WVIZ/PBS Monthly Program Highlights

All programs and times subject to change.

May 2008

NATURE “Superfish” (Sun 5/4, 8-9pm) dives into secret underground canyons to observe powerful marlin, sailfish, spearfish and swordfish, the largest and most highly prized of all gamefish. They slice through the water’s surface with explosive power, sail, spear and a half ton of muscle flashing in the sun. Their journeys through the open ocean are epic, their life cycle, bizarre.  Emmy award-winning filmmaker and biologist Rick Rosenthal brings these incredible sea creatures to the screen as he observes tiny billfish nurseries in the wild, dives deep into secret undersea canyons, films incredible color-changing behavior and embarks on a quest for an elusive thousand-pound “grander.”

MASTERPIECE CLASSIC “Cranford” (Sun 5/4, 9-11pm; Sun 5/18, 9p-Mid) chronicles the absurdities and tragedies in the lives of the people of Cranford during one extraordinary year, based on three serialized Elizabeth Gaskell novels. 

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE presents “George H.W. Bush” (Mon 5/5, 9-11pm; Tues 5/6, 9-1030pm).  This film examines Bush’s service in World War II, and his early career in Texas, to his days in the Oval Office, first as Vice President to Ronald Reagan, then as the leader who presided over the first Gulf War. Drawing upon Bush’s personal diaries and interviews with his closest advisors and most prominent critics, the film also explores Bush’s role as the patriarch of a political family whose influence is unequaled in modern American life. Part one examines Bush’s childhood, early career in Texas, his courtship of Barbara Bush and his rise in the Republican Party.  Part two examines Bush’s role as leader of the first Gulf War and his final days as President of the United States.

SECRETS OF THE DEAD “Doping for Gold” (Weds 5/7, 8-9pm) digs deep into the secretive, Cold War world of East German athletes.  In the 1970s, female East German athletes came from nowhere to dominate international sport. But behind their success lay a secret, state-sponsored doping program that distributed untested steroids and male hormones to athletes as young as age 12. Many of these girls had no knowledge that they were being doped, and now, as grown women (and men), their broken bodies and damaged psyches bear witness to the cruelty of a government that pursued international glory and gold at the expense of its most acclaimed citizens.

AUCTION 2008 airs on Thurs 5/8 (3p-1a), Fri 5/9 (3p-1a), Sat 5/10 (Noon-1a) and Sun 5/11 (Noon-end). More info!

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE continues its look at U.S. Presidents with a profile of FDR (Mon 5/12, 9-11pm; Mon 5/19, 9-1130pm).  Perhaps the most important American leader of this century, Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as president longer than anyone before or since and led America through the two greatest crises of this century, the Great Depression and World War II.

FRONTLINE presents “Storm over Everest” (Tues 5/13, 9-11pm).  As darkness fell on May 10, 1996, a fast moving storm of unimaginable ferocity trapped three climbing teams high on the slopes of Mount Everest. The climbers, exhausted from their summit climb, were soon lost in darkness, in a fierce blizzard, far from the safety of High Camp at 26,000 feet. World-renowned climber and filmmaker David Breashears returns to Everest to tell the story of the climbers who perished in that storm, marking the worst climbing tragedy in Mount Everest’s history. But more remarkably, it is the story of 11 climbers caught in the storm and the eyewitness accounts of their astonishing survival in the world’s most unforgiving environment.

THE ADIRONDACKS (Weds 5/14, 9-11pm) explores the remarkable region that sprawls across 6 million acres in Upstate New York.  Bigger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier and Grand Canyon National Park combined, it is by far the largest park in the lower 48 states. Yet it is the only one on the continent in which large human populations live and whose land is divided almost evenly between protected wilderness and privately owned tracts. This patchwork pattern of land ownership has created an utterly unique place.

DEPRESSION: OUT OF THE SHADOWS (Weds 5/21, 9-11pm) profiles the dramatic stories of people who live with various forms of depression and explores the causes and treatments for clinical depression.  Among the personal profiles are novelist and journalist Andrew Solomon whose mother’s suicide contributed to his depression and left him unable to work or take care of himself; and Philip Burguieres, once the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company who resigned unexpectedly from his position after collapsing from untreated depression.

