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Great Performances: From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration
(Thursday, 1/1 at 8:00 p.m.)
Continuing its holiday tradition, GREAT PERFORMANCES returns to the stately splendor of Vienna's Musikverein for its 25th-annual New Year's Day celebration with the Vienna Philharmonic. Daniel Barenboim leads a rousing program of Strauss Family favorites, including the breathless Eljen a Magyar polka, the Radetsky March and the beloved Blue Danube Waltz, in addition to festive ballets danced by the Vienna State Opera Ballet. The 2009 celebration will also mark the 200th anniversary of the death of Franz Joseph Haydn, whose more than 100 symphonies and 68 string quartets laid the groundwork for the 18th-century classical style and served to inspire the countless musical minds who came after him, including Mozart and Beethoven. To honor "Papa Haydn," the Philharmonic will perform the composer's masterful Symphony No. 45, the "Farewell," as a tribute to his enduring legacy.
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American Masters: Bob Newhart: Unbuttoned
(Thursday, 1/1 at 9:30 p.m.)
In the late 1950s, a shy Chicago accountant who was trying to pick up some extra cash began doing local radio sketches. By 1960, The Button-Down Mind - recorded before he even stepped onto the stand-up circuit - hit gold as Album of the Year and won a Grammy for Best New Artist. Engaging the average guy in all of us, Bland Bob's deadpan and mildly nervous humor, exemplified in "The Driving Instructor," helped spearhead the explosion in American comedy - at clubs, on records and television variety shows - and by permanently pushing the boundaries of the sitcom genre. "The Bob Newhart Show" and, later, "Newhart," portraying the quintessential sane man caught in a world of zany characters gone mad, were among the most popular viewing staples throughout the 70s and 80s. Newhart still performs up to 40 stand-up dates a year and was recognized with a 2004 Emmy nomination for his first dramatic role on "ER." With a legacy particularly familiar today in the routines of Jerry Seinfeld and Ellen DeGeneres, his appeal was always seminal: Richard Pryor once bragged, "The first album I ever stole was Bob Newhart's!" (Back to Top)
Victory At Sea
(Mondays beginning 1/5 at 10:00 p.m.)
Victory at Sea represented one of the most ambitious documentary undertakings of early network television. The venture paid handsomely for NBC and its parent company RCA, however, in that it generated considerable residual income through syndication and several spinoff properties. It also helped establish compilation documentaries, programs composed of existing archival footage, as a sturdy television genre. The series premiered on the last Sunday of October 1952, and subsequent episodes played each Sunday afternoon through May 1953. Each half-hour installment dealt with some aspect of World War II naval warfare and highlighted each of the sea war's major campaigns: the Battle of the North Atlantic, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway, antisubmarine patrol in the South Atlantic, the Leyte Gulf campaign, etc. Each episode was composed of archival footage originally accumulated by the U.S., British, Japanese or German navies. The footage was carefully edited and organized to bring out the drama of each campaign. That drama was enhanced by the program's sententious voice-over narration and by Richard Rodgers's stirring musical score.
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The Human Face
(Wednesdays beginning 1/7 at 8:00 p.m.)
In THE HUMAN FACE, actor and comedian John Cleese sets out on an odyssey to discover the mysteries of communication, identity, perception and sexuality hidden behind the mask of the human face. Looking at the practical effects of beauty, the nature of fame and the face's ability to give away emotion, this series combines technology and human-interest stories to uncover some surprising secrets. Cleese is joined in this quest by a number of well-known faces — actors Elizabeth Hurley, Pierce Brosnan, Candice Bergen and Michael Palin. (Back to Top)
Monarchy: The Royal Family At Work
(Wednesdays beginning 1/7 9:00 p.m.)
