of course HBO's controversial Big Love. Get the scoop tonight on OVERHEARD with Evan Smith...8pm

Howdy neighbor...

We used to think our neighboring planets and moons were fairly boring - mostly cold, dead rocks where life could never take hold. Today, not so much. Powerful telescopes and unmanned space missions have revealed a wide range of dynamic environments - atmospheres thick with organic molecules, active volcanoes and vast saltwater oceans...set an extra plate, we might be having company.
NOVA presents "Finding Life Beyond Earth", tonight at 8pm

If mama's not happy...nobody's happy...

As part of the PBS series "Women and War", tonight's film reinforces the power of women when channeled with conviction to a just end. "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" is the story of the Liberian women who took on the warlords in the midst of a brutal civil war. As the rebel noose tightened around the capital city of Monrovia, thousands of women -- ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim, literally faced down the killers who had turned Liberia into hell on earth...9pm

Is talent inherited? I must have been cut out of the will...

CRAFT IN AMERICA returns tonight with another fascinating look at the inner workings of art. This episode explores the creative home environments and personal dynamics of four families of craft artists and asks: Is talent inherited? What's it like to live in a household where objects are made by hand? Artists include Oklahoma's Lisa Sorrell, one of a very few women who make custom cowboy boots. Are you by chance wearing some? Tune in tonight at 9pm to find out.

It opened in 1878, and the piano score sold 10,000 copies...

PBS kicks off it's Fall Festival of the Arts with a new production of the beloved Gilbert and Sullivan classic H.M.S. Pinafore, infused with fresh musical arrangements of Sullivan's memorable melodies ranging from big band swing to classic pop...Friday at 8pm

Hilarity ensues(?) when a Kuwaiti psychologist launches a comic series with 99 superheroes based on the 99 virtues of Allah...WHAM! BAM! ISLAM! on Independent Lens Saturday at 11pm

Sunday night Masterpiece Mystery! begins a new round of dramas by introducing private investigator Jackson Brodie, the tough former soldier and policeman with a heart of gold, from this series based on the acclaimed novels by Kate Atkinson.
Case Histories, Part 1...8pm

Brad Paisley on Sesame Street tonight...

During a food drive on Sesame Street, Elmo meets guest stars Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley, and learns how the struggle with hunger affects a new friend, Lily. The seeds of hope are planted when they visit a community garden and learn with Rosita how people can work together to take steps towards solutions...tonight at 7pm

And our newest local production centering on the importance of education and the dangers of drop outs is examined as Ellen Robertson Green hosts Success By Degree: a Community Conversation...8pm

Women, War & Peace...

Tonight begins a 5-part series chronicling women and war around the world.
When the Balkans exploded into war in the 1990s, reports that tens of thousands of women were being systematically raped as a tactic of ethnic cleansing captured the international spotlight. "I Came to Testify" is the story of 16 women who stepped forward to take the witness stand in an international court of law. Narrated by Matt Damon...8pm

In the fall of 2001 envelopes carrying deadly Anthrax were delivered to U.S. Senate offices, network news divisions and a tabloid newspaper. Five people were killed, many more infected and the nation was terrorized. FRONTLINE takes a hard look at the FBI's investigation of the country's most notorious act of bioterrorism...9pm

Old ironsides, "Don't give up the ship", and the Battle of New Orleans...

did you know that the war of 1812 had ended months earlier, making this battle irrelevant? Did you know the war of 1812 inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner? Did you know that Canada thinks they won this war? Tune in tonight and find out the truth about the "Forgotten War"...The War of 1812...8pm

D.A. Pennebaker...Monterey Pop to politics, now pastry...

British comedies return to the Saturday night line-up with a double shot of Are You Being Served starting at 9pm...

In "Kings of Pastry," 16 chefs whip up the most gorgeous, delectable, gravity-defying concoctions, along with edge-of-your-seat drama as they deliver their spun-sugar desserts to the display table. The filmmakers D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus bring the intensity they delivered in The War Room...this time with food...POV, Saturday at 11pm.

Kevin Whately returns as Inspector Lewis for the fourth season of the detective series...Masterpiece Mystery!...Sunday at 8pm

Like it or not, we're all connected...

In Amarillo, one in five adults do not have a high school diploma...a fourth of all adults in the Texas Panhandle are trying to make a living without a high school diploma. Poverty expert Dr. Donna Beegle discusses poverty – its causes, effects and the role of education in improving lives and communities. Having been raised in a large family of migrant workers, she has first hand knowledge of the barriers faced by the poor trying to get an education. And it's the education that will help break the cycle of poverty...be sure to watch a special one-hour edition of Face to Face...tonight 8p.m.

When science and faith worked in harmony...

Carved from 100 million pounds of stone, soaring effortlessly atop a spiderweb of masonry, Gothic cathedrals are marvels of human achievement and artistry. But how did medieval builders reach such spectacular heights? Using simple hand tools and stone, entire towns took sometimes 100 years to erect some of the most beautiful structures on earth.
NOVA's teams perform hands-on experiments to investigate and reveal the architectural secrets and hidden formulas, drawn from the pages of the Bible itself, that drove medieval builders ever upward...8pm

"A nation of wets, drys and hypocrites"...

The final installment of Ken Burns' doc on the history and effects of prohibition...leading up to December 1933, when Americans could finally, legally buy a drink...Prohibition...7pm

On the tenth anniversary of September 11, the FRONTLINE team that produced "Bush's War," "The Torture Question" and "Cheney's Law" teams up with Pultizer Prize-winning journalist Dana Priest to investigate the dramatic changes that have reshaped America...and asks how a decade of fighting terrorism has made us any safer...9pm

Lips that have touched alcohol shall never touch...

Austin City Limits kicks off it's 37th season with Mumford & Sons, and celtic rockers Flogging Molly...both performing in the new home for ACL...Saturday at 10.

Filmmaker Ken Burns premieres another excellent documentary on the heels of such classics as The Civil War, The War, and The National Parks...this 3 part project looks at the history of Prohibition, and the lasting effects on the country.
Since the early years of the American Republic, alcohol had been embedded in the fabric of American culture. But by 1830, the average American over 15 years old consumed nearly seven gallons of pure alcohol a year, three times as much as we drink today. To slow the alcolohic scourge, Prohibition was enacted in 1917...
but Americans were about to discover that making Prohibition the law of the land had been one thing; enforcing it would be another...Sunday at 7pm

And for something completely different, check out Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer John Kaplan's journey to fight his cancer - documented through his own photographs as he turns the lens on himself...Not As I pictured sunday at 10pm

He is cyberlaw...

so says Wired Magazine (and they should know) when describing Lawrence Lessig's work on copyright law in the digital age, the intersection of law and technology and an idea he calls "institutional corruption." As a lawyer, a writer and an advocate, Lessig has played a huge role in the development of modern copyright law and in the creation of theories and movements to support change in the law.
In the realm of Internet politics and law, no one even approaches Lessig's stature, and his experience of suing Microsoft only added to his legend.
OVERHEARD with Evan Smith attempts to tap his brain tonight at 8pm

In the blink of an eye...

