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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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