FREEDOM RIDERS

SATURDAY, APRIL 1 @ 9:00PM

FREEDOM RIDERS is the powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives—and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their belief in nonviolent activism.

(2 hours)

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3 @ 7:00PM

American Pharaoh goes behind the scenes with the Egyptian national soccer team — the “Pharaohs” — and its former coach, American Bob Bradley, to capture their historic attempt to reach the 2014 World Cup, which created intense national pride and sparked headlines across the globe.

The film by Egyptian filmmaker Hossam Aboul-Magd follows the team’s efforts to qualify for soccer’s ultimate event for the first time in more than 20 years. The program also illustrates the relationship in Egypt between soccer, the revolution and political activism.

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THE ESCAPE ARTIST

SUNDAY. JUNE 22 @ 7:00PM & 11:00PM

EPISODE 2: With the tables turned, Will battles for justice by fair means and foul. But can a brilliant attorney save his own skin?

Written by David Wolstencroft (Spooks), this gripping legal thriller costars Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) as the hero’s rival, along with a courtroom full of ambitious attorneys and one very unnerving defendant.

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WITH GWEN IFILL

FRIDAY, JUNE 13 @ 9:00PM

House Republicans are looking for new leadership after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s stunning primary loss to little-known, tea party-backed challenger David Brat. Cantor’s defeat has rattled the GOP leadership team and refocused attention on the sharp divisions within the Republican Party.  Some credit Brat’s victory over Cantor to the resurgence of the tea party. Others are concerned that the upset will create more gridlock and inhibit lawmakers from enacting any major policy reforms before the midterm elections.

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FORTRESS OF THE BEARS

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13 @ 8:00PM

Alaska’s Admiralty Island is home to an estimated 1800 brown bears, the largest concentration of bears in the world. Nearly 100 miles long and 20 miles wide, it is half the size of Yellowstone National Park, yet it sustains four times more grizzlies. The native Tlingít people call this island “Kootznoowoo,” meaning “Fortress of the Bears.” It is a place where bears depend on fish, fish depend on trees, and the trees depend on fish-eating bears to spread the nitrogen rich bodies of salmon throughout the forest. Everything depends on the annual salmon run. When a change in the weather keeps the salmon from arriving, the entire ecosystem is affected.

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EARTH FROM SPACE

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM

“Earth From Space” is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. Produced in extensive consultation with NASA scientists, NOVA takes data from earth-observing satellites and transforms it into dazzling visual sequences, each one exposing the intricate and surprising web of forces that sustains life on earth. Viewers witness how dust blown from the Sahara fertilizes the Amazon; how a vast submarine “waterfall” off Antarctica helps drive ocean currents around the world; and how the Sun’s heating up of the southern Atlantic gives birth to a colossally powerful hurricane. From the microscopic world of water molecules vaporizing over the ocean to the magnetic field that is bigger than Earth itself, the show reveals the astonishing beauty and complexity of our dynamic planet. (2 hours)

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THE ROAD TO RIO

TUESDAY, JUNE 10 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM

On the road to Rio, Michael visits the source of Brazil’s great mineral wealth – the state of Minas Gerais and its giant mines. Here, he meets some ordinary Brazilians dedicated to preserving the natural beauty of the state. On to Rio De Janeiro, host to the next Olympics and World Cup. Rio has always been a party town, but it’s also blighted by drugs and gang violence. Michael learns how the authorities are hoping to bring the favelas back into the city. He also learns how to celebrate a goal like a Brazilian radio commentator, and books a room in one of the city’s famous ‘love hotels’!

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WITH GWEN IFILL

FRIDAY,JUNE 6 @ 9:00PM

President Obama is standing firm on his decision to negotiate with the Taliban to secure the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. During a news conference in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday, President Obama said, “I make absolutely no apologies for making sure we get back a young man to his parents.” Republican, and even some Democratic, lawmakers have accused the president of working around Congress in making the deal to trade Bergdahl for five Taliban prisoners who were being held at Guantanamo Bay. David Sanger of The New York Times and Ed O’Keefe of The Washington Post will examine the circumstances surrounding Bowe Bergdahl’s capture and release and how the prisoner swap has ignited a political firestorm on Capitol Hill.

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ENDEAVOUR, SERIES I

HOME

THURSDAY, JUNE 26 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM

As Endeavour crams for his Sergeant’s exam and Oxford lies in the grip of winter, a hit and run accident claims the life of an eminent classics professor, and Endeavour is drawn home to Lincolnshire to visit his ailing father. But Thursday – and a seemingly connected murder – draw him back and force him to question the concepts of father and home.

Shaun Evans (The Take, The Last Weekend, Silk) stars as the solitary and cerebral young Inspector Morse, conducting his dogged, incorruptible pursuit of justice from the shadows of Oxford and the fringes of the police force. Roger Allum costars as Detective Inspector Fred Thursday, and Abigail Thaw, daughter of Inspector Morse star John Thaw, makes special guest appearances as Dorothea Frazil, in this new mystery written by Inspector Lewis creator and Inspector Morse writer, Russell Lewis.

Season 2 premiers June 29

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TUESDAY, JUNE 3 @ 6:00PM & 11:00PM

From these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause

for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.
— Abraham Lincoln

Many people are aware of the famous American military cemetery at Omaha Beach, Normandy, site of one of the D-Day landings in 1944. But few know there are twenty-one other American military cemeteries in eight different countries memorializing those who were not brought back to the United States after World War I and World War II. Each of these commemorative places is powerful and unique, and has is own stories to tell.

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