BEL CANTO THE OPERA
FRIDAY, JANUARY 13 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM
Experience composer Jimmy Lopez and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz’ operatic adaptation of Ann Patchett’s best-selling novel inspired by a true-life hostage crisis in the 1990s in Lima, Peru; with soprano Danielle de Niese. (3 Hours)
SNOWBOUND: ANIMALS OF WINTER
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23 @ 6:00PM & 10:00PM
The coldest and snowiest places on earth pose a challenge to anyone visiting such locations as the Arctic Circle or Antarctica, but what about the year-round animal population? How do they cope for many months with life in these frozen wonderlands where temperatures can plummet to as low as minus 50 degrees? Gordon Buchanan, a wildlife cameraman used to filming in frigid lands around the globe, explains how creatures like the wolf, Arctic fox, bison, reindeer, lynx, weasel, polar bear, penguin, Weddell seal, and woolly bear caterpillar adapt to their surroundings or employ clever tactics to survive.
THE NUCLEAR OPTION
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11 @10:00PM
Five years after the earthquake and tsunami that triggered the unprecedented trio of meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, scientists and engineers are struggling to control an ongoing crisis. What’s next for Fukushima? What’s next for Japan? And what’s next for a world that seems determined to jettison one of our most important carbon-free sources of energy?
THE EAGLE’S NEST
THURSDAY, MAY 15 @ 5:00PM
Nazi Mega Weapons and WWII Mega Weapons uncover the engineering feats that sparked a technological revolution and changed warfare forever, exploring the engineering secrets of iconic megastructures, and telling the stories of the engineers who designed them.
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
TUESDAY, JANUARY 10 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM
A chilling nightmare plays out at a Titan II missile complex in Arkansas in September, 1980. A worker accidentally drops a socket, puncturing the fuel tank of an intercontinental ballistic missile carrying the most powerful nuclear warhead in our arsenal, an incident which ignites a series of feverish efforts to avoid a deadly disaster. Directed by Robert Kenner (FOOD, INC.) and based on the critically acclaimed book by Eric Schlosser (FAST FOOD NATION), COMMAND AND CONTROL is a minute-by-minute account of this long-hidden story. Putting a camera where there was no camera that night, Kenner brings this nonfiction thriller to life with stunning original footage shot in a decommissioned Titan II missile silo. Eyewitness accounts — from the man who dropped the socket, to the man who designed the warhead, to the Secretary of Defense— chronicle nine hours of terror that prevented an explosion 600 times more powerful than Hiroshima.
CONTAINMENT/EXCERPT FROM URANIUM DRIVE-IN
MONDAY, JANUARY 9 @ 8:00PM
Explore our attempts to plan for our radioactive future and the startling failure to manage waste in the present. Left over from the Cold War are a hundred million gallons of radioactive sludge, covering a vast amount of land.
SEASON 4 ON MASTERPIECE
THE LYING DETECTIVE
SUNDAY, JANUARY 8 @ 7:00PM, 10:36PM & 11:00PM
In episode two Sherlock, Season 4, Sherlock faces perhaps the most chilling enemy of his long career: the powerful and seemingly unassailable Culverton Smith, a man with a very dark secret indeed.
“The Lying Detective” is written by Steven Moffat. Benedict Cumberbatch returns as Sherlock Holmes, with Martin Freeman as John Watson, Mark Gatiss as Mycroft Holmes, Rupert Graves as Inspector Lestrade, Una Stubbs as Mrs Hudson, Amanda Abbington as Mary Watson, Louise Brealey as Molly Hooper and Toby Jones as Culverton Smith. (1 hour, 33 minutes)
FRIDAY, JANUARY 6 @ 9:00PM
This Week on Washington Week: As Congress returns, fights brew over Obamacare, election-related hacking and Trump’s nominees.
Before taking office, Republicans reversed course on a plan to weaken the powers of an independent Congressional watchdog. The representatives backed down after widespread criticism and a disapproving tweet from the incoming president.
Republican lawmakers have also started plans to fulfill their key campaign promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Democrats have vowed to fight any changes to Obamacare and Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood in the repeal bill.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 6 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM
Frederick Wiseman’s latest documentary IN JACKSON HEIGHTS shines a light on one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse communities in America, and the world. Immersive and enthralling, revealing issues of assimilation, integration, immigration, and religious and cultural differences, the film proves Jackson Heights to be, in the truest sense, a microcosm of the American melting pot.
SECRETS OF THE SKY TOMBS
WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER 30 @ 10:00PM
The towering Himalayas were among the last places on Earth that humanity settled. Scaling sheer cliff sides, a team of daring scientists hunts for clues to how ancient people found their way into this forbidding landscape and adapted to survive the high altitude. They discover rock-cut tombs filled with human bones and enigmatic artifacts, including gold masks and Chinese silk dating back thousands of years, and piece together evidence of strange rituals and beliefs designed to ward off the restless spirits of the dead.