THE LUMINOUS YEARS

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7 @ 10:00PM

In the early decades of the twentieth century, a storm of modernism swept through the art worlds of the West, uprooting centuries of tradition in the visual arts, music, literature, dance, theater and beyond. The epicenter of this storm was Paris, France.

Paris The Luminous Years, explores this unique moment in Paris from 1905 to 1930, decisive years for our contemporary culture, when an international group including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Igor Stravinsky, Ernest Hemingway, Jean Cocteau, Gertrude Stein, Vaslav Nijinsky and Aaron Copland, among numerous others, revolutionized the direction of the modern arts.

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DOCTORS’ DIARIES

SATURDAY, JUNE 9

PART 1 @ 11:00PM

PART 2 @ 12:00AM

In 1987, NOVA’s cameras began rolling to chronicle the lives of seven young, bright medical students embarking on the longest and most rigorous endeavor in higher education: the years-long journey to become a doctor. From their first days at Harvard Medical School to the present day, none of them could have predicted what it would take, personally and professionally. In “Doctors’ Diaries,” a two-hour special, NOVA returns to find out what sorts of doctors—and people—the seven young students have become. The program is the latest installment in the longest-running U.S. documentary of its kind.

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A HOT DOG PROGRAM

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM

How about a hot dog for lunch? “A Hot Dog Program” is an all-American celebration of those fabulous and phenomenally popular little sausages in their soft little buns hosted by Rick Sebak. Whether you like your dog with mustard and sauerkraut, chili and cheese, or with the “works,” this program is sure to please.

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HELL AND BACK AGAIN

THURSDAY, MAY 31 @ 8:00PM & 11:00PM

In 2009, U.S. Marines launch a major helicopter assault on a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan. Within hours of being dropped deep behind enemy lines, 25-year-old Sergeant Nathan Harris’s unit (U.S. Marines Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment) is attacked from all sides. Cut off and surrounded, the Marines fight a ghostlike enemy and experience immense hostility from displaced villagers caught in the middle.

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SUNDAY, MAY 27 @ 6:00PM & 7:00PM

AND 10:00PM & 11:30PM

On the eve of Memorial Day, a star-studded line-up will grace the stage for one of PBS’ highest-rated programs. The multi award-winning television event has truly become an American tradition, honoring the military service and sacrifice of all our men and women in uniform, their families at home and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

The program is co-hosted for the seventh year by Tony Award-winner Joe Mantegna (“Criminal Minds”) and Emmy Award-winner Gary Sinise (“CSI: New York”), two acclaimed actors who have dedicated themselves to veteran’s causes and supporting troopsin active service.

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LEFT BY THE SHIP

THURSDAY, MAY24 @ 8:00 & 11:00PM

In the 1970s and 1980s, the world was touched by the stories of Amerasian children, the offspring of U.S. military personnel stationed in Asia and the Pacific in the aftermath of World War II, and during the Korean and Vietnam wars. Many of these children were born to impoverished prostitutes who worked on the outskirts of the American military bases, and left behind by their American fathers as soon as their deployment ended.

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SALMON: RUNNING THE GAUNTLET

WEDNESDAY, JULY 2 @ 10:00PM

The Columbia River Basin once teemed with young salmon heading toward the ocean and mature salmon returning to their home rivers and streams to spawn. Now, many salmon species of the Pacific Northwest are extinct, and thirteen, including the iconic sockeye salmon, are currently endangered. When European Americans arrived in the area 150 years ago, the subsequent growth and change in population severely affected the ecosystems. Overfishing, habitat destruction, and dam construction contributed to salmon’s decline, which led, in the late-nineteenth century, to a new government-sanctioned industry created to restore dwindling salmon populations: hatcheries. Today, salmon hatcheries provide controlled environments where early developmental stages of the salmon lifecycle are replicated within the confines of concrete walls; eggs are artificially fertilized and incubated in tubes and plastic bags, and young salmon are raised in tanks before being released into the wild.

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THE WEST AND THE REST WITH NIALL FERUGUSON

TUESDAY, MAY 29 @ 6:00PM & 9:00PM

For the past five centuries, Western civilizations have prevailed around the world. More people have been influenced by Western food, clothing, medicine, government and religion worldwide than by any other civilization. How did that happen? What led the West to be so influential and powerful? And how long will the West sustain its supremacy? As America approaches the 2012 presidential election in the midst of a geopolitical paradigm shift, acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson returns to public television with a timely look at the reasons behind the West’s economic ascendancy and why Eastern civilizations may now be taking the lead.

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