In the year of her 80th birthday, Queen Elizabeth II granted the filmmakers of MONARCHY, THE ROYAL FAMILY AT WORK an exclusive look inside the modern British monarchy. In this intimate series, viewers join Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of Britain's most famous family as they travel abroad, work at the palace and meet people from all walks of life. The programs follow the queen as she visits the first permanent British settlement in the U.S. and spends time with President Bush at the White House. The cameras roll as she visits the newly democratic republic of Estonia - where no British monarch has set foot before. Back in England, the series goes inside Buckingham Palace for exclusive interviews with members of the royal family, preparations for elaborate formal occasions and a behind-the-scenes look at the royal kitchens, royal wine cellar and royal car fleet, and the jobs of footmen, ladies in waiting, the yeoman guard and the crown jeweler. MONARCHY, THE ROYAL FAMILY AT WORK offers a glimpse behind the velvet curtain to reveal what life is really like as a member of the family firm. (Back to Top)
Black Coffee (HD)
(Thursdays beginning 1/8 at 8:00 p.m.)
From its discovery on an ancient Ethiopian hillside to its role as a contemporary elixir, coffee has dominated and molded the economies, politics and social structures of entire countries. BLACK COFFEE, a three-part mini-series, traces the unique and volatile history of this ubiquitous beverage.
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Frontline: The War Briefing (HD)
(Thursday, 1/8 at 9:00 p.m.)
The next president of the United States will inherit some of the greatest foreign policy challenges in American history an overstretched military, frayed alliances and wars on two fronts. FRONTLINE gives viewers a hard, inside look at the real policy choices the next president will face. The report features strategists and diplomats giving their best advice about how to correct past failures and how to shape a realistic foreign policy approach in the Middle East. (Back to Top)
Red Terror On the Amber Coast
(Thursday, 1/8 at 10:00 p.m.)
In 1939, a secret agreement was forged between Josef Stalin of the Soviet Union and Adolf Hitler of Germany called the Molotov/Ribbentroff. They agreed that the two countries should divvy up a majority of Eastern Europe for the goal of expansion of their individual empires. During the years that followed, Lithuanian people were deported from their homeland, forced into labor camps, forced to undergo starvation, or shot on the spot. Many of them were separated from their families by occupying Soviet armies, more than 350,000 were imprisoned or killed under this regime. Red Terror On the Amber Coast tells of the triumph of the human spirit during these difficult times, and what challenges lie ahead for this country located on the Baltic Sea. (Back to Top)
Lark Rise To Candleford
(Fridays beginning 1/9 at 9:00 p.m.)
Flora Thompson's charming love letter to a vanished corner of rural England is brought to life in this warm-hearted adaptation. Set in the Oxfordshire countryside in the 1880s, this rich, funny and emotional series follows the relationship of two contrasting communities: Lark Rise, the small hamlet gently holding on to the past, and Candleford, the small market town bustling into the future. Seen through the eyes of young Laura, their inhabitants endure many upheavals and struggles as the inexorably change comes; their stories by turns poignant, spirited and uplifting. And Laura herself must face great change. Taking a job in Post Office in Candleford, run by the mercurial Dorcas, she turns her back on her childhood hamlet to make her way in the world. With her loyalties divided, she must choose her own path to womanhood. "Beautifully observed and splendidly acted ... There are comic cameos by Liz Smith and Dawn French, but it is Olivia Hallinan's assured performance as Laura that stands out." (Back to Top)
Ride Along the Lincoln Highway
(Saturday, 1/10 at 7:00 p.m.)
This program celebrates the history, the various paths, the small businesses, the good food, friendly people and the unexpected charms of America's first coast-to-coast paved highway. (Back to Top)
Secrets of the Dead: Battle For the Bible
(Monday 1/12 at 9:00 p.m.)
Explores the dramatic, violent and world-shaking story of the most famous and widely-read book in history -- the Bible in English. It's the tale of how, in the 15th and 16th centuries, a group of men set out on a new crusade: to bring the Scriptures to people in their own language for the very first time. In so doing, they would help launch a religious revolution that would ultimately change the course of history in England, America and beyond. (Back to Top)
Frontline: Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
(Thursday, 1/15 at 9:00 p.m.)
