INSPECTOR LEWIS

DARK MATTER

SUNDAY, AUGUST 28 @7:00PM & 11:00PM

Oxford professor and amateur stargazer Andrew Crompton emerges from a church confessional, cryptically exclaiming that on Friday at 3:15, he’ll have an “excess of joy.” Later, Crompton is found dead at the foot of the stairs in the Oxford observatory. The investigation draws Detective Inspector Lewis (Kevin Whately) and Detective Sergeant Hathaway (Laurence Fox) into the ethereal writings of a 17th-century astronomer and a modern-day circle of scientists and musicians, and their unexpected connections to the deceased. The cosmos aside, there’s a dark deception at the center of the case, one that Lewis and Hathaway won’t be able to fully comprehend until Friday at 3:15.

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PETE SEEGER: THE POWER OF SONG

FRIDAY, AUGUST 26 7:30PM & 12:30AM

Where Have all the Flowers Gone is a singalong memoir written by Pete Seeger. This book is now in its third printing (including revisions and additional material). Stories and anecdotes are supported chronologically with approximately 200 songs (music and lyrics) that Pete wrote or with which he is associated – “Guantanamera,” “Where Have All The Flowers Gone,” “If I Had A Hammer,” “Turn Turn Turn,” “Wimoweh,” “We Shall Overcome” plus some new songs and more. Within these pages, Pete provides perspectives on everything from songwriting and the music business to social activism – including insight drawn from his experiences with the labor, peace, civil rights and environmental movements.

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EDEN AT THE END OF THE WORLD

THURSDAY, AUGUST 25 @ 7:00PM & 10:00PM

It is the last great wilderness of its kind, a rare and precious haven for some of Earth’s most indestructible creatures. Covering more than half-a-million square miles of Chile and Argentina, this wild place is known as Patagonia. At its crown tip is a grand island, Tierra del Fuego, a land as harsh as it is beautiful. This film tracks several species that call this extreme environment home. But the guanaco, condor and Magellanic penguin who share this spectacular place with orcas, parrots and elephant seals are facing increasing pressure from humans. Eden at the End of the World details how new conservation models may save them and preserve the wildness at the bottom of the world. Acclaimed actor Jeremy Irons narrates.

EARTH: THE OPERATORS’ MANUAL

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27 @ 7:00PM

Things that are important to us, like cars and computers, come with manuals. So why not a manual for the most complex operating system of all—the Earth. Is the planet due for an oil change? What do we need to do to keep Earth operating at peak performance? These are some of the questions addressed in Earth: The Operators’ Manual, a one-hour special on climate change and sustainable energy.

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FOOTBALL HIGH

SATURDAY, AUGUST 17 @ 10:00PM

Corporate sponsorships, nationally televised games, minute-by-minute coverage on sports websites — for players, parents and coaches, high school football has never been bigger. But is enough being done to ensure players’ safety as the intensity of the sport grows? In Football High, FRONTLINE investigates the new face of high school football.

Football observers and sports journalists alike agree that on average, high school players’ size, speed and strength have increased dramatically over the past five to 10 years. At Euless Trinity in Texas, which has been ranked the No. 1 high school team in the country, 18 of the 89 varsity players weigh over 250 pounds. “The ramping up of pressure on high school kids … and the increase of media attention on high school football, my God, in the last 10 years, it’s become like a little NFL,” says Gregg Easterbrook, a writer and columnist for ESPN. “If you look at it position by position, you can only compare it to NFL teams,” says trainer Kelvin Williams. “It’s just crazy. They are huge.”

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A RIPPLE OF HOPE

MONDAY, AUGUST 22 @ 8:00PM & 11:00PM

Featuring never before seen archival footage, and interviews in South Africa and the United States, filmmakers Larry Shore and Tami Gold tell the little-known story of Senator Robert Kennedy’s influential June 1966 visit to South Africa during the worst years of apartheid. The filmmakers explore the visit through the sights and sounds of present-day South Africa and offer a unique portrait of Senator Kennedy in action at an important moment in American and South African history.

Robert Kennedy’s visit gave opponents of apartheid — both black and white — hope and courage to challenge the apartheid system at a time when they felt isolated and few in the outside world knew what was happening in South Africa. The film evokes the connections between the struggle for racial equality in the United States and South Africa.

Robert Kennedy arriving in Cape Town, the site of his famous “Day of Affirmation” speech.

VIENNA PHILHARMONIC

SUMMER NIGHT CONCERT 2011

FRIDAY, AUGUST 19 @ 7:30PM & 12:30AM

Distinguished conductor Valery Gergiev leads the third annual Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night concert to be telecast on Great Performances. This year’s theme revolves around “Virtuoso Pictures,” as exemplified by the works of Franz Liszt, Niccolo Paganini, Modest Mussorgsky, and Johann Strauss.

The concert in the Schönbrunn Palace’s magnificent baroque gardens is free to thousands of attendees in Vienna, and serves the Orchestra’s objective of making classical music accessible to a broad spectrum of concertgoers beyond its usual, core audience.

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MASTERS OF THE ARCTIC ICE

THURSDAY, AUGUST 18 @ 7:00PM & 10:00PM

Journey to the top of the world to witness firsthand how the planet’s changing climate is affecting the creatures that inhabit the icy Arctic. See how the quickly melting Arctic ice affects the survival skills of ringed seals, polar bears, and narwhals. These Arctic creatures have become masters at negotiating the perils of this frozen world, but their dependence on the ice is also their greatest vulnerability. National Geographic’s Crittercam technology provides a never-before-seen perspective on this changing world. See how the resourceful creatures of the Arctic are learning to adapt—from their own point of view.

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SECRETS BENEATH THE ICE

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28 @ 8:00PM & 11:00PM

Almost three miles of ice buries most of Antarctica, cloaking a continent half again as large as the United States. But when an Antarctic ice shelf the size of Manhattan collapsed in less than a month in 2002, it shocked scientists and raised the alarming possibility that Antarctica may be headed for a meltdown. Even a 10 percent loss of Antarctica’s ice would cause catastrophic flooding of coastal cities unlike any seen before in human history. What are the chances of a widespread melt? “Secrets Beneath the Ice” explores whether Antarctica’s climate past can offer clues to what may happen. NOVA follows a state-of-the-art expedition that is drilling three-quarters of a mile into the Antarctic seafloor.

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