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...8pm

Part 2 of tonight's tsunami extravanganza features stunning photos and video of survivors and their stories...SURVIVING THE TSUNAMI...9pm

It became the most controversial building in America...

A mostly derelict property in lower Manhattan made infamous overnight as the Ground Zero Mosque. FRONTLINE tells the inside stories of Sharif El-Gamal, a real estate developer, and of the victims' relatives and anti-Islam activists who helped turn his project into a continuing battle over faith, values, and the meaning of being American. Also in this hour: Adam Davidson of NPR's "Planet Money" returns to Haiti to meet a man with an unlikely plan to help turn around his country's economy through tourism...tonight on FRONTLINE...9pm

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

...the highest value appraisal in Roadshow history...

ANTIQUES ROADSHOW is beaming from Raleigh NC with a rare 1960's Gibson Double 12 Electric Guitar and a set of four Chinese Quianlong Period (1736-1795) carved jade objects whose auction estimate of $710,000 to $1,070,000 makes it the highest value appraisal in ROADSHOW history...7pm

Then in part 2 - Salt Lake City, Utah, is the scene where ANTIQUES ROADSHOW host Mark Walberg takes the plunge down Olympic Park's bobsled run to get in the zone for a look at Olympics collectibles...8pm

He was boxy, stumpy, straggly and ungainly...but Seabiscuit was one of the most remarkable thoroughbred racehorses in history. Learn about the four men who turned this unlikely horse into a national hero and explore the fascinating behind-the-scenes world of thoroughbred racing...American Experience...9pm

Placido, Plant & Hummingbirds in High Def...

Celebrated tenor Placido Domingo shines in this performance documentary, looking back and reflecting on his favorite roles from opera houses around the world.
This special begins a long run of arts programs on Friday nights...it's PBS Fall Festival of the Arts...tonight at 8pm

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Robert Plant performing with his new, Grammy-nominated group - aptly titled the Band of Joy - features both Led Zeppelin classics and new songs on Live From The Artists Den...Saturday 9pm

This week on Nature we stare in disbelief at one of nature's most interesting paradoxes -- hummingbirds are the tiniest of birds, yet they qualify as some of the toughest and most energetic creatures on the planet. Stunningly beautiful high-definition, high speed footage of hummingbirds in the wild combined with high-tech presentations of their remarkable abilities help us to understand their world as we never have before...Sunday at 7pm

Once you go Whole Foods, you never look back...

Meet John Mackey...a meat-eating former philosophy major in his early 20s who moves into a vegetarian cooperative to meet women. Fast forward to 2011, and you'll meet an updated version: co-founder and CEO of WHOLE FOODS...a huge natural and organic grocery company with stores in three countries, a "company with a conscience" and a major force behind the growth of the local and organic food movement in the US...OVERHEARD WITH EVAN SMITH...8pm

we're your front row seat and backstage pass...

Join the New York Philharmonic for the opening night of their 2011-2012 season.
LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER remains the only series of live broadcast performances on American television today...tonight celebrated soprano Deborah Voigt is on hand for an evening of music by Barber, Wagner and Richard Strauss...7pm

In 2008 in Patchogue, NY, a series of attacks against Latino residents ended with the killing of 37-year-old Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorian immigrant who had lived there for 13 years. Seven local high school students arrested for the crime admitted they were "looking for a Mexican" to beat up. Over a two-year period, the film followed Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri as he led a diverse group of residents to confront the anti-immigrant bias in their town and repair the fabric of their community life...NOT IN OUR TOWN: LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS...9pm

Finding our way through the fog of war...

16 suicides, 15 convicted soldiers and 11 killings, tripled arrest rates for Ft. Carson soldiers in the first five years since the Irag War began. Clearly, something is going on. Many of the most violent crimes involved men who had served in the same battalion in Iraq. FRONTLINE tells the dark tale of the men of Third Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st battalion of the 506th infantry and how the war followed them home. It is a story of heroism, grief, and a powerful portrait of what multiple tours and post-traumatic stress are doing to a generation of young American soldiers...The Wounded Platoon tonight at 9pm.

Honey...where's that old jersey that I like to wear during the game...

A couple of special shows on Antiques Roadshow tonight...the first one recalls such spectacular windfalls as a landscape painting acquired for $1.50 at a Salvation Army "half price" sale and valued at $10,000 to $15,000; a 19th-century album of watercolor paintings, scooped up at a yard sale for a quarter, with an estimated value of $20,000 to $30,000; and a 1951 Minneapolis Millers baseball uniform worn by Willie Mays, scored at a sports collectibles show for $50 and valued at $60,000 to $80,000...7 and 8pm

And The Storm that Swept Mexico chronicles The Mexican Revolution, which was the first major political and social revolution of the 20th century, and not only changed the course of Mexican history, but also profoundly impacted its relationships with the rest of the world...9pm

Scorsese gets the coolest jobs...

Elia Kazan...best remembered for his film directing in the
1950s -- Award winners like On the Waterfront, East of Eden, A Streetcar Named Desire, Gentleman's Agreement, A Face in the Crowd -- yet tainted as a controversial figure. To many, he was emblematic of the sin of "naming names" before HUAC in the darkest days of the Hollywood Blacklist. To others, his extraordinary body of work deserved honors. Martin Scorsese, the director of this documentary, presents a meditation on the nature of art and influence...American Masters, Friday 8pm.

POV again explores two of America's most pressing issues -- environmentalism and terrorism -- by lifting the veil on a radical environmental group the FBI calls the country's "number one domestic terrorism threat." How could a working class kid from Queens face life in prison for two multimillion dollar arsons against Oregon timber companies? Producer Marshall Curry provides a provocative account that is part coming-of-age story, part cautionary tale and part cops- and-robbers thriller...Saturday at 11pm.

Horses and Horny Toads...oh my...

ACL welcomes the cream of underground rock with The National and Band of Horses. The National plays songs from its acclaimed record High Violet, while Band of Horses highlights its latest LP Infinite Arms...7pm

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. uses his family name and skill as a lawyer/environmentalist to protect water worldwide through the Hudson Riverkeeper group and the international Waterkeeper Alliance...and he reaches out to a wide audience through a radio show, books, articles and political activism.
Let's see how he does with Evan Smith...OVERHEARD at 8pm

Texas Parks and Wildlife shows us where the horny toads went...8:30pm

I'll take "Magic 8 Ball" for a thousand, Alex...

