TIME MACHINES
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM
“Time Machines” explores how technology has preserved—and altered—the way we think about the great songs and singers of the past. On a coast to coast tour that with stops in New York, Palm Springs, Kansas City, upstate New York, and even the storied Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, Michael Feinstein introduces viewers to Soundies (the original music videos,) the historic Kansas City building where “jam sessions” were born..
DAISY BATES: FIRST LADY OF LITTLE ROCK
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2 @ 8:00PM & 11:00PM
In 1957, Daisy Bates became a household name when she fought for the right of nine black students to attend the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Bates’s public support culminated in a constitutional crisis — pitting a president against a governor and a community against itself. As head of the Arkansas NAACP, and protector of the nine students, Daisy Bates would achieve instant fame as the drama played out on national television and in newspapers around the world. But that fame would prove fleeting and for her attempts to remain relevant, she would pay a hefty price.
GREAT WHITE SHARK
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22 @ 8:00PM & 11:00PM
Along South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal coast miles of beach protection nets have been put in place to safeguard humans from a deadly threat: the great white shark. In 2010, the nets trapped a giant shark that weighed in at 1,984 lbs. and measured nearly 15 ft.; the largest great white caught since 2002. It presents an international team of experts with a rare opportunity to explore this hunter’s anatomy to find out how it has evolved into the oceans most feared predator.
ANNIE OAKLEY
TUESDAY, MAY 14 @ 7:00PM & 11:00PM
She was the toast of Victorian London, New York, and Paris. She was “adopted” by Indian chief Sitting Bull, charmed the Prince of Prussia, and entertained the likes of Oscar Wilde and Queen Victoria. Annie Oakley excelled in a man’s world by doing what she loved, and won fame and fortune as the little lady from Ohio who never missed a shot.
DOWNTON ABBEY, SERIES II
SUNDAY, JANUARY 29 @ 7:00PM & 10:30PM
Episode 4 ~ Amiens, 1918
Devastating news from the front rocks the very foundations of Downton Abbey, and it is up to the Dowager Countess to buck bureaucratic protocol and bring Downton’s men home. In an unwelcome return, Vera Bates threatens to make public the scandalous story of Lady Mary’s ill-fated indiscretion. Desperate to contain the story, Mary appeals to the savvy opportunist Sir Richard Carlisle.
TONY BENNETT: DUETS II
SATURDAY, JUNE 3 @ 7:00PM & 11:00PM
Tony Bennett made music history with the Grammy-nominated CD Duets II when it debuted at the top of the Billboard Album charts, making Bennett the oldest vocal artist ever to achieve the number one spot. Recently nominated for three Grammys, including Best Traditional Pop Vocal, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), the critically acclaimed album followed the 85-year-old singer’s Grammy-winning 2006 Duets CD, which had, in turn, been released in honor of his 80thbirthday.
MONSTER PYTHON
SATURDAY, JUNE 2 @ 8:00PM
No one knows for sure how snakes native to South East Asia ended up in the Everglades, but now these giant reptiles are thriving in southern Florida’s swamps and driving some native species into extinction. Evans and Reidenberg join local “python hunters” on the front line of the battle against the snakes. At a swamp camp in the heart of the Everglades, they meet up with reptile expert Jeanette Wyneken to dissect two captured pythons — a 9-ft. male and an enormous 14-ft. female. The team explores the anatomy that allows pythons to sense, strike, squeeze and swallow their prey. And while investigating the remains of the snake’s last meal, they make an amazing discovery — ovaries bulging with 40 egg follicles ready to be fertilized.
PHIL OCHS: THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE
MONDAY, JANUARY 23 @ 8:00PM & 11:00PM
As the United States continues to engage in foreign wars, Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune is a timely tribute to an unlikely American hero whose music is as relevant today as it was in the 1960s. Phil Ochs was moved by the conviction that he and his music would change the world. Unyielding in his political principals and unbending in his artistic vision, Ochs tirelessly fought the good fight for peace and justice, in both song and action, throughout his short life (12/19/1940 – 4/9/1976). The tragedies of 1968, including the deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy and the violent events at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, changed the country and changed Ochs, who sank deep into depression and alcoholism. This, and a familial tendency to bipolar disorder, led to his suicide at the age of 35.
SECRETS OF THE MANOR HOUSE
SUNDAY, JUNE 10 @ 9:00PM
Exactly 100 years ago, the world of the British manor house was at its height. It was a life of luxury and indolence for a wealthy few supported by the labor of hundreds of servants toiling ceaselessly “below stairs” to make the lives of their lords and ladies run as smoothly as possible. It is a world that has provided a majestic backdrop to a range of movies and popular costume dramas to this day, including PBS’ Downton Abbey.
ANNA BOLENA
SATURDAY, JANUARY 21 @ 5:00PM
The opera, a compelling dramatization of the tragic final days of Anne Boleyn—whose husband Henry VIII spurns her and has her sentenced to death—is directed by David McVicar and conducted by Marco Armiliato. The cast includes Russian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova as Anna’s romantic rival, Giovanna (Jane Seymour); Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov as the cruel Enrico (Henry VIII); American tenor Stephen Costello as Anna’s first love, Lord Percy; and American mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumfordas the queen’s devoted page Smeton.