THE RISE AND FALL OF ISLAMIC SPAIN

SATURDAY, MARCH 12 @ 7:00PM

From the days of Charlemagne to Christopher Columbus, Islamic Spain represents one of the most productive intercultural relationships in Western history down to the present day. The lemon tree, the water wheel, the astrolabe and Aristotle’s lost philosophy all arrived in Europe through Islamic Spain. Churches and temples that strongly resemble Muslim mosques, the pinnacle of Hebrew literature’s Golden Age, the roots of modern medicine and mathematics, and the transmission of Greek philosophy into Western Europe are just a few of the collaborative achievements that form the legacy of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim cultures interacting on the Iberian Peninsula over seven centuries.

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AIMEE MANN/IRON & WINE

SUNDAY, MARCH 6 @ 9:00PM

For decades, Aimee Mann has been known as one of the top songwriters in contemporary music. Mann frequently pairs the bleakest of poetry with soaring, infectious melodies for emotionally explosive tunes that have won her numerous awards and fans. With her witty lyrics critics report that “no one surpasses her as a master of poetic regret.” (All Music Guide).

The Virginia-born, Berklee School of Music-trained musician had a hit in the ’80s with her band ’til Tuesday’s debut single “Voices Carry,” but it’s her journey as a solo artist that’s ultimately gained the most attention. After 1993’s Whatever and 1995’s I’m With Stupid, her first two solo albums attracted reams of critical acclaim but few sales, Mann left the major label system behind for good.
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VARIETY

SATURDAY, MARCH 5 @ 6:00PM

Born of the vaudevillian era, TV variety programs carried the traditions of comedy, song, dance and sketch performance into America’s living room and into a new era of entertainment. This genre of television programming pushed the boundaries of social satire and challenged the pace at which shows progressed.

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HARRY CONNICK JR. IN CONCERT ON BROADWAY

FRIDAY, JUNE 15 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM

Twenty years after dazzling audiences in his first solo Broadway concert early in his career, three-time Grammy Award-winner Harry Connick, Jr. returned to the Main Stem in a roster of favorites, performed in his trademark New Orleans style.

Taped in July of 2010 at New York’s Neil Simon Theater, Harry Connick, Jr. in Concert on Broadway features Connick’s big band and a 12-piece string section, with the star on both a Steinway grand and upright honky-tonk piano. Variety raved, “Connick, in concert, packs such dynamite that those ‘Jersey Boys’ across the street seem positively sedate.”
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COLLEGE, INC.

TUESDAY, MARCH 1 @ 7:00PM & 10:00PM

Even in lean times, the $400 billion business of higher education is booming. Nowhere is this more true than in one of the fastest-growing — and most controversial — sectors of the industry: for-profit colleges and universities that cater to non-traditional students, often confer degrees over the Internet, and, along the way, successfully capture billions of federal financial aid dollars.

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TRIANGLE FIRE

MONDAY, MARCH 3 @ 10:00PM

It was the deadliest workplace accident in New York City’s history. On March 25th, 1911, a deadly fire broke out in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York’s Greenwich Village. The blaze ripped through the congested loft as petrified workers — mostly young immigrant women — desperately tried to make their way downstairs. By the time the fire burned itself out, 146 people were dead. All but 17 of the dead were women and nearly half were teenagers.

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ANY HUMAN HEART

FRIDAY, MARCH 4 @ 7:30PM & 12:30AM

FINAL EPISODE

In 1970s London, with its counter-culture and poverty, Logan is just barely surviving with the occasional freelance writing assignment and the help of his friend Ben, enduring petty humiliation at his literary agency until Gloria reenters his life. An interlude of intimate and true friendship, and the inheritance of a house in France from his old friend, Cyprien, buoy Logan and reignite a tenuous passion for life. It’s about looking ahead, Gloria tells him.

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JIMMY CARTER

MONDAY, AUGUST 15 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM

Jimmy Carter’s story is one of the greatest dramas in American politics. In 1980, he was overwhelmingly voted out of office in a humiliating defeat. Over the subsequent two decades, he became one of the most admired statesmen and humanitarians in America and the world. Jimmy Carter, part of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE’s award-winning Presidents series, traces his rapid ascent in politics, dramatic fall from grace and unexpected resurrection.

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HEADLESS ROMANS

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23 @ 8:00PM & 11:00PM

SECRETS OF THE DEAD: Headless Romans follows forensic investigators as they examine dozens of Roman-era skeletons unearthed in York, England. They were discovered recently, posed in a gruesome tableau of violent death, their heads hacked off and placed at their feet or in other odd places, suggesting desecration and humiliation even in death. Were they barbarian prisoners from the wilds of Caledonia beyond the Roman border of Hadrian’s Wall? Were they soldiers killed in battle or executed for crimes against Rome? The surprising answer comes from a combination of forensic and archaeological evidence and ancient Roman accounts, and involves rivalry and revenge over the imperial throne.

“It was an amazing moment. I remember standing with our site manager and we looked at the first decapitated burial. … The skull had been taken off and put down by the feet, as I recall. Then we started finding other things, which were rather unusual, like a skeleton with these great, thick iron rings — shackles, if you will — around its ankles.” — Patrick Ottaway, archaeologist.
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SITCOMS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24 @ 7:00PM & 10:00PM

Rediscover television comedy classics, as this episode focuses on five key sitcoms: “I Love Lucy,” “The Honeymooners,” “Make Room for Daddy,” “The Andy Griffith Show” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”

Actor Dick Van Dyke grew up on a steady diet of Laurel and Hardy slapstick comedies, so when writer and producer Carl Reiner cast him as the stumbling husband, Rob Petry, next to newcomer Mary Tyler Moore, in his new program, “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” the young actor got the chance to use his physical comedy abilities.

“Rob Petry wasn’t supposed to have been a klutz in the beginning,” recalls Van Dyke. “Carl [Reiner] knew I loved to do the physical stuff, and he wrote that in, or he would just say ‘Dick does five minutes here’ and let me come up with something.”
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