In "Artificial Intelligence," NOVA takes viewers inside an IBM lab where a crack team has been working for nearly three years to perfect a machine that can answer any question. The scientists hope their machine will be able to beat expert contestants in the challenging TV quiz show Jeopardy. "Artificial Intelligence" presents the exclusive inside story of how the IBM team developed the world's smartest computer from scratch...8pm

Too important to miss...

Tavis Smiley tackles one of the nation's biggest problems...the astronomical drop-out rate as it relates to the black male...almost 50%. He travels the country talking with parents, educators and most importantly - students, many of whom find the most difficult challenge they face is not mastering math, science or reading, but surviving the 15-minute walk from home to school.
TAVIS SMILEY REPORTS: TOO IMPORTANT TO FAIL...7pm

Watch the full episode. See more Tavis Smiley.

FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith uncovers an insider’s view in a rare conversation with Ali Soufan, the FBI agent who was at the center of the 9/11 investigations. One of only eight Arabic-speaking FBI agents, Soufan explains why he believes the attacks on the World Trade Center could have been prevented and how the use of torture failed to produce actionable intelligence..FRONTLINE 9pm

and you might even spot Elvis in the congregation...

The Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas is the setting for ANTIQUES ROADSHOW host Mark L. Walberg to talk white diamonds...and an 1870s Belleek vase made in Trenton, New Jersey; a pair of beautiful - and valuable - Art Nouveau posters; and an iconic movie prop - purchased for $195 at a southern California swap meet - and identified as the Barranca Airways prop plane used in the 1939 Oscar winning film Only Angels Have Wings...ANTIQUES ROADSHOW...7 & 8pm

Just like her husband Ronald Reagan, Nancy had a job as well. From California to the White House she was advising and protecting him...even during the long, lonely years when he battled and finally lost his fight with Alzheimer's disease. His agenda was her agenda. Making sure that Reagan was healthy and successful was her number one concern. She balanced his optimism with reality and made sure that his aides translated his broad ideas into policy. While the public saw a traditional First Lady, behind the scenes she was much more involved with personnel and policy issues than the public realized. This program takes an intimate look at this complicated First Lady...
NANCY REAGAN: THE ROLE OF A LIFETIME...9PM

How in the world could two boys from Midland...

get into so much trouble? Eight homemade bombs, multiple domestic terrorism charges and a high-stakes entrapment defense hinging on the actions of a controversial FBI informant? The story of Bradley Crowder and David McKay, who were accused of intending to firebomb the 2008 Republican National Convention, is a dramatic tale of idealism, loyalty, crime and betrayal. POV follows the radicalization of these boyhood friends who fell under the tutelage of revolutionary activist Brandon Darby. This film goes to the heart of the war on terror and its impact on civil liberties and political dissent in post-9/11 America..."Better This World"...Saturday at 11pm.

And on September 11, Newshour correspondents travel across the country to get the personal perspectives of Americans as they look back on the events of 9/11 and the effect on their lives over the past decade..."America Remembers"...7pm

Followed by a 90 minute special concert with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center..."A Concert for New York"...8pm

Football, politics...or music!

Tonight Austin City Limits features Roy Orbison from 1982 in all his glory...7pm

Evan Smith profiles singer Chely Wright on OVERHEARD...she began writing songs as a teenager in Kansas - the start of a career that has brought hit songs and the Academy of Country Music Award for Best New Female Vocalist in 1995. In 2010, she launched a parallel career as an author and activist, publishing a memoir titled Like Me and coming out as the first openly gay country music star...8pm

Ten years after...

With extraordinary access granted by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, "Rebuilding Ground Zero" follows the five-year construction of the Freedom Tower and the World Trade Center Memorial. NOVA captures the behind-the-scenes struggle of architects and engineers with the pressures of a tight schedule, the demands of practical office space and efficient, "green" architecture and the public's expectations of a fitting site for national remembrance...8PM

The luxury of hindsight...

In the years after September 11, FRONTLINE produced more than 45 hours of award-winning films documenting the 9/11 attacks and America's response to them. Now, on the tenth anniversary of September 11, the FRONTLINE team that produced "Bush's War," "The Torture Question" and "Cheney's Law" teams up with Pultizer Prize-winning journalist Dana Priest to investigate the dramatic changes that have reshaped America in the last decade...and asks how a decade of fighting terrorism has made us any safer...FRONTLINE, 9pm

Roy Orbison on Austin City Limits in 1982...

Orbison's appearance was a milestone in the 25-year history of AUSTIN CITY LIMITS. He became the first bona fide legend to step onto their stage. His performance took the show to a new level...this proved to be the catalyst that brought Orbison back to the forefront of the popular music scene. This live version from the August 5, 1982, telecast has been digitally remastered and edited...Saturday at 10pm

Then POV brings us "Armadillo"...In 2009, Janus Metz and cameraman Lars Skree accompanied a platoon of Danish soldiers to Armadillo, a combat operations base in southern Afghanistan. For six months, often while under fire, they captured the lives of the young soldiers fighting the Taliban in a hostile and confusing environment, where official rhetoric about helping civilians too often met the unforgiving reality of being a foreign occupier. Winner of the Critics' Week Grand Prix at Cannes, "Armadillo" is one of the most dramatic and candid accounts of combat to come out of Afghanistan...Saturday at 11pm

Nova's giving "I Love Lucy" a whole new meaning...

It's Thursday night...that means Austin City Limits featuring Cheap Trick at 7, and This Old House Hour at 9...

And as is our habit, we're re-broadcasting NOVA's comprehensive three-part, three-hour special - investigating explosive new discoveries that are transforming the picture of how we became human. Shot "in the trenches" as discoveries were unearthed throughout Africa and Europe, each hour of "Becoming Human" unfolds with a forensic investigation into the life and death of a specific hominid ancestor, such as Lucy's Child. Dry bones spring back to vivid life with stunning animation, the product of a unique NOVA collaboration between top anthropologists and a talented team of movie animators...tonight at midnight.

Take a trip to the End of the World...

Covering more than 500,000 square miles of Chile and Argentina, this wild place is known as Patagonia. At its crown tip is a grand island, Tierra del Fuego, a land as harsh as it is beautiful. This film tracks several species that call this extreme environment home. Meet the neighbors...guanaco, condors, Magellanic penguins, orcas, parrots and elephant seals. Eden at the End of the World...7pm

Watch the full episode. See more PBS Presents.

Are you ready for some football?

