Hunt for the Supertwister

WEDNESDAY, MAY 22 @ 7:00pPM 12:00AM

On May 3, 1999, one of the most powerful tornadoes ever recorded carved a path of complete destruction near Oklahoma City. To scientists, the supertwister held sobering lessons about the future for rapidly expanding cities in tornado-threatened areas. Most tornadoes form suddenly and with little warning. But now meteorologists are on the verge of a breakthrough that may solve the puzzle of how these killer storms spawn and where they are likely to strike. NOVA follows stormchasers as they probe the tornado’s deadly secrets.

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INTO THE DEEP: AMERICA, WHALING & THE WORLD

SATURDAY, MARCH 24 @ 6:00PM

Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World examines the history of the American whaling industry from its 17th-century origins in drift and shore whaling off the coast of New England and Cape Cod, through the golden age of deep ocean whaling, and on to its demise in the decades following the American Civil War. Taking place over three centuries, the film binds the story of American capitalism on the rise with a case study in maritime culture. The fate of the whaleship Essex — which set sail from Nantucket in the summer of 1819 — is interwoven with the story of a young Herman Melville, whose own imaginative voyage into the deep would give rise to one of the greatest works of American literature, Moby Dick.
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American Stamps

SATURDAY, MAY 8 @ 8:30PM

There is a story behind every postage stamp. Each of the iconic images on all those little bits of paper captures a unique angle of the American experience. Collectively, they represent the greatness in us. And while stamps are closely related to currency, the wide range of subjects they represent makes choosing them a personal decision.

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COLLEGE, INC.

FRIDAY, MAY 7 @ 7:30PM & 10:30PM

Even in lean times, the $400 billion business of higher education is booming. Nowhere is this more true than in one of the fastest-growing — and most controversial — sectors of the industry: for-profit colleges and universities that cater to non-traditional students, often confer degrees over the Internet, and, along the way, successfully capture billions of federal financial aid dollars.

In College, Inc., correspondent Martin Smith investigates the promise and explosive growth of the for-profit higher education industry. Through interviews with school executives, government officials, admissions counselors, former students and industry observers, this film explores the tension between the industry –which says it’s helping an underserved student population obtain a quality education and marketable job skills — and critics who charge the for-profits with churning out worthless degrees that leave students with a mountain of debt.
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JAPANESE SUPER SUB

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29  @ 8:00PM &11:00PM

Spring, 1946. Ten months after the end of World War II, an explosion rocks the Pacific off the coast of Hawaii. America has just destroyed one of Japan’s most advanced weapons systems – the I-401 aircraft carrier submarine. The supersub combined the stealth and tactical advantages of sea and sky and was invented to execute air strikes on land from the sea. But why did America sink one of its most prized military captures? Bound by an agreement to share any intelligence with the Soviets but feeling the pressure of the looming Cold War, it was a calculated decision to keep the technology out of Soviet hands. Six decades later, a team of researchers from the University of Hawaii located the submarine’s remains. The discovery of the sunken sub sparks a new examination of its forgotten place in military history.

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Mt. St. Helens Back From the Dead

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5 @ 10:00PM

One of the most violent natural disasters of our time, the colossal eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 blasted away an entire mountainside. Over 200 square miles of pristine forest were buried under millions of tons of lava, ash, mud, and avalanche debris. How could life ever return to this barren moonscape? A lone ecologist, Charlie Crisafulli, spent months in the blast zone and was astonished and puzzled by how quickly plants and animals colonized the wasteland. In this program, stunning cinematography and time-lapse photography trace the dramatic story of how Crisafulli witnessed life’s return and figured out the puzzle.

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Roads to Memphis

MONDAY, MAY 3 @ 7:00PM & 10:00PM

On April 4, 1968, escaped convict James Earl Ray shot and killed Dr. Martin Luther King while he lingered on a motel balcony. Roads to Memphis is the fateful narrative of this killer and his prey, set against the seething, turbulent forces in American society at that time.

James Earl Ray, a career criminal with a history of small-scale robberies and scattered stints in jail, grew up in a poor section of Illinois. Ray dropped out of school at the age of 15 and served only two years in the army before he was dismissed for “ineptness and lack of adaptability”. While in the Missouri State Penitentiary in 1966, Ray followed Martin Luther King’s growing popularity and power, nursing his own hatred of the civil rights leader and his gnawing desire to escape from prison. In April 1967 Ray smuggled himself out of the penitentiary by hiding in a bakery cart. Hoping his escape would inspire a widely publicized manhunt, Ray was disappointed in the police’s lackluster response, and he began searching even more desperately for something to make him infamous.
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FOYLE’S WAR

THE RUSSIAN HOUSE

SUNDAY, MAY 2 @ 7:00PM & 11:00PM

Now that the war is over in Europe, Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen) finds he still has more battles to win in three gripping new 90-minute episodes. Tracking murderers, escapees and traitors, Foyle is joined by his former driver, Samantha “Sam” Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks), and his old sergeant, Paul Milner (Anthony Howell), recently promoted to detective inspector in nearby Brighton.

Episodes of Foyle’s War: Series VI
The Russian House
In the war’s aftermath, Hastings is a transit point for Russian POWs who changed sides to fight for the Nazis and now face an uncertain future. The War Office assigns Foyle to track down one escapee, and the reason for his flight becomes shockingly clear.

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