CHRISTMAS WITH THE MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR

FEATURING DEBORAH VOIGT AND JOHN RHYS

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25 @ 11:00PM

Leading dramatic soprano Deborah Voigt and acclaimed British actor and voice artist John Rhys-Davies join the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square in a concert of holiday favorites.

Among the highlights of the concert, conducted by Mack Wilberg and Ryan Murphy, are Voigt’s performances of the English carol “The Holly and the Ivy” and the light-hearted “The Twelve Days After Christmas” with the choir and orchestra. The program includes a new Mack Wilberg twist on the traditional song “Christmas Is Coming (The Geese Are Getting Fat).” The Bells on Temple Square join the choir and orchestra for an upbeat rendition of “Ring Those Christmas Bells.”

FIND OUT MORE »

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18 @ 7:00PM

For the millions of devoted viewers eagerly awaiting the debut of the new season of Downton Abbey on MASTERPIECE on January 4, 2015, on PBS, relief is on the way. Downton Abbey Rediscovered offers a tempting sampling of best-loved moments from the past four seasons and a few delectable delights from Season Five. Celebrating the series that The Hollywood Reporter praised as “an absolute pleasure to watch,” the program includes a mix of behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with creators and cast members, and video clips of favorite scenes. Tony Award®-winning actress, and huge fan of the series, Bernadette Peters hosts the program.

FIND OUT MORE »

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22 @ 7:00PM

Having spent most of her adult life in the kitchens of highly-lauded restaurants, Vivian has rarely celebrated the holidays during busy Decembers. This year, she and her husband Ben Knight are determined to give their toddler twins a traditional holiday experience, cooking, laughing, and yes, crying their way through Southern traditions new and old. In this holiday special, Vivian discovers that mistletoe is traditionally shot out of a pecan tree, experiences her first hog killing, and leads a “tacky Christmas sweater” night with the restaurant staff at Chef and the Farmer.

FIND OUT MORE »

WITH BRUCE FEILER

LOURDES & SHIKOKU

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16 @ 6:00PM & 11:00PM

LOURDES

In 1858, in an unassuming town in the southwest of France, a 14-year-old peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous claimed she had 18 encounters with the Virgin Mary. Since then, Lourdes has become one of the holiest Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world, visited annually by more than five million people who come in search of healing from its sacred waters. Since the end of World War II, soldiers from around the world have journeyed to Lourdes seeking healing and unity with one another at a week-long gathering known as the International Military Pilgrimage.

Shikoku

The Japanese island of Shikoku is the birthplace of the most revered figure in Japanese Buddhism, the monk and teacher Kobo-Daishi, who brought a populist form of Buddhism to Japan from China in the 9th century. For hundreds of years, a 750-mile pilgrimage route has circled this mountainous island, connecting 88 separate temples and shrines that claim connection to Daishi, also known as the Great Master. Each leg of the journey represents a stage of the path to nirvana: awakening, austerity and discipline, enlightenment, and nirvana.

FIND OUT MORE »

EXTREME REALITIES: SEVERE WEATHER,

CLIMATE CHANGE, AND OUR NATIONAL SECURITY

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15 @ 11:00PM

Hosted and narrated by Matt Damon, Extreme Realities is a new Journey to Planet Earth episode investigating the link between extreme weather, climate change, and threats to our national security. Featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tom Friedman, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, former CIA Director James Woolsey, and environmental visionary Lester Brown, the documentary focuses on recent political conflicts and severe weather events in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, India, the Middle East, the United States, and the Arctic.

FIND OUT MORE »

WITH GWEN IFILL

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12 @ 11:00PM

This Week on Washington Week: Senate Report on CIA Interrogations & Bipartisan Budget Deal

CIA Director John Brennan is strongly defending his agency following the release of a critical Senate Intelligence Committee report about the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program. The Senate’s so-called “torture report” accuses the CIA of misleading the White House and Congress about the effectiveness of harsh tactics used against terrorism suspects following the 9/11 attacks. Brennan is calling the process by which the Senate committee arrived at its report “flawed.”

Plus we’ll take a closer look at how Congress was able to reach a bipartisan budget deal to avert another government shutdown.

FIND OUT MORE »

CURTAIN UP

THE SCHOOL OF AMERICAN BALLET WORKSHOP PERFORMANCES

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM

For the first time on Live From Lincoln Center, the curtain will be drawn back on one of the world’s premier ballet academies—the School of American Ballet—with the presentation of SAB’s 50th Annual Workshop Performances. The broadcast features an all-Balanchine program (including Serenade, and excerpts from Coppélia, Swan Lake, and Western Symphony) from its 50th annual showcase as well as rare behind-the-scenes footage, offering a close-up look at the ballet stars of tomorrow.

FIND OUT MORE »

THE MADOFF AFFAIR

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9 @ 11:00PM

It took more than Bernard Madoff alone to pull off the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history. On Monday, the first of five members of his inner circle to be convicted in connection to the epic fraud case was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In addition to prison time, Daniel Bonventre, a former operations director for Madoff, was ordered to forfeit $155 billion for his role in the scheme. Madoff has maintained for years that he acted alone in the investment scam, but in March, following five months of trial, a federal jury ruled that Bonventre helped facilitate the fraud by producing phony books and records.

FIND OUT MORE »

THE BIRTH OF NUCLEAR POWER

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9 @ 6:00PM & 11:00PM

Combative, provocative and searingly blunt, Admiral Hyman G. Rickover was a flamboyant maverick, a unique American hero. Unafraid to buck the system, he alienated Navy brass, yet inspired the men under him.

When few thought it possible, then-Captain Rickover undertook a quest to harness the fearsome power of the atom to drive the first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, whose trip under the polar ice pack was one of the great adventure stories of the 1950s.

FIND OUT MORE »