High school football has never had a higher profile, with nationally televised games, corporate sponsorships and minute-by-minute coverage on sports websites. In northwest Arkansas, FRONTLINE examines one ambitious high school team working its way towards national renown. With a superstar quarterback at the helm, tiny Shiloh Christian is striving to join the ranks of the country's best high school teams -- teams whose workout schedules, practices and styles of play increasingly imitate the pros. But as high school players grow bigger,faster and stronger, there are growing concerns about the health and safety of these young players...FOOTBALL HIGH...9pm

Baez and Dylan, back together again...

ANTIQUES ROADSHOW arrives in Hartford...appraisal highlights include a 1963 poster for a Joan Baez/Bob Dylan concert at New Haven Arena, a pair of silk shoes purportedly worn by one of George Washington's dance partners; and a collection of 200-year-old Wedgwood pottery buttons found in an attic and valued at $1,500 to $2,000 for the set...7pm

RFK IN THE LAND OF APARTHEID: A RIPPLE OF HOPE tells the unknown story of Robert Kennedy's 1966 visit to South Africa during the worst years of Apartheid. The film follows Senator Kennedy to the site of his famous "Ripple of Hope" speech at the University of Cape Town and his encounter with Afrikaans students at Stellenbosch, the pro-Apartheid university. With an original sound track by American musician Jason Moran and voices from the University of Cape Town Africa Choir, the film evokes the connections between the American Civil Rights Movement and the Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa...9pm

Amarillo has a poetry slam?

Poets from a wide range of backgrounds and age groups contributed Amarillo Public Library’s “After Hours Open Mic Night Poetry Reading and Coffee House” series in tonight's artZONE. Also featured, the Lone Star Ballet’s original production, “Lone Star Trilogy,” about Panhandle legends Cynthia Ann Parker, Mary Ann Goodnight and Frenchy McCormick...and a highlight of the piece would be the elegant pas de deux between dancers portraying Cynthia Ann Parker and Comanche Chief Peta Nocona, with accompaniment by Kwahadi dancer and flutist Daniel Rigsby.
That's the third installment of KACV's local production artZONE...8pm

Summer too hot? Here are some shows about ice...

Nature presents Fellowship of the Whales...
This is the story of a humpback whale's first year as she makes the long journey from her birthplace in the subtropical waters in Hawaii to summer feeding grounds in the cold seas off Alaska's southeast coast...wacky adventures ensue...7pm

On an ice shelf at the South Pole, NOVA studies evidence from the seabed that reveals details of climate and fauna from a time when dinosaurs and forests once thrived in Antarctica. Once thought to be locked in a solid deep freeze for the last 15 million years, it now looks like Antarctica's ice has melted and frozen again dozens of times during that period. This breakthrough discovery carries ominous implications for coastal cities around the globe...of course...8pm

The REAL pirates of the Caribbean...

Globe Trekker reveals 250 years of perilous treasure hunting and brutal competition among the Spanish, English, Dutch, French and Portuguese. Pirates were vying for gold, silver and other riches. Galleons were sunk, thousands were killed and, for centuries after the New World was discovered in 1492, it was the pirates who ruled the waves. Megan explores the legend and lore to find out how far they went to lay their hands on these treasures, how hard it was to keep, and what still remains from that extraordinary era...8pm

one man's trash is another man's treasure...

This documentary travels around the country to parking lots, fairgrounds, drive-ins, sidewalks and anywhere else someone has posted a sign saying, "Flea Market." It's capitalism mixed with craziness. It's amazing old stuff, great salespeople, the ancient tradition of the open-air market and the possibility of finding a bargain, all uniting shoppers across the nation...Flea Market Documentary...9pm

The screaming audience and the bashful boys in the band...

Who can forget seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan?
Our August Membership Drive continues this weekend with more from Daniel O'Donnell, Welk, Ed Sullivan Comedy bits as well as classic rock and rollers from his variety show... classic song performances from 1963-1968, including the Beatles' American television debut, the Doors' infamous one-time-only appearance, the Rolling Stones, Sly and the Family Stone, the Mamas and the Papas and more...Sunday at 5pm

And don't miss the Les Miserable 25th Anniversary Concert Sunday night...7pm

I'll even bet his bow-tie is undone...

As our August Membership Drive continues, Michael Feinstein presents an evening dedicated to The Sinatra Era - celebrating the writers, music,and performers of that fabulous time when Frank Sinatra reigned supreme. Backed by a seventeen-piece Big Band, Feinstein conjures up the biggest musical legends of that golden era using their extraordinary music, spiced with intimate stories about their larger than life personalities...8:30pm

And earlier, the New York experience is kicked off by a select group of fans and friends in Greenwich Village who had the rare opportunity to experience Barbra Streisand's performance in the up-close-and-personal setting of the Village Vanguard...backed by a 4 piece combo, this is Barbra at her most intimate...7pm

You may have heard her, but you really have to see her...

and you still may not believe it. She's only 10 years old and already familiar to national audiences from her debut appearances on America's Got Talent and Oprah. Jackie Evancho is the astonishing vocal sensation and the youngest star in GREAT PERFORMANCES's recent Hitman Returns: David Foster & Friends concert, performing virtuoso interpretations of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Pie Jesu" and Puccini's "O Mio Babbino Caro." Foster returns as co-host of the concert, also serving as music director. Among the performance highlights are "When You Wish Upon A Star," "Nella Fantasia," "Nessun Dorma," "Angel," "Somewhere," "All I Ask Of You," "Ombra Mai Fu," "Imaginer," "To Believe," and "Dream With Me."...7pm

And then Harry Connick Jr. returns to broadway with a killer swing band...doing "It Had To Be You" and "St. James Infirmary", along with many others...8:30

What do Pat Boone and Keith Richards have in common?

This weekend you'll find out...it's time for our August Membership Drive, which means you'll be missing some of our regular schedule, but you'll be getting some really cool music programs in their place. Saturday features such diverse music as Pat Boone, Daniel O'Donnell and early Stones on Ed Sullivan's Rock and Roll Classics.
Sunday we bounce back with All Star Bluegrass Celebration and Billy Joel Live at Shea Stadium. Be sure to check schedules for showtimes, and remember the purpose of these special shows is to encourage more people to become members of public television...thank you.

If you cook, you'll make others happy...

Just one of her inarguable rules of the road...check out her blog food52 for more.
Amanda grew up in a family where everyone, including her father, cooked. In college, she worked at a bakery on Saturday nights and drove a truck around Boston at dawn, delivering the bread. She later worked in bakeries and restaurants in Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France. After writing her first book, The Cook and the Gardener, Amanda was hired by the New York Times as a food reporter.
Tonight on Overheard with Evan Smith we get the scoop on the food we love...8pm

Killer snakes, rampant rats, and we wonder about stress?

