SUPER SECRETS

TUESDAY, JULY 20 @ 7:00PM & 11:00PM

Making the film CARRIER required 17 filmmakers to take a six-month journey aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz during its deployment to the Gulf in support of the Iraq War. They disembarked from Coronado, California on May 7, 2005 and returned there November 8, 2005 with stops at Pearl Harbor, Hong Kong, Guam, Kuala Lumpur, Bahrain and Perth, Australia.

The trip proved an evolution for the film crew who spent the early weeks trying to find their place while the 5,000 sailors and Marines around them were too busy to take notice. Eventually, the film crew discerned the ebb and flow of life on a carrier, and began to feel more at home on board. The ship’s crew not only accepted them but also took a vested interest in the project, making suggestions on the best places to film and providing access to missions that helped capture the full experience of the deployment.

Episode 3: “Super Secrets”

The ship’s location and itinerary are classified. Details of how the nuclear reactor works are top secret. Many aspects of life on a nuclear aircraft carrier are hush-hush. Dating and sex aboard ship are strictly forbidden, but according to one sailor, with 5,000 people on board, relationships are “inevitable,” resulting in a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that applies to relationships as well as sexual orientation. When the Nimitz pulls into Hong Kong for a four-day port call, a scandal dramatically alters the lives of two sailors. As the ship departs, the crew learns their itinerary has changed. The captain announces that they are heading for Korea, but the crew can’t share this information with their families back home … because it’s a secret.

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POIROT – Series 10

APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH

SUNDAY, JULY 25 @ 7:00PM & 11:00PM

Impassioned archaeologist Lord Greville Boynton, accompanied by his universally despised wealthy second wife Lady Boynton, is in zealous pursuit of a major artifact in Syria. A curious array of onlookers has also gathered in the unforgiving desert heat — among them the tormented Boynton children, a psychiatrist, a nun, a travel writer and a cerebral but not exactly rugged Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. When most of the camp returns from an expedition, they find Lady Boynton has been stabbed to death. How can Poirot make sense of a murder when most of the suspects weren’t even present at the time of death? Poirot’s investigation exposes red herrings, broken personalities and a tragic back story buried deep. Will Poirot give up in frustration or will the voices of his little grey cells sing out and solve the case? David Suchet stars as Hercule Poirot in this adaptation of the novel by Agatha Christie, joined by Tim Curry (Return to Cranford).

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BREAKFAST SPECIAL

THURSDAY, AUGUST 14 @ 7:00PM

Oh, the beauties of breakfast! The sizzle. The steam. The fresh eggs. Hot toast. Good coffee. Buckwheat pancakes. Corned beef hash. Delicious surprises. They’re some of the best reasons to get out of bed. And when you treat yourself by going out for breakfast, the world can be a wonderful place. So we’ve made a documentary that celebrates breakfast.

Breakfast Special is a public television project that features some wonderful places across America where you can get a memorable morning meal. We travel from St. Augustine, Florida, to Portland, Oregon, tasting old favorites, exotic options and new twists on standard breakfast fare.
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THE DEADLIEST PLANE CRASH

SATURDAY, JULY 17 @ 3:00PM & 1:00PM

On March 27, 1977, on the island of Tenerife, two fully loaded 747 jumbo jets collided on a fog-blanketed runway, claiming the lives of 583 people in what is still the deadliest crash in aviation history. Now, almost 30 years later, near misses on the ground are the leading cause of aviation accidents, raising the question of what can be done to improve runway safety. Featuring moving interviews with the few survivors of the disaster and with top accident investigators, this program examines the fateful confluence of events that led to the Tenerife tragedy and its continuing relevance for air travel today.

Three decades ago, the facts of the accident were shocking and inexplicable. In thick fog, a KLM 747 began an unauthorized takeoff, slamming into a Pan Am 747 that was taxiing on the same runway. The best and the brightest pilots, including KLM’s senior captain and head of safety, were at the helm. How could such an accident possibly occur?
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The George Shultz Years

Swords into Plowshares

SATURDAY, JULY 31 @ 4:00PM

This three-part series chronicles the career and contributions of Secretary of State George Shultz, the key shaper of foreign policy in President Ronald Reagan’s administration.

