SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26 @ 11:00PM
Hosted by Grammy Award-winning country recording artist Kathy Mattea, nearly 700 student musicians join the Belmont School of Music faculty and the Nashville Children’s Choir to present this production of traditional carols, classical masterworks, world music and light-hearted seasonal favorites. The program features the University Symphony Orchestra, Belmont Chorale, Percussion Ensemble, Musical Theatre, Jazz Ensemble, Bluegrass Ensemble and a mass choir.
CHRISTMAS WITH THE MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR
FEATURING SANTINO FONTANA AND THE MUPPETS
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24 @ 7:00PM
Renowned star of stage and song Santino Fontana and the Muppets® from Sesame Street® join the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square for a magical holiday extravaganza. Sesame Street has been educating and entertaining the world for more than 45 years, but this concert special marks the Muppets’ first performance with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. The concert includes a rendition of the classic carol from Sesame Street, “Keep Christmas With You,” “Sing a Christmas Carol” from Scrooge, “The Candy Man,” a charming medley of songs from Sesame Street programs and inspiring arrangements of sacred Christmas music.
COLOSSEUM
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19 @ 11:00PM
Investigate the complex infrastructure of Rome’s Colosseum in this clip from Time Scanners. Ravaged by time and earthquakes, only parts of the Colosseum remain. The team travels 150 miles from Rome to Pozzuoli to explore another amphitheatre, with a hypogeum similar to Colosseum’s.
SINATRA: VOICE FOR A CENTURY
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19 @ 6:00PM
The New York Philharmonic celebrates the legacy of Frank Sinatra in an all-star concert hosted by Seth MacFarlane, with performances by Christina Aguilera, Chris Botti, Fantasia, Sutton Foster, Kyle Dean Massey, Bernadette Peters, Billy Porter and Sting. (90 Minutes)
ROMAN CATACOMB MYSTERY
SATURDAY, MARCH 24 @ 11:00PM
Beneath the streets of Rome lies a city of the dead known as the Catacombs—a labyrinth of tunnels, hundreds of miles long, lined with the neatly laid out tombs of the citizens of ancient Rome. Here, in 2002, maintenance workers fixing a broken water main stumbled upon a previously unknown burial chamber like none other in the complex. It was a mass grave of hundreds of bodies spread across six roughly carved caverns, locked away for nearly 2000 years. Who were these people? And can we discover, after all these centuries, what killed them? Could they be Christian martyrs massacred by the Emperor? Or were they felled by a deadly plague? In “Roman Catacomb Mystery,” NOVA’s forensic investigation follows a trail of ancient clues to uncover new secrets of life, death, and disease in the heyday of a mighty empire.
LEAGUE OF DENIAL
THE NFL’S CONCUSSION CRISIS
TUESDAY, AUGUST 29 @ 11:00PM
The National Football League presides over America’s indisputable national pastime, but the league is under assault: Thousands of former players have claimed it tried to cover up how football inflicted their long-term brain injuries. What did the NFL know, and when did it know it? In a special two-hour investigation, FRONTLINE reveals the hidden story of the NFL and brain injuries.
A NATION OF DRUNKARDS
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15 @ 6:00PM & 11:00PM
PROHIBITION is a three-part, five-and-a-half-hour documentary film series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick that tells the story of the rise, rule, and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the entire era it encompassed.
Prohibition was intended to improve, even to ennoble, the lives of all Americans, to protect individuals, families, and society at large from the devastating effects of alcohol abuse. But the enshrining of a faith-driven moral code in the Constitution paradoxically caused millions of Americans to rethink their definition of morality.
WITH JULIAN FELLOWES
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20 @ 9:00PM
PART 2
This two-part series follows MASTERPIECE Downton Abbey writer Julian Fellowes on his quest to discover the real stories of Britain’s great houses. As he uncovers personal stories hidden behind the walls, he realizes these aren’t just homes for posh people — they hold history.
“I’m on the hunt for the real Lord Granthams, the real Lady Marys, the real Bates and the real Annas; there are stories for all of us in houses like these!”
– Julian Fellowes, MASTERPIECE Downton Abbey writer
WITH GWEN IFILL
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11 @ 9:00PM
GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump continues to draw fire for his proposal to temporarily block all non-U.S. citizen Muslims from entering the United States. Many Republicans have denounced Trump’s anti-Muslim plan and the White House said he should be disqualified from serving as president.
Now, with the Iowa Caucuses less than two months away, GOP leaders who had hoped to broaden the demographic appeal of the party are concerned that Trump could become the party’s standard bearer and cost the party not only the White House but congressional seats. There are also concerns among Republican ranks about Trump’s renewed threats to run as an Independent if he feels mistreated by GOP leaders.
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12 @ 6:00PM
For celebrity chef, author and restaurateur Lidia Bastianich there is no place like home – especially at Christmas, her favorite time of year. In this intimate, hour-long documentary special, Lidia celebrates her native Italian holiday traditions, along with the traditions of six celebrity guests. Watch this multi-faceted documentary about the culinary traditions that make up America.