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.