Rearing up with its head four feet above the ground, Africa's Black Mamba strikes with deadly precision, delivering venom that is packed with three different kinds of toxins and is ten times more deadly than needed to kill an adult human. Without treatment the mortality rate is 100%...in the tiny country of Swaziland a team of herpetologists has an entirely different "take" on these creatures and hopes their six-week study will change public perception of what they feel is the world's most misunderstood snake...NATURE...7pm

Every 48 years, the inhabitants of the remote Indian state of Mizoram suffer a horrendous ordeal known locally as mautam. An indigenous species of bamboo, blanketing 30 percent of Mizoram's 8,100 square miles, blooms once every half-century, spurring an explosion in the rat population which feeds off the bamboo's fruit...the rats run amok & panic ensues...NOVA investigates at 8pm

And at 9, National Geographic how dangerous stress can be...really...

What if it were you too...

In this FRONTLINE and ITVS joint production, journalist Dave Iverson sets off on a personal journey to explore the scientific, ethical, and political debate that surrounds Parkinson's, a disease at the center of the ongoing controversy over embryonic stem cell research. Having received his own diagnosis Iverson talks to scientists on the cutting edge of new cures and therapies -- and he has conversations with fellow Parkinson's sufferers like actor Michael J. Fox and writer Michael Kinsley...FRONTLINE: My Father, My Brother, and Me...9pm

Abraham and Mary comes to the tragic end...

The end has arrived for the excellent 6 part American Experience documentary about the Lincolns and their view from both inside and outside the White House...this episode tells the story of the last 16 months of the Civil War - from Gettysburg to the surrender at Appomattox to Abraham Lincoln's assassination...9pm

Watch the full episode. See more American Experience.

ANTIQUES ROADSHOW drives to the Gilmore Car Museum near Grand Rapids, Michigan, for a look at its collection of more than 1,500 hood ornaments or "mascots." Appraisal highlights: a letter from Grand Rapids native son, Gerald Ford, written in 1967 to his former kindergarten teacher; a pair of earrings made from cufflinks given to the guest's grandfather by Czar Nicholas of Russia; and an 1881 painting by noted Hudson River School artist Jasper Cropsey, valued at $300,000...tonight at 7PM, followed by another episode from Spokane at 8.

Later this week, National Geographic gets all stressed out over stress...

Rock and Roll or Rossini...or both!

Lots of music on the tube this weekend...rocker Chris Robinson and his Black Crowes come back to life on Live From The Artists Den, Saturday at 9, followed by Elvis Costello on Austin City Limits...also appearing on ACL is Austin and Amarillo favorites Band of Heathens...10pm

On Sunday you can recover from whatever you were doing during ACL with Rossini's vocally dazzling comedy "Le Comte Ory" on Great Performances at the Met at 2pm.
High culture smooths out the weekend with classic opera, fabulous costuming and sets, and "the most beautiful love music Rossini ever wrote."

Turn around quick...they always hunt in pairs...

Top predators with intelligence, who learn as they hunt, and who use their brain to track down prey, no matter what...they look like dragons...sharp teeth, tearing claws and a whip-like tail. They are the largest lizards still walking the planet, the monitor lizards -- the Lizard Kings...NOVA 7pm

And to continue the dino theme, a unique field expedition, covered exclusively by NOVA, will set out for Alaska's North Slope to defrost a jackpot of new fossil clues about dinosaurs. With the help of stunning CGI, NOVA will breathe life into the polar dinosaurs' lives and environment in vivid detail. With Alaska's spectacular wilderness as a backdrop, this program will reveal a prehistoric lost world for the first time on television...8pm

The times...they really are "a-changin'"...

The bulk of the marijuana consumed in the United States used to come across the border from Mexico, Canada and elsewhere. Now, more than half of it is believed to be home grown in California, where an enormous black market has emerged under the cover of the state’s medical marijuana law. FRONTLINE and The Center for Investigative Reporting team up to investigate the country’s oldest, largest and most wide-open marijuana market...Tonight at 9pm.

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

We're all about second chances...

ANTIQUES ROADSHOW...you know what they do, and they do it twice...
ABRAHAM AND MARY LINCOLN...you know what they did, and if not, this ongoing American Experience series will bring you up to speed in excruciating detail...

But if you somehow missed last night's Masterpiece Mystery!, you get a second chance late tonight...perfect for setting the DVR and enjoying at your leisure. It's the second installment of the new series "ZEN". In the shark tank of Roman politics, he’s known as an honest detective...much to the detriment of his career. Aurelio Zen always tries to do the right thing while making it appear that he’s following the conflicting orders of his bosses. And to complicate things even more, he's newly divorced and living with his mother...while becoming involved with his bosses aide.
And then there's Rome, up close and gorgeous...don't miss it...tonight at 1am

The bookmobile that eats hay...

POV's "Biblioburro" is the story of a librarian -- and a library -- like no other. A decade ago, Colombian teacher Luis Soriano was inspired to spend his weekends bringing a modest collection of precious books, via two hard-working donkeys, to the children of a poor and violence-ridden province. As Soriano braves armed bands, drug traffickers, snakes and heat, his library on hooves carries an inspirational message about education and a better future for Colombia...Saturday at 11pm

Steve Earl pays tribute to his songwriting mentor Townes Van Zandt on Austin City Limits...Saturday at 10pm

The second installment of the new Masterpiece Mystery! series "Zen" continues on Sunday night...with the frazzled police detective in Rome dodging office politics, criminals, and a personal life that is quite, uh shall we say, complicated...8pm

Watch the full episode. See more Masterpiece.

Careful what you say around Evan...it might end up on the air.

Formerly Texas Monthly Talks, Evan Smith's new gig covers some of the same ground...smart conversations with the country's most interesting people...you’ll meet politicians, authors, artists, actors, journalists, businesspeople, & anyone who’s at the center of things. Tonight it's Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. discussing his skill as a lawyer to work as a high-powered and high-profile environmentalist.
Overheard with Evan Smith...8pm

This is what happens when you look for the "City of Gold"...

What was the fate of famed adventurer Col. Percy Fawcett, who went looking for a city of gold -- the Lost City of "Z" -- in the Amazon in 1925 and disappeared in the jungles of Brazil forever? NOVA goes trekking along the paths that Fawcett followed...the search for clues ends at a Xinguano-Kuikuro village in the heart of the Mato Grosso: where a new archaeological discovery may reveal the true location of the Lost City of Z...NOVA 7pm

Perhaps...you can't handle the truth...

The latest was Osama bin Laden, one of thousands of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters who fell to the military's secret "Kill/Capture" program. A six-month investigation by FRONTLINE has gone inside to discover new evidence of the program's impact -- and its costs. Under the command of Gen. David Petraeus, U.S. forces are carrying out an unprecedented number of targeted raids using highly classified intelligence, aerial drones and Special Operations Forces. But is the tactic working? Traveling into the lawless border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, FRONTLINE tells the story from the perspective of Afghan civilians, U.S. troops and the Taliban militants they are pursuing...9pm

Four score and seven years ago...