Episode 3: Swords into Plowshares. Shultz is in the midst of preparations for the summit meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev in Reykjavik, Iceland, when news breaks that the United States was indeed trading arms for the Nicaraguan Contras to secure the release of the Iran hostages, and Newsweek reveals that the CIA is mining the harbor in Managua. The Reykjavik summit leads to the most significant nuclear arms reduction pact of the Cold War and is the pinnacle of Shultz’ career in government service. In January 1989, Shultz leaves the State Department. He returns to the world of ideas as a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and continues to travel the world as a passionate advocate for nuclear disarmament.

Murder on the Orient Express

SUNDAY, MAY 22 @ 7:00PM & 11:30PM

Actor David Suchet reaches the pinnacle of his remarkable twenty-one-year career as Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot by taking on the great detective’s most celebrated case, Murder on the Orient Express (July 11, 2010). The classic tale headlines Hercule Poirot: Series X, three new Poirot whodunits by Agatha Christie. The Poirot season continues with Third Girl (July 18), a taut psychological thriller co-staring Zoë Wanamaker as eccentric crime novelist Ariadne Oliver, said to be modeled on Christie herself; followed by Appointment with Death (July 25), a mystery set at an archaeological site in Syria, where a family’s dark past is the real subject of excavation.

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David Suchet on the Orient Express

SUNDAY, JUNE 16 @ 9:00PM

Celebrated actor David Suchet sets aside his alter ego Hercule Poirot to step aboard one of the world’s most iconic trains in the documentary David Suchet on the Orient Express: A Masterpiece Special. From London, Suchet travels to Calais in northern France to board the Venice Simplon Orient Express, and begins his 2,000-mile journey through six countries, with a breathtaking stop in Venice on the way to Prague. The delightful Suchet revels in the artistry and beauty of the train, and explores its attraction for Agatha Christie, who used it as the setting for one of her most recognized novels. With the incisive inquisitiveness of Poirot, Suchet also traces the history of the Orient Express from its elegant beginnings to its tumultuous final days, and how its legacy has lived on. Come aboard for a charming and insightful view of the timeless Orient Express.

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Missing in MiG Alley

TUESDAY, JULY 6 @ 6:00PM & 9:00PM

In the early 1950s, epic battles unfolded in the skies over North Korea as American and Russian fighters faced off in history’s first jet war. This program explores the Korean War’s aerial tactics, technology, and grim aftermath for downed pilots, many of whom disappeared without a trace.

The Korean War pitted the two most advanced fighters of their day, the American F-86 Sabre and the Soviet MiG-15, in furious air battles in North Korea’s notorious “MiG Alley.” With the help of dramatic reconstructions, rare archival footage, and interviews with veteran American and Soviet pilots, NOVA puts viewers in the cockpit to experience the lethal split-second duels that erupted in MiG Alley.
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HISTORY DETECTIVES

JULY 10 @ 10:00PM

America’s top gumshoes are back for a seventh season to prove once again that an object found in an attic or backyard might be anything but ordinary. Exploring historical objects and the stories behind them, History Detectives crisscrosses the country delving into legends, folklore and personal histories to discover potentially extraordinary objects in everyday American homes.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 13 @ 10:00PM

Long before giant theme parks and computer-controlled thrill rides, this country had lots of charming and beautiful amusement parks where families gathered for a cool escape on hot summer days. GREAT OLD AMUSEMENT PARKS celebrates some of the pre-Disney parks that are still thriving as well as a few of the classic parks that are gone.

The one-hour special, produced by WQED Pittsburgh, takes you on old wooden roller coasters, vintage bumper cars and many other cool classic rides. We look at some amusing history and discover what’s special about these amazing parks that bring people together and keep them coming back.

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