A NEWSHOUR SPECIAL REPOR

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 – THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 6

6:00PM – 9:00PM

Dems gather in Battleground N.C.

This week’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte is an example of the party’s southern strategy – carry at least some of the Southern battlegrounds the party won in 2008. NewsHour talks to two North Carolina political observers about whether that can work.

Award-winning political journalists Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill will co-anchor gavel-to-gavel broadcast coverage from the PBS Skybox at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC (September 4 – 5) as well as the Bank of America Stadium (September 6).

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INSPECTOR LEWIS

THE MIND HAS MOUNTAINS

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 @ 7:00PM & 11:00PM

“Call the guinea pigs, would you,” directs the brilliant psychiatrist Dr. Alex Gansa. The assorted subjects pile in to get their medication — all part of a week-long antidepressant drug trial taking place on the Oxford campus. The drug being tested is a form of ketamine — a horse tranquilizer and party circuit favorite. When trial subject Amy Katz is found dead, the drug-induced veil of contentment starts to tear.

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TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES

SATURDAY, AUGUST 25 @ 7:00PM

When Anna Deavere Smith’s drama Twilight: Los Angeles premiered in Los Angeles at the Mark Taper Forum, it made national news for its unique and unflinching look at the fallout from the 1992 Los Angeles riots.  Not only did Smith capture the tumultuous aftermath of the Rodney King trial verdict, she created a searing, innovative and truly American piece of theater.

On April 22, 2012, David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Timesbook critic, assessing the literature of those riots, wrote, “the most comprehensive literary response to the riots remains Anna Deavere Smith’s “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992,” a theater piece, written and performed by an outsider who channels the cacophony of voices at the city’s heart.”

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 @ 7:00PM & 11:00PM

Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton, by director/producer Michael Pack and writer/host Richard Brookhiser, re-invents the documentary biopic. Following the style of their acclaimed Rediscovering George Washington(2002), they take us to the Caribbean islands where Hamilton was born, to Yorktown and Wall Street where he fought and worked, to Harlem and Weehawken, New Jersey, where he lived and died. We hear a Treasury Secretary and a Supreme Court Justice, publishers, pornographers, lawyers, warriors, calypso singers and urban gang members talk about money, rights, news, battle, sex and honor—all the themes that shaped Hamilton’s life, led him to his early death, and helped him make modern capitalist America.

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LET ME DOWN EASY

SATURDAY, AUGUST 18 @ 7:00PM

Conceived, written, and performed by Smith in her signature one person performance style, the play examines the miracle of human resilience through the lens of our current national debate on health care. To create Let Me Down Easy Smith interviewed an eclectic group of people (300 on three continents) and performs several in an evening that is funny, moving and engaging.

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EARTH: THE OPERATORS’ MANUAL

THURSDAY, MARCH 14 @ 10:00PM

Get an eye-opening look at some of the world’s most important case studies in smart energy decisions. In Spain and Morocco, large-scale solar farms and individual photovoltaic panels atop tents in the Sahara are beginning to bring the sun’s vast potential down to Earth. In Brazil, abundant natural resources (sun, rain and sugar cane) are transformed into efficient, sustainable biofuel. In Samsø, Denmark, and West Texas, citizens have taken sustainability, and economic realities, into their own hands by becoming stakeholders in wind turbines. In China, a full-throttle approach to multiple sustainable energy technologies is giving rise to a “new empire of clean tech.” Great nations and small communities alike are finding sustainable solutions that provide for people and protect the Earth. But what about America — are we making the right decisions for our country’s energy future?

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GREAT PERFORMANCES

TANGLEWOOD 75TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

SATURDAY, JUNE 14 @ 8:00PM

Located in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts, Tanglewood is one of the world’s most beloved music festivals. The performance, a presentation of GREAT PERFORMANCES, will feature appearances by the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), the Boston Pops, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra — led by conductors John Williams, Keith Lockhart and Andris Nelsons — and iconic Tanglewood artists Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Peter Serkin and James Taylor.

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MARILYN MONROE: STILL LIFE

THURSDAY, AUGUST 9 @ 700PM 10:00PM

It has been nearly a quarter of a century since the death of a minor American actress named Marilyn Monroe. There is no reason for her to be a part of my consciousness as I walk down a midtown New York street frilled with color and action and life.

In a shop window display of white summer dresses, I see several huge photographs – a life-size cutout of Marilyn standing in a white halter dress, some close-ups of her vulnerable, please-love-me smile – but they don’t look dated.

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FROGS: THE THIN GREEN LINE

SUNDAY, MARCH 23 @ 8:00PM

Frogs have been living on this planet for more than 250 million years, and over the centuries, evolved into some of the most wondrous and diverse creatures on earth. Today, however, all their remarkable adaptations and survival tactics are failing them. Recent discoveries are startling: more than a third of all amphibians – most of which are frogs and toads – have already been lost, and more are disappearing every day. It is an environmental crisis unfolding around the globe, traveling from Australia to North and South America.

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THE BARNES COLLECTION

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12 @ 9:00PM

Follow Dr. Albert Barnes’ remarkable rise from Philadelphia’s working-class neighborhood to the top of the modern art world. This unique tale bounces back and forth through time as the late Dr. Barnes travels the world to collect works of art by some of history’s most famous artists — Picasso, Cezanne, Matisse, Renoir and many others. The film digs deep into the intricacies of each painting, offering a rare look at the priceless collection and the new Philadelphia museum that houses it.

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