At 7pm we go to Chattanooga, Tennessee, the backdrop for ANTIQUES ROADSHOW's look at an heirloom Confederate soldier's sword...an interesting lead in to the continuing American Experience series Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided. In tonight's episode we examine a major point in the timeline of history...as Mary Lincoln struggles with her grief, Abraham becomes consumed with the nation's Civil War tragedy and issues a defining statement of not only his presidency, but those that follow: the Emancipation Proclamation...9pm

With the stroke of a pen the world was changed...for a while.

Go behind the scenes with filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick in this sneak preview of their new film PROHIBITION, premiering in fall 2011. Discover the true story of America's "Great Experiment" and go beyond the oft-told tales of gangsters, rum runners, flappers and speakeasies to experience the rise, rule and fall of the 18th Amendment ending adult beverages...Sunday night at 10pm

But on Saturday, look in on British singer-songwriter David Gray, who was boosted by the success of the international hit single, "Babylon." But of course, that was 10 years ago. Have a listen to what he's doing now...Live From The Artists Den, Saturday 9pm

POV examines the "killing fields" of Cambodia, enacted by the takeover of the Khmer Rouge, remaining largely unexplained. Until now. Thet Sambath, an investigative journalist who lost his family in the conflict spends a decade gaining the trust of the men and women who perpetrated the massacres and tells the story...POV "Enemies of the People"...Saturday night at 11pm

Spinal Tap's bass player turns it up to 12...

in the Simpsons you know him as the voice of Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Waylon Smithers and many other characters. He's an Emmy and Grammy award-nominated actor and writer whose film credits include Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind...he also works as a novelist, a radio host, founder of a record label and now a first-time documentary filmmaker...meet the real Harry Shearer as he sits to talk with Evan Smith tonight on OVERHEARD...8pm

Imagine standing on the bottom of the ocean...

and looking up into a glittering kelp forest alive with darting fish, or watching five-foot-long sharks and giant tuna whiz by at arm’s length, or being surrounded by elegant, lacy white jellyfish as they soar, pulsing, through the water. Visitors to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on the coast of Northern California experience all this… and more. Tonight on Nature, go behind the scenes in a study of jellyfish, and the release of a great white shark back into it's natural habitat...and if at all possible, watch on an HD monitor. Amazing! 7pm

Why would four innocent men confess to a brutal crime they didn't commit?

FRONTLINE investigates the conviction of four sailors in the 1997 rape and murder of a Norfolk, Virginia, woman. The sailors confessed despite the absense of any evidence linking them to the crime.

The case raises disturbing questions about the actions of the police and prosecutors, who relied on the sailors' often contradictory confessions for their convictions, and disregarded DNA evidence that pointed to a lone assailant who would later confess to the crime himself while serving prison time for another rape...FRONTLINE 9pm

If you like really big guns and diamonds...

Reenactors fire a mid-19th-century cannon at the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park in the first of 2 Antiques Roadshows...also inspect an heirloom necklace whose centerpiece is a five carat diamond, valued at $250,000...and then go to San Antonio to visit the Witte Museum's collection of horn furniture, a Bavarian craft popularized in 19th-century America by Texas maker Wenzel Friederich, whose patrons included Queen Victoria and Kaiser Wilhelm I. At the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, appraisers corral treasures from all over the map, including a massive desk and bookcase, made in the mid-19th-century German-Texan tradition, valued at $7,000 to $10,000. Antiques Roadshow...7 & 8pm

The college thesis that is changing the world...

Would top college students choose teaching over more lucrative careers if there were a solid, prominent "teacher's corp" in place to effect real change? Wendy Kopp thinks so...
As founder and leader of Teach For America, she's devoting herself to bringing education to all corners of the world by involving the "cream of the crop' of students coming out of college ...
and she's starting with Evan Smith on the set of Overheard...8pm

I dreamed I was a sleepwalking cat...

What are dreams and why do we have them? Are they a window into a hidden realm within us? Science is only just beginning to understand. NOVA joins the leading dream researchers investigating the world of sleep. From human narcoleptics to sleepwalking cats, from recurrent nightmares to those who can't dream, each sequence contains a vital clue to the question these scientists are pursuing: why do we dream? NOVA...8pm

And as a coda to last nights Frontline story about wrongful convictions, meet a man convicted of poisoning and brutally dismembering his wife, and the analysis done 100 years later proving that not only was the body not his wife, it wasn't even a woman...Secrets of the Dead 7pm

Watch the full episode. See more Secrets of the Dead.

With this bunch, your secrets will never be safe...

Wes Cowan decodes the message and the strategy behind a U.S. World War II propaganda leaflet. Then, Gwen Wright traces a cherished family heirloom, a watercolor, to the world of Tiffany stained glass. How did Tiffany open a window of opportunity for early 20th century women? Find out in the new season of History Detectives, tonight at 7pm

Watch the full episode. See more History Detectives.

He abolished slavery...she was the daughter of a slave owner from Kentucky...

Elected president only to see the nation fracture in two, Abraham Lincoln led a confused and frightened people through the most terrible war in their history. His wife Mary Todd Lincoln was an aristocratic southerner whom he met when he was still a backwoods politician lacking in experience and sophistication.Although she remained fiercely loyal to her husband and the Union cause, two of her brothers fought for the South. Their marriage was long and turbulent, and knew many trials, including the loss of two children. Abraham & Mary Lincoln: A House Divided...9pm

Described as the culinary Hurt Locker...

"Kings of Pastry" is the acclaimed new documentary by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus...you might remember Penney's work for the last 50 years like...Dylan's tour of England in the 60's chronicled in "Don't Look Back", the movie "Monterrey Pop", and Clinton's presidential campaign doc "The War Room". He knows what he's doing, and he lets the subjects of his films tell the story as no one else can do. This time he takes on a cooking competition in France and has the audience sitting on the edge of their seats...forget "Iron Chefs", watch P.O.V. Saturday at 11pm

Friday we feature Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan originally recorded for the Canadian television program In Session in 1983, a historic meeting of the blues...11pm

And speaking of Dylan, Saturday on "Live From The Artists Den" Jakob Dylan performs with his new band and promises to do "One Headlight" just for me...8pm

The ride of his life...

