GREAT ZEBRA EXODUS
SUNDAY, MARCH 26 @ 10:00PM
Botswana’s Makgadikgadi Pans are home to the largest zebra population in southern Africa, but it’s not an easy life. There is no permanent water in the arid saltpans, so thousands of zebras are dependent on isolated summer rains for their survival. Fleeting thundershowers produce islands of grass scattered across the otherwise barren landscape.
with PETER SAGAL
BUILT TO LAST?
TUESDAY, MAY 28 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM
EPISODE 4
Ask Americans what the Constitution’s most important feature is, and most will say it’s the guarantees of liberty enshrined in the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments of the Constitution.
Americans are fiercely proud of their freedoms but they continue to argue about what those basic rights are and how they can be sustained in a changing world. Are our rights unchangeable, or should they evolve over time? What is the proper role for the courts in interpreting rights?
Peter travels to Iceland where a few years after the country’s economic collapse, leaders decided to create a new constitution, turning to the U.S. Constitution for inspiration and guidance. This prompts Peter to consider the extraordinary longevity of our own founding document. He’ll talk to a variety of Americans, including Justice Sandra Day O’Connor about why the Constitution, famously brief and full of vague language, has survived for more than two and a quarter centuries.
THE INVISIBLE WAR
MONDAY, JANUARY 6 @ 8:00PM
The most shameful and best-kept secret in the U.S. military? The epidemic of rape and sexual assault within the ranks. An American female soldier in a combat zone is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. A culture of privilege and impunity has resulted in few prosecutions, and the systematic isolation of women — and men — who dare report the crimes.
SEASON 2, EPISODE 7
SUNDAY, MAY 12 @ 6:00PM & 10:00PM
On Cynthia’s district rounds, she administers daily insulin to a man who consistently belittles his wife, Annie. Jenny witnesses persecution of a different kind when she looks after a black mother-to-be who is subjected to racial prejudice from neighbors. Fred teaches the midwives to ride a scooter — with amusing and unforeseen results. Everyone is thrilled when Chummy and Peter return.
BENGHAZI HEARINGS
FRIDAY, MAY 10 @ 9:00PM
During House Oversight Committee hearings this week, three State Department officials disputed the Obama administration’s account of what happened during the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya last September in which U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three Americans were killed. Charles Babington of the Associated Presswill report on the dramatic testimony by the three who are being hailed as whistleblowers by Republicans. Meanwhile Democrats charge the event and deaths are being politicized.
LIFE ON FOUR STRINGS
SATURDAY, MAY 10 @ 6:00PM
Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Stringstells the heartfelt story of a musical sensation whose virtuoso skills on the ukelele have transformed all previous notions of the instrument’s potential as he touches the lives of the young and old who inspire his brilliance. On the road from Los Angeles to New York to Japan, the film captures the solitary life on tour: the exhilaration of performance, the wonder of newfound fame, and the loneliness of separation from home and family.
VENOM: NATURE’S KILLER
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24 @ 10:00PM
Over the millennia, thousands of creatures have developed that most sophisticated of biological and chemical weapons: venom. These complex chemicals can scramble your brain signals, paralyze your muscles, puncture your blood cells, even begin digesting you from within. But nature’s most potent toxins might also contain the keys to a new generation of advanced drugs. Such drugs might help doctors treat heart attacks, cancer, diabetes, and other serious illnesses.
THE PRIVATE LIFE OF DEER
SUNDAY, MARCH 20 @ 5:00PM & 11:00PM
Whitetailed deer seem to be always around us, whether they’re grazing alongside our roadways, feasting on plants in our backyards or darting into the woods, though these “neighbors” do like to protect their privacy. While other species may be negatively impacted by human development, it is just the opposite for the whitetails. “We as humans have created pretty much the perfect habitat for deer,” explains Dr. Jay Boulanger, who coordinates Cornell University’s Deer Research and Management Program. “These are areas that have a wide diversity of plants that deer can eat, versus, say, a rural forest.”
EDUCATION
THURSDAY, MAY 9 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM
Public television and TED, the non-profit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, share a deep commitment to addressing the high school dropout crisis. The TED Talks Education one-hour program brings together a diverse group of teachers and education advocates delivering short, high-impact talks on the theme of teaching and learning. These original TED Talks are given by thought leaders including Geoffrey Canada, Bill Gates, Rita F. Pierson and Sir Ken Robinson. TED Talks Education is part of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s American Graduate initiative.
CONSTITUTION USA WITH PETER SAGAL
A MORE PERFECT UNION
TUESDAY, MAY 7 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM
CONSTITUTION USA, a production of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning team of tpt National Productions and Insignia Films, is hosted by Peter Sagal, the smart, sharp-witted star of NPR’s popular Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!. Over the course of the four-hour series, Sagal hits the road, travelling cross country on a customized red, white and blue Harley-Davidson, to find out where the Constitution lives, how it works, and how it unites us as a nation.