JOHN JAMES AUDUBON: DRAWN FROM NATURE

MONDAY, MARCH 22 @ 8:00PM & 11:00PM

John James Audubon is best known for The Birds of America, a book of 435 images, portraits of every bird then known in the United States – painted and reproduced in the size of life. Its creation cost Audubon eighteen years of monumental effort in finding the birds, making the book, and selling it to subscribers. Audubon also wrote thousands of pages about birds (Ornithological Biography); he’d completed half of a collection of paintings of mammals (The Viviparous Quadrapeds of North America) when his eyesight failed in 1846.

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SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING:

THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE

THURSDAY, JUNE 10 @ 8:00 PM & 11:00 PM

This program takes viewers below the surface of this glamorous sport to reveal the pain, sacrifice and determination required to be a champion synchronized swimmer. Graceful, sharp and visually spectacular, these dynamic routines are made only more gripping by the intensity of the fierce competition. SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING follows two teams of ambitious and athletic girls — and one very determined teenage boy — through their training and team bonding until they meet in a spectacular display of churning water and synchronous limbs at the U.S. Open — the climactic final event of the U.S. synchronized swimming season.

At the Met

The Barber of Seville

SATURDAY, March 20 @ 6:00pm

Count Almaviva comes in disguise to the house of Dr. Bartolo to serenade Rosina (”Ecco ridente”). Dr. Bartolo keeps Rosina, whom he intends to marry, confined to the house. Almaviva pays the musicians and decides to wait until daylight in the hope of seeing her. Figaro the Barber, who has access to the houses in Seville and knows the town’s secrets and scandals, arrives and describes his busy life (”Largo al factotum”). The Count sings another serenade to Rosina, calling himself Lindoro, a poor student. Figaro devises a plan: the Count will disguise himself as a drunken soldier quartered at Dr. Bartolo’s house to gain access to Rosina. The Count is excited about this plan while Figaro looks forward to a nice cash payoff from the grateful Count (”All’idea di quel metallo”).

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Butte, America

Tuesday, March 16 @ 8:00pm & 11:00pm

As Thomas Edison prepared to throw the switch that would signal the dawn of the electric age, an epic story was unfolding in the copper-rich mountains of Montana. BUTTE, AMERICA chronicles the rise and fall of a small mining town with a larger-than-life spirit—where fortunes were made and lost, and where community was precious, but life was cheap.

In the late 1800s, Butte, Montana, was one of dozens of frontier mining towns that sprang up nationwide. The discovery of copper ore in Butte’s mines coincided with the push to electrify America. Copper, prized for its conductivity, was needed in vast quantities—immediately.

Overnight, Butte became “the Richest Hill on Earth,” the most lucrative copper mining region in the world. Miners from Ireland and England flocked to Butte. Mines like the Berkeley, the Saint Lawrence, the Moonlight and the Neversweat employed thousands—but they needed more.

Known as the “Pittsburgh of the West,” Butte’s population swelled to 90,000, morphing into a vibrant, gritty, urban oasis perched on jagged hillsides. Miners from Scandanavia, Eastern Europe and the Phillipines established neighborhoods—Finntown, Parrot Flats, McQueen, Meaderville—each with its own churches, mom-and-pop stores and schools. Rules in the mines were posted in 16 languages; above ground, the largest red light district in the West flourished.
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LONDON’S LONGEST NIGHT

SUNDAY, MARCH 14 @ 7:00PM & 11:00PM

Following the Dickensian saga of law and disorder, the fires of history burn fiercely in THE BLITZ: LONDON’S LONGEST NIGHT, airing on PBS Wednesday, February 15, 2006, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET. On the evening of December 29, 1940, the German Luftwaffe dropped tens of thousands of incendiary bombs on the heart of London, hoping to break the spirit of the British people and leave them begging for peace. As firemen and workers fought all night to control the burning, many risking their lives, Londoners fled to shelters, uncertain if their homes would survive the bombing. The following morning they emerged after a terrifying and sleepless night to face the smoking ruins of the city. Based on more than two years’ research uncovering eyewitness accounts, this program transforms intimate true stories into emotional drama. The film innovatively mixes CGI and archival footage to create spectacular scenes that bring the awful night to life.