In 1999 KACV sent a camera crew to follow Rick Husband as he trained for a 10 day mission aboard the shuttle Discovery. The documentary follows Rick's trajectory from grade school where he expressed an interest in being in space, all the way through his college and military careers as he prepares for his ultimate dream...pilot on the space shuttle for the ride of his life.
There's something about his wholesome enthusiasm that makes this original production permanently watchable. Rick Husband: Man With a Mission...8pm

At 11 we re-broadcast the American Masters special Troubadours: Carole King and James Taylor and the Rise of the Singer-Songwriter. Priceless footage of early performances and interviews by the likes of Taylor, King, Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne...along with others. Must see TV.

I remember watching for the streak in the sky…

On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas just 16 minutes before it was due to land. All seven astronauts aboard perished, including Amarillo’s own Rick Husband, and the implications for the future of the space shuttle program were enormous. What caused the Columbia tragedy? Through interviews with astronauts and their families, as well as with members of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, "Space Shuttle Disaster" gives viewers a new look at the Columbia tragedy - and at NASA itself.
NOVA 8pm

On December 11, 2008, he admitted it was all "one big lie."

Since the mid-1960s, Bernard Madoff tapped money from Jewish businessmen at exclusive country clubs with the promise of steady guaranteed returns on their investments...over the next 40 years channeling billions of dollars to his investment firm and becoming fabulously wealthy.
The competition wondered how he could produce such steady returns, and he was investigated by the SEC several times over the last two decades. FRONTLINE producers Martin Smith and Marcela Gaviria unravel the story behind the world's first truly global Ponzi scheme-a deception that lasted longer, reached wider, and cut deeper than any other business scandal in history...9pm

Season 9 of History Detectives premiers tonight with mysteries covering Pearl Harbor, the Civil War, and Hollywood Westerns...7pm

A dirt-farmer's son and a wealthy Southern slave-owner's daughter...

From award-winning film-maker David Grubin, this miniseries tells a remarkable story as only American Experience can. Together, Abraham and Mary Lincoln ascended to the pinnacle of power at the most difficult time in the nation's history, the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln's legacy as the Great Emancipator reshaped the nation while his tragic death left Mary reclusive and forgotten.

Presented in six parts, Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided begins with the story of the Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln's childhoods - his in a remote backwoods log cabin, hers in a wealthy Kentucky home - and describes their courtship. Mary sets her heart on the raw, socially awkward Lincoln, saying later: "He'll be President of the United States one day. If I had not thought so I never would have married him." Mondays at 9pm

With a handheld camera and available light...

for years Frederick Wiseman has brilliantly captured real life moments as they've happened...films such as La Dance: The Paris Opera Ballet. Now he's lugged his hand held to an Austin, Texas institution, Lord's Gym, founded by Richard Lord, a former professional boxer. A wide variety of people train at the gym: men, women, children, doctors, lawyers, judges, business men and women, immigrants, pro boxers and, well you get the point. The gym is an example of the American "melting pot" where people meet, talk, train...and hit each other. Frederick is right there, recording the golden moments...my pick of the week - Boxing Gym, Sunday 10pm.

Texas Horned Lizards? Oh, you mean Horny Toads...

Tonight on Texas Parks and Wildlife we look at them up close and personal, and try to figure out where they've gone and more importantly, when they're coming back...8:30pm

And the soundstage at Austin City Limits features a songwriters supergroup, with Lyle Lovett & Friends...including John Hiatt, Guy Clark, and Joe Ely...that's a lot of talent in one place, and a lot of music and stories to hear...ya'll come. 7pm

What if they studied the effects of Lady Ga Ga....

NOVA investigates the extraordinary impact music can have on the human brain, through the case studies from neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks' latest book Musicophilia. We travel around the globe to meet people like Tony Cicoria, who was struck by lightning and was suddenly inspired to become a pianist; and Matt Giordano, who uses drumming to alleviate his severe Tourettes. NOVA answers some interesting questions in a rare glimpse of what makes minds musical...8pm

The smartest guys in the room...not.

Tonight FRONTLINE sifts the ashes for clues about the early warnings of the recent devastating economic crash, reveals an intense battle among high-ranking members of the Clinton administration and uncovers a concerted effort not to regulate the emerging, highly complex and lucrative derivatives markets...the ticking time bomb that exploded the financial underpinnings of the nation...9pm



"Doping for Gold" digs deep into the secretive Cold War world of East German athletes, examining what drugs were used, how they were distributed and what damage they did to many of the athletes who were forced to take them in order to reap gold at the Olympic level...and considering the performance enhancing drug problem in today's sports, the lesson still hasn't been learned. Secrets of the Dead...7pm

Still big trouble in the Big Easy...

Five years after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Louisiana's recovery is far from over. In this new program, a follow-up to 2006's "Washing Away: Losing Louisiana," which revealed the causes and consequences of coastal land lost through the eyes of six individuals living through it, the same six reveal both successes and setbacks as their coastline and culture continue to give way to the Gulf.
To get an update on their progress, it's "Washing Away: After the Storms"...9:30

ANTIQUES ROADSHOW glides into airplane industry hub Wichita, Kansas, where we look at glamorous vintage air travel posters at the Air Museum. Then it's a 1949 payroll check made out to professional baseball rookie Mickey Mantle which scores a high-flying value of $30, 000 to $50,000...7pm

Music and Mayhem...and more Music...

It's way too hot for Woodstock, but this weekend is jam packed with performances that equal or surpass...and in the comfort of your own home. 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...along with friends Randy Newman, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens and so many others, they tell the story of singer-songwriters and their place in music.
American Masters: Troubadours tonight at 11pm.

Speaking of songwriters, Lyle Lovett and his friends John Hiatt, Guy Clark and Joe Ely pool their talents for a special episode of AUSTIN CITY LIMITS...Saturday at 10pm

Watch the full episode. See more Austin City Limits.

In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, 7,000 pages of top-secret documents, to The New York Times, a daring act of conscience that led to Watergate, President Nixon's resignation and the end of the Vietnam War. "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers"...Saturday night at 11pm

And finally, Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago featuring performances by Jeff Beck, Robert Cray, Sheryl Crow, Vince Gill, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Johnny Lang, John Mayer, Steve Winwood, Ron Wood and more; Bill Murray is the host...Sunday afternoon at 2pm. You're welcome.

The answer my friend, is blowin' in the wind?

Texas leads in the country in wind energy production, and with this new energy source there are new questions. What will wind farms do to the already fragmented habitat here in Texas, and how will they affect the birds that live and migrate through our state? This week's Texas Parks and Wildlife looks at the Panhandle wind farms and their effects on the threatened lesser prairie chicken...9pm

Calvin Trillin has written countless words for The New Yorker, The Nation, Time and more than two dozen books. His latest project is a book-length collection of things he's written about Texas - a state he somehow seems to understand even better than the locals do. We'll see.
Overheard with Evan Smith...8pm

Where the wild things roam...

