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