In the wake of yet another hard-fought and bitter presidential campaign, FRONTLINE presents a spirited and revealing biography of Lee Atwater, the charming, Machiavellian godfather of modern take-no-prisoners Republican political campaigns. Through eye-opening interviews with Atwater's closest friends and adversaries, the film explores the life of the controversial political operative who mentored Karl Rove and George W. Bush, led the GOP to historic victories, and wrote the party's winning playbook. The story tracks Atwater's rise from his beginnings in South Carolina as a high school election kingmaker all the way to the White House and his subsequent battle with cancer and final search for forgiveness and redemption. To Democrats, Atwater was a political assassin who one Congresswoman dubbed "the most evil man in America," but to Republicans he remains a hero for his deep understanding of the American voter and his unapologetic vision of politics as warfare. (Back to Top)
Critical Condition: A Rhode Island Prognosis
(Thursday, 1/15 at 10:30 p.m.)
Within the last decade, the number of uninsured people in Rhode Island has doubled, and most of this growth has been in the working population. Why is health care insurance eroding from the workplace? What is being done to avert the impending health crisis? And what options are available to uninsured Rhode Islanders who desperately need health care today? This documentary seeks to answer these questions, and to empower viewers with a deeper understanding of the complex forces at work. (Back to Top)
Secrets of the Dead: Herculaneum Uncovered
(Monday, 1/19 at 9:00 p.m.)
Just a few miles from fabled Pompeii is Herculaneum, another city buried and frozen in time by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Today, geo-archeologists are chipping away at the soft rock, revealing that this city, unlike Pompeii, was not suffocated by falling ash. Rather, it was engulfed by blistering pyroclastic flows that instantly caused muscles to contract, skin to vaporize and heads to explode. (Back to Top)
Frontline: The Old Man and the Storm
(Thursday, 1/22 at 9:00 p.m.)
Six months after Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans, producer June Cross came across 82-year-old Herbert Gettridge working alone on his home in the lower Ninth Ward, a neighborhood devastated when the levees broke in August 2005. Over the next two years, Cross would document the story of the extended Gettridge clan -- an African-American family with deep roots in New Orleans -- as they struggled to rebuild their homes and their lives. Their efforts would be deeply impacted by larger decisions about urban planning, public health and the insurance industry, by the decisions of policymakers about federal funding for rebuilding the Gulf, and state and city plans for dispersing those monies. The moving personal story of Mr. Gettridge and his family reveals the human cost of this tragedy, the continued inadequacies of government's response in the aftermath of Katrina and how race, class, and politics have affected the attempts to rebuild this American city. (Back to Top)
Pawtucket Rising
(Thursday, 1/22 at 10:00 p.m.)
A new documentary about the unlikely story of the revitalization of the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Pawtucket was once a burgeoning mill city. It is the home to the Slater Mill, the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution. Pawtucket's fortunes fell when the country plummeted into the great depression and it has never fully recovered. When artists could no longer afford the skyrocketing real estate in nearby Providence they were forced to take their business elsewhere. Mayor James E. Doyle recognized that The Arts could be an important catalyst in his city's revitalization. The city seized the opportunity to invite these small businesses to relocate to Pawtucket. As a result, Pawtucket is now restoring and renovating mill and industrial space that had once sat vacant and decaying. This documentary shows the history of the past decade revitalization of the city. The city is experiencing its greatest boom in decades. Pawtucket is rising. (Back to Top)
Secrets of the Dead: Headless Romans
(Monday, 1/26 at 9:00 p.m.)
In the back garden of a house in York, England, more than 45 decapitated, Roman-era skeletons are unearthed. This astonishing discovery leads to an unprecedented scientific investigation to identify the remains. Are these men pagan prisoners, savagely murdered and unceremoniously buried? Are they soldiers who were killed in battle or executed for crimes against Rome? Modern forensics, archeological sleuthing and historical records point to a surprising answer and an infamous perpetrator: the Roman emperor Caracalla. His victims speak from the grave to tell a harrowing tale of murderous sibling rivalry, bloody revenge and a deadly rampage. (Back to Top)
Lost Royals
(Wednesday, 1/28 at 9:00 p.m.)
Lifts the lid on royal indiscretions from the past and sets out to track down some of the thousