WITH GWEN IFILL

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7 @ 9:00PM

THIS WEEK: HEALTHCARE & JOBS, ECONOMIC JITTERS, PENTAGON INVESTIGATIONS AND 2014 ELECTION STRATEGIES

A report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has sparked the latest political battle over the Affordable Care Act. The CBO forecasts more than 2 million full-time workers will choose to reduce their hours or leave their jobs over the next ten years in order to remain eligible for federal healthcare subsidies. Democrats believe the ACA law will allow Americans to make choices about their lives, retirement and healthcare that don’t hinge on having a full-time job. Republicans insist the law serves as a disincentive for people to work and in the long-run will hurt the economy.

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ALICE WALKER: BEAUTY IN TRUTH

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM

“Creation is a sustained period of bliss, even though the subject can still be very sad. Because there’s the triumph of coming through and understanding that you have, and that you did it the way only you could do it. You didn’t do it the way somebody told you to do it. You did it just the way you had to do it, and that is what makes us us.” … Alice Walker (90 Minutes)

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ONE WORLD TRADE CENTER

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5 @ 8:00PM

One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the western hemisphere and a famous modern landmark, is engineered to be the safest and strongest skyscraper ever built. This episode follows the final year of exterior construction, culminating with the milestone of reaching the symbolic height of 1,776 feet. For head of construction Steve Plate, as well as scientists, engineers, ironworkers and curtain wall installers, this is a construction job suffused with the history of the site and a sense of duty to rebuild from the ashes of Ground Zero.

As urban space shrinks, we build higher and faster than ever before, creating a new generation of skyscrapers. Super skyscrapers are pushing the limits of engineering, technology and design to become greener, stronger, smarter and more luxurious than their predecessors. This four-part series follows the creation of four extraordinary buildings, showcasing how they will revolutionize the way we live, work and protect ourselves from potential threats. Read more about each episode below.

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AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8 @ 6:00PM

What is it like to be cut off from your faith and your family? The Amish: Shunned follows seven people who have chosen to leave their closed and tightly-knit communities for the outside world, knowing they can never return. Each has paid deeply for their decision. Estranged from loved ones, these former Amish find themselves struggling to make their way in modern America. (2 hours)

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AMERICAN PROMISE

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3 @ 8:00PM

American Promise spans 13 years as Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, middle-class African-American parents in Brooklyn, N.Y., turn their cameras on their son, Idris, and his best friend, Seun, who make their way through one of the most prestigious private schools in the country. Chronicling the boys’ divergent paths from kindergarten through high school graduation at Manhattan’s Dalton School, this provocative, intimate documentary presents complicated truths about America’s struggle to come of age on issues of race, class and opportunity.

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SHERLOCK, SERIES III

HIS LAST VOW ~ EPISODE 3 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6 @ 9:00PM

Since Sherlock’s (Benedict Cumberbatch, The Fifth Estate, Star Trek: Into Darkness) return, it seems that no one great criminal has stepped up to challenge him. But His Last Vow reveals an evil mastermind at work deep beneath the surface. Charles Augustus Magnusson (Lars Mikkelsen, The Killing) is just a businessman, a newspaper owner, but somehow he owns the most powerful people in the western world. Now Sherlock and John Watson (Martin Freeman, The Hobbit, The Office UK) find themselves facing off with this slippery, loathsome man—and with one of his victims. Written by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, award-winning series co-creators and producers of Doctor Who, and Doctor Who writer Steve Thompson, His Last Vow puts everything in Sherlock’s world in question. (2 HOURS)

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DOWNTON ABBEY SEASON 4

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM

EPISODE 5

Pride and prejudice mark Robert’s surprise birthday party when Rose’s potentially scandalous recruit raises eyebrows and Mary clashes with an instantly antagonistic man of the people. Bates and Anna step out, and Edith gets troubling news.

The much-loved cast of Downton Abbey Season 4 includes Dame Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter, Joanne Froggatt, Penelope Wilton, and a host of others, with guest stars Shirley MacLaine and Paul Giamatti. Written and created by Julian Fellowes, Downton Abbey, Season 4 marks the return of one of television’s most beloved and anticipated drama series to MASTERPIECE on PBS.

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BARRYMORE

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1 @ 9:00PM

Set in 1942, Barrymore shines a dramatic spotlight on the acclaimed—and notorious— John Barrymore, capturing the famously combative star in the final months of his life as he struggles to prepare for a backer’s audition to stage a revival of his 1920 Broadway triumph in Richard III. Once among the most acclaimed stage actors of his generation, as well as a central member of Broadway and Hollywood’s most famous acting dynasty, Barrymore is now in the twilight of his career, no longer a leading box office draw and wrestling with the ravages of his life of excess. In equal parts lacerating wit and piercing despair, the faded icon revisits the highs and lows of his theatrical triumphs and remarkable life. (90 MINUTES)

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WITH GWEN IFILL

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31 @ 9:00PM

Obama vowed to bypass a divided Congress and take action on his own to build the middle class

Looking to re-energize his sluggish second term, President Obama called 2014 a ‘year of action’ in his State of the Union address on Tuesday. He urged Congress to be part of the action to help middle-class families, but vowed to sidestep their partisan politics through the use of executive orders to boost the economy and address income inequality.

President Obama hit the road this week in a series of campaign-style events across America to reiterate his action agenda including a measure to raise the federal minimum wage and by signing an order to establish a savings program for employees without retirement plans.

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THE ARLINGTON ITALIANATE

THURSDAY, JANUARY 30 @ 9:00PM

Afrer many months on the Jersey Shore, Kevin meets up with Tom Silva at Robbins Farm Park in Arlington, Massachusetts, a family town that also has a cool vibe thanks to its proximity to Boston. The new project house, an 1872 Italianate, is just down the hill. Kevin meets homeowners Heather and Malcolm Faulds—they love their house, but know that it needs some updating. The dramatic two-story foyer, covered with a sea of little kid shoes, reveals the need for a mudroom. They want to open up the floor plan, and they definitely need a bigger, better kitchen. Upstairs, the plan is to renovate the full bath, make room for a laundry, and create a real master suite with a second full bath….

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