AMERICA’S FRONT YARD

SATURDAY, JULY 4 @ 5:00PM

The United States’ National Mall is an urban park unlike any other in the world, a landscape that seems so timeless and eternal it’s easy for visitors to forget that it is actually man-made.

Now, for the first time, a National Geographic/PBS Special will bring the surprising story of the Mall’s creation and evolution to a national audience.  

Using a mixture of contemporary and archival footage, state-of-the-art graphics and exclusive aerials shot within highly restricted airspace, this hour will trace the Mall’s — and the country’s — transformation from fields and farmland to national icon.

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THE GREAT INVISIBLE

MONDAY. APRIL 20 @ 8:00PM

On April 20, 2010, communities throughout the Gulf Coast of the United States were devastated by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, a state-of-the-art offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico drilling a well owned in majority by BP. The blast killed 11 of the 126 crewmembers and injured many more, setting off a fireball that was seen 35 miles away. After burning for two days, the Deepwater Horizon sank, precipitating the largest offshore oil spill in American history.

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SEASON 4, EPISODE 4

SUNDAY, APRIL 19 @ 9:00PM

Sister Winifred’s eyes are opened to Poplar’s seedy underworld when she cares for an expectant prostitute. Meanwhile, Barbara struggles to understand why an expectant father would put undue pressure on his wife to bear a son, and Sister Monica Joan feels redundant as the busy midwives go about their work. The bishop’s meeting with Tom leads to an argument between Trixie and Tom.

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MR. SELFRIDGE, SEASON 3

EPISODE 4

SUNDAY, APRIL 4 @ 6”05PM & 11:00PM

Divided public opinion keeps tensions high, with many pointing fingers at Selfridge’s. As the executives shield Kitty from anonymous hate mail, Connie whispers in the wrong ear.

When Lord Loxley champions his own charitable cause, Harry must act fast to ensure he stays one move ahead. While the Selfridge Estate is slowing becoming a reality, secrets and lies plague the venture.

Doris makes a shocking confession to Ms. Mardle. Violette is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Gordon moves up in the world, and gets closer to Ms. Calthorpe. Victor’s shady alliances strike back. Harry’s mother confronts Princess Marie.

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CHILDREN OF GIANT

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 @ 6:00PM

The film explores how the making of a classic Hollywood movie transformed the lives of the residents of a small Texas town.

In the summer of 1955, it seemed as if all of Hollywood had descended on the dusty town of Marfa as production began on the highly anticipated movie Giant. The film starred a legendary trio — Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean — along with the young actor Earl Holliman and 16-year-old Elsa Cardenas. Based on Edna Ferber’s controversial novel, Giant was a different kind of western, one that took an unflinching look at feminism and class divisions and one of the first films to explore the racial divide between Anglos and Mexican Americans in the Southwest.

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JASCHA HEIFETZ: GOD’S FIDDLER

SATURDAY, APRIL 18 @ 9:00PM

When he was on world tour, Jascha Heifetz liked to include music on the program by a composer of the country in which he was performing. In 1923 he was in Mexico City and realized he didn’t have any work by a Mexican composer. While in a cafe there, he heard a local musician sing a popular song written by Manuel Ponce called Estrellita (My Little Star). He took notes on his napkin and that night, composed an arrangement for violin and piano based on the song. It became one of his favorite encores.

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 THE GREAT MATH MYSTERY

SATURDAY, MARCH 31 @ 11:00PM

Join NOVA on a mathematical mystery tour—a provocative exploration of math’s astonishing power across the centuries. We discover math’s signature in the swirl of a nautilus shell, the whirlpool of a galaxy, and the spiral in the center of a sunflower. Math was essential to everything from the first wireless radio transmissions to the prediction and discovery of the Higgs boson and the successful landing of rovers on Mars. Astrophysicist and writer Mario Livio, along with a colorful cast of mathematicians, physicists, and engineers, follow math from Pythagoras to Einstein and beyond. It all leads to the ultimate riddle: Is math a human invention or the discovery of the language of the universe?

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ANIMAL HOMES

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15 @ 6:00PM & 11:00PM

Finding a good base of operations is key to successfully raising a family. One must find the correct stream or tree, the correct building materials, neighbors and sometimes tenants. In the wild, every home is a unique DIY project, every head of household is a designer and engineer. Animated blueprints and tiny cameras chart the building plans and progress of beavers, tortoises and woodrats, examining layouts and cross sections, evaluating the technical specs of their structures and documenting their problem-solving skills. Animal architecture provides remarkable insights into animal consciousness, creativity and innovation.

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MEMORY OF THE CAMPS

TUESDAY, APRIL 14 @ 11:00PM

Sixty years ago, in the spring of 1945, Allied forces liberating Europe found evidence of atrocities which have tortured the world’s conscience ever since. As the troops entered the German concentration camps, they made a systematic film record of what they saw. Work began in the summer of 1945 on the documentary, but the film was left unfinished. FRONTLINE found it stored in a vault of London’s Imperial War Museum and, in 1985, broadcast it for the first time using the title the Imperial War Museum gave it, “Memory of the Camps.”

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THE HOMESTRETCH

MONDAY, APRIL 13 @ 8:00PM

Three homeless teens brave Chicago winters, high school pressures, and life on the streets to build a brighter future. Against all odds, they recover from a life of abandonment to create new, surprising definitions of home.

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