Chichagof Island, Southeast Alaska, is Jurassic Park -- in real time. Its dense rainforests hide more grizzlies per square mile than any other place on Earth. Follow veteran tracker Vern Beier, as he meets Chichagof's brown bears on their own turf -- in the deep, dark forests of Bear Island...
and please, don't feed the animals! 7pm

Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E, is the lead singer of U.S. cult band the EELS. What most of his fans don't know is that Mark's father, Hugh Everett III, was one of America's top quantum physicists.In 1957, Hugh Everett came up with a revolutionary theory that predicted the existence of parallel universes. The film follows the wry and charismatic Mark as he travels across America to learn about the father he never knew...as well as a little quantum mechanics...NOVA 8pm

And you thought K2 was hard...

The Globe Trekker crew stays in the states for some local hiking...among the challenges awaiting them include the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, Mount Rainier in Washington and the Sangre de Cristo mountains in Colorado...8pm


His debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1971, at the ripe old age of 28, was the beginning of 40 years of artistic leadership and amazing performances. Conductor James Levine's life and current work are the subject of a documentary that captures the essence of his unparalleled musicianship and his singular teaching and performance style, while looking back at creative milestones in his career. Included in the film are intimate scenes between the maestro and longtime collaborator Placido Domingo as they rehearse Verdi's Simon Boccanegra; intense rehearsals with the Met Orchestra as they prepare for their first performance of Beethoven's 5th Symphony at Carnegie Hall; and Levine's poignant coaching sessions with aspiring young singers preparing to launch their careers. The film provides a revealing portrait of one of classical music's giants,exploring how Levine transformed the Met's orchestra into one of the great ensembles, elicited legendary performances from leading singers,and nurtured new generations of artists...special American Masters re-broadcast from June 1...7pm

Blistering summer day in Chicago with 27,000 of your closest friends...

or watching on tv in glorious HD and AC (air conditioning dude)...The ultimate Clapton collaboration took place last June at Chicago's Toyota Park. For one day only, Clapton gathered the past, present, and future of guitar music onto one stage for an incredible all-day musical event in front of a crowd of over 27,000. The third Crossroads Guitar Festival was a sold out, 11-hour tour de force featuring performances by Jeff Beck, Robert Cray, Sheryl Crow, Vince Gill, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Johnny Lang, John Mayer, Steve Winwood, Ron Wood and more; Bill Murray is the host...8pm

Mr. Rogers, then Yo-Yo Ma, then Esparanza..

Bass playing jazz singer Esparanza Spaulding has Mr. Rogers to thank for inspiring her to get into music...after watching Yo-Yo Ma perform on the PBS show when she was five years old, she convinced her mother to enroll her in a community band program in Portland Oregon...after learning multiple instruments and stints with orchestras and street bands, she became the first solo jazz artist to win the Grammy for best new artist. See what all the buzz is about Saturday on Austin City Limits...10pm

Sure, he can play the banjo...but can he juggle?

Way back in the 70's in his stand-up routine, Steve Martin would cap off a night of happy feet and low-key hilarity with that very question...and then proceed to juggle away. But the contradiction of his rather serious stage manner with the clear exuberance for Foggy Mountain Breakdown made him that much funnier...and loveable. 40 years later on Austin City Limits, bluegrass is the order of the night as Martin picks and grins with the Steep Canyon Rangers for new tunes in the old tradition...along with young Texan Sarah Jarosz who rewrites the bluegrass rules with her own original songs and style...7pm

Watch the full episode. See more Austin City Limits.

Happy Anniversary to the Maestro at the Met...

Welcome to June everybody...somebody with better math skills can tell you there are just ??? shopping days until Christmas...in the meantime, to celebrate his 40th anniversary at the Metropolitan Opera, conductor James Levine's life and current work are the subject of a documentary that captures the essence of his unparalleled musicianship and his singular teaching and performance style, while looking back at creative milestones since his Met debut in 1971 at the age of 28. The film provides a revealing portrait of one of classical music's giants,exploring how Levine transformed the Met's orchestra into one of the great ensembles, elicited legendary performances from leading singers,and nurtured new generations of artists...7pm

Then Great Performances provides a performance of an opera with the unlikely name of "Nixon in China"...8pm

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice...

On May 5, 2011, Carnegie Hall will celebrate its 120th anniversary with a gala concert by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert. The concert repertoire is currently planned to include Beethoven's Triple Concerto performed by Gil Shaham (violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello) and Emanuel Ax (piano); a selection of songs by Duke Ellington and a complete performance of George Gershwin's An American in Paris...Great Performances...7pm

Watch the full episode. See more Great Performances.

Then we look at the life of pioneering American entertainer, Jack Soo, an Oakland native who became the first Asian American to be cast in the lead role in a regular television series, "Valentine's Day" (1963), and later starred in the popular comedy show "Barney Miller" (1975-1978). Featuring rare footage and interviews with Soo's co-stars and friends, including actors George Takei, Nancy Kwan and Max Gail, comedians Steve Landesberg and Gary Austin, and producer Hal Kanter, the film traces Soo's early beginnings as a nightclub singer and comedian, to his breakthrough role as Sammy Fong in Rogers and Hammerstein's Broadway play and film version of "The Flower Drum Song". The film shows how Soo's work laid the groundwork for a new generation of Asian American actors and comedians...8:30pm

Robert Plant trades Alison Kraus for Patty Griffith...

A rare snowy day in Nashville, Tennessee, sets the stage...an intimate concert by rock icon Robert Plant at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville. Performing with his new, Grammy-nominated group Band of Joy - Plant plays both Led Zeppelin classics and new songs that continue to have an impact on the music scene today...Live From the Artist's Den...Sat at 8pm

Bluegrass is the order of the night with Steve Martin and Sarah Jarosz. Comedian Martin picks up his banjo with the Steep Canyon Rangers for new tunes in the old tradition. Young Texan Jarosz rewrites the bluegrass rules with her original songs and style..Austin City Limits...10pm

And a Memorial Day tradition, this multi award-winning broadcast features an all-star line-up in performance with the National Symphony Orchestra and is co-hosted for the sixth time by Emmy Award-winner Gary Sinise and Tony Award-winner Joe Mantegna, two acclaimed actors who have dedicated themselves to veterans' causes and supporting the troops in active service. The event has become the nation's memorial service offering viewers a time to remember, to heal and bring the country together...Sunday at 7pm

Watch the full episode. See more National Memorial Day Concert.

To cap off Memorial Day, this collection of personal correspondence brings to life the deepest,most human side of war, from the American Revolution to the Gulf War. This one-hour film transcends the subject of war by exploring the love, passion, pain, horror and hope of the men and women who fought and those who waited at home...Monday at 8pm