THE ANIMAL HOUSE

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12 @ 6:00PM

Skyscrapers towering over major cities or spectacularly-designed bridges often come to mind when we think of great feats in architecture and engineering. However, some of the most amazing, creative, and innovative structures on earth are not man-made or urban at all, but residences built by animals in the natural world.

Termites across Africa’s plains build ten-foot-high mounds, temperature-controlled high-rises maintained by solar power and complete with flood contingency plans. Leaf and grass cutter ants move 40 tons of earth to create subterranean cities with highways, homes, farms, trash pits, and nurseries for 12 million residents. Army ants create living houses made entirely of their own bodies.

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BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM

In an era in which cold-blooded killers such as Jesse James and the Younger Brothers terrorized the American West, Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and their Wild Bunch gang took a smart and methodical approach to bank and train robbery. In the 1890s, their thrilling exploits — robbing banks and trains and then seemingly vanishing into thin air — became front-page news and the basis of rumor and myth, captivating Americans from coast to coast.

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SPIES OF MISSISSIPPI

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10 @ 8:00PM

Spies of Mississippi is a journey into the world of informants, infiltrators, and agent provocateurs in the heart of Dixie.

The film tells the story of a secret spy agency formed by the state of Mississippi to preserve segregation and maintain “the Mississippi way of life,” white; supremacy, during the 1950s and ‘60s. The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission (MSSC) evolved from a predominantly public relations agency to a full-fledged spy operation, spying on over 87,000 Americans over the course of a decade.

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8 @ 11:00PM

Based on the novel by celebrated writer Frances Hodgson Burnett, this is the story of the educated but penniless Emily. During her duties as a lady’s companion for Lady Maria she meets her employer’s wealthy widower nephew, Lord James Walderhurst. Accepting his practical if unromantic marriage proposal, Emily finds solace in the company of Walderhurst’s nephew Alec Osborn and his glamorous wife, Hester, after Lord James leaves to rejoin his regiment. Emily, alone with the Osborns, increasingly comes under their control. She begins to fear for her life. (90 minutes)

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DOWNTON ABBEY SEASON 4

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9 @ 7:00PM & 11:30PM

Downton’s drove of pigs arrive, Robert departs, and illness descends. Mary and Blake may have found common ground, but Edith faces her troubles alone.

The much-loved cast of Downton Abbey Season 4 includes Dame Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter, Joanne Froggatt, Penelope Wilton, and a host of others, with guest stars Shirley MacLaine and Paul Giamatti. Written and created by Julian Fellowes, Downton Abbey, Season 4 marks the return of one of television’s most beloved and anticipated drama series to MASTERPIECE on PBS.

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WITH GWEN IFILL

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7 @ 9:00PM

THIS WEEK: HEALTHCARE & JOBS, ECONOMIC JITTERS, PENTAGON INVESTIGATIONS AND 2014 ELECTION STRATEGIES

A report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has sparked the latest political battle over the Affordable Care Act. The CBO forecasts more than 2 million full-time workers will choose to reduce their hours or leave their jobs over the next ten years in order to remain eligible for federal healthcare subsidies. Democrats believe the ACA law will allow Americans to make choices about their lives, retirement and healthcare that don’t hinge on having a full-time job. Republicans insist the law serves as a disincentive for people to work and in the long-run will hurt the economy.

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ALICE WALKER: BEAUTY IN TRUTH

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

“Creation is a sustained period of bliss, even though the subject can still be very sad. Because there’s the triumph of coming through and understanding that you have, and that you did it the way only you could do it. You didn’t do it the way somebody told you to do it. You did it just the way you had to do it, and that is what makes us us.” … Alice Walker (90 Minutes)

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