SWING: PURE PLEASURE (1935-1937)

EPISODE 5

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4 @ 7:00PM & 11:30PM

As the Great Depression drags on, jazz comes as close as it has ever come to being America’s popular music . Big band jazz – swing – becomes the most popular music in America. Some fans, disturbed by its popularity, start a movement to embrace “traditional” jazz. In the western “territories,” a blues-soaked big band style further transforms jazz.

“Swing: Pure Pleasure” (Part 5 of 10) recalls the years 1935 to ’37, when “jazz came as close as it ever came to being America’s popular music,” says narrator Keith David. The reason: swing. It “unleashed forces that people didn’t know existed,” says critic Gary Giddins.” The result: “pure physical pleasure.” Swing’s king: Benny Goodman, who’s profiled, as is Jimmy Lunceford, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw and Billie Holliday.

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CAN ALZHEIMER’S BE STOPPED?

SATURDAY, APRIL 16 @ 11:00PM

Alzheimer’s disease strikes at the core of what makes us human: our capacity to think, to love, and to remember. The disease ravages the minds of over 40 million victims worldwide, and it is one of the greatest medical mysteries of our time. Join investigators as they gather clues and attempt to reconstruct the molecular chain of events that ultimately leads to dementia, and follow key researchers in the field who have helped to develop the leading theories of the disease.

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INDIA’S WANDERING LIONS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13 @ 6:00PM & 11:00PM

As India’s population booms, her legendary wildlife has been squeezed almost out of existence. But the commitment of the Indian people to preserve their wildlife is surprising – leading even to bringing back what has been lost. Against a backdrop of teak forest, farmland and villages, this film explores the extraordinary story of Asia’s last lions and their recovery from near extinction. From a mere 20 individuals a century ago, they now number over 400. But the lions have outgrown their sanctuary and spilled out into the surrounding countryside and villages. Yet here a unique relationship has developed between lions and people, revealing a story not of continual conflict as we might expect, but one of survival and tolerance.

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THAT CHANGED AMERICA

THURSDAY, MARCH 9 @ 7:00PM & 11:00PM

10 Parks that Changed America tells the story of 10 visionaries who took open canvases of God-forsaken land, and transformed them into serene spaces that offer city dwellers a respite from the hustle and bustle of urban life. From the elegant squares of Savannah, Georgia, to a park built over a freeway in Seattle, to the more recent High Line in New York, each story introduces the heroes who brought these parks to life, and the villains who preferred to exploit the land for private enterprise. Discover the evolution of our nation’s city parks, and learn the history of landscape architecture – an American-born art in which human beings try their best to mimic nature.

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EPISODE 2

SATURDAY, JULY 17 @ 6:00PM

Jack Roosevelt Robinson rose from humble origins to cross baseball’s color line and become one of the most beloved men in America. A fierce integrationist, Robinson used his immense fame to speak out against the discrimination he saw on and off the field, angering fans, the press, and even teammates who had once celebrated him for “turning the other cheek.” After baseball, he was a widely-read newspaper columnist, divisive political activist and tireless advocate for civil rights, who later struggled to remain relevant as diabetes crippled his body and a new generation of leaders set a more militant course for the civil rights movement.

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SEASON 4 ON MASTERPIECE

EPISODE 3

SUNDAY, APRIL 10 @ 8:00PM & 12:00AM

It’s all champagne and caviar at when Selfridge’s holds a lavish press event in France. But between the outlandish spending and the attractive guests—will Harry and company escape unscathed? Back at the store, beloved author A.A. Milne delights the children of London, and a familiar face graces the show floor.

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SEASON 5, EPISODE 2

SUNDAY, APRIL 10 @ 9:00PM

Barbara is caught between a stressed expectant mother and her impecunious husband. Sister Evangeline’s vocal objection to the sale of baby formula distresses a new mother who’s unable to breastfeed.

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