PHOENIX MARS MISSION: ASHES TO ICE (Thurs 5/22, 10-11pm) chronicles the story of the Phoenix Mars Lander, which launched in August 2007 and is scheduled to land on the Martian surface on May 25, 2008. The program features interviews with scientists who discuss the spacecraft’s custom instruments and the intricate preparations that preceded the launch. After touchdown, the lander will collect soil and ice samples to search for trace organics and for evidence of how water has changed the subsurface environment. The scientists hope to determine where the water on Mars went.

GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET presents Verdi’s “Macbeth” (Sun 5/25, 4-7pm), one of three works by William Shakespeare that the composer set to music, the others being the beloved Falstaff and the towering Othello.  Director Adrian Noble’s powerful new production of this gripping work is conducted by James Levine, and the ferocious couple is portrayed by baritone Zeljko Lucic in the title role and soprano Maria Guleghina as his ruthless wife.

Memorial Day programming includes:

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM (Sun 5/25, 630-7pm).  This award-winning, high definition film tells the tale of a different band of brothers—a small group of WWII veterans whose bonds as POWs go far beyond surviving combat. These men tell the story of all the POWs who, despite the brutal ordeal of being prisoners, have carried a silent burden of shame for decades. Now for the first time on film, the men speak about the ghosts of their pasts.

SS UNITED STATES: LADY IN WAITING (Sun 5/25, 7-8pm).  The tale of the fastest ocean liner in the world-ever. America’s flagship-the SS United States. Retired in 1969 and lying derelict at a pier in Philadelphia, there are now plans by a Norwegian Cruise Line to refit her as a modern day state-of-the-art cruise ship.

NATIONAL MEMORIAL DAY CONCERT 2008 (Sun 5/25, 8-930pm).  PBS will unite our nation in honor of all of America’s men and women in uniform for their service and sacrifice with this annual presentation. The event will be led for the third year by co-hosts Gary Sinise ("CSI NY") and Tony Award-winner Joe Mantegna ("Criminal Minds"), two acclaimed actors who have dedicated themselves to veterans’ causes and supporting our troops in active service. This year, the event will pay special tribute to the veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam and the sacred war memorials built in their honor in Washington, DC. Actor and decorated World War II veteran Charles Durning, a longtime participant in the NATIONAL MEMORIAL DAY CONCERT, will also be recognized for his bravery and sacrifice as part of the “greatest generation,” who stepped forward in a time of need.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE tells the story of “Truman” (Sun 5/25, 930-Mid; Mon 5/26, 9-11pm), a farmer, a businessman gone bankrupt, an unknown politician from Missouri who suddenly found himself President.  Of all the men who had held the highest office, Harry Truman was the least prepared.  But he would prove to be a surprise.

FRONTLINE/WORLD correspondent Lowell Bergman investigates the business of human smuggling in “Crimes at the Border” (Tues 5/27, 10-11pm).  In Tijuana, masses of people attempt to cross illegally every day with the help of increasingly organized and expensive smugglers. Bergman explores the region to find that this illicit but lucrative business is expanding, and U.S. border agents are subject to an increased risk of corruption. He follows the dramatic story of one such corrupt U.S. border guard, the risky business he became involved in and what the U.S. government is doing about the problem.

AMERICAN SOUNDTRACK: DOO WOP’S GREATEST HITS (Sat 5/31, 8-10pm).  As a sequel to Doo Wop’s Best on PBS, the American Soundtrack series presents Doo Wop’s Greatest Hits, a new best-of compilation of Doo Wop Favorites of even more greatest moments from Doo Wop 50; Rock, Rhythm and Doo Wop; and Red, White and Rock.

RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS 21ST ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION (Sat 5/31, 10-11pm).  In this thrilling 1983 concert, Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield—those seminal rock and rollers known to the world as The Righteous Brothers—have reunited to bring back “blue-eyed soul” music. The concert was taped live at the Roxy Theater in Los Angeles. This release highlights a number of their hits, including “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” “Unchained Melody” and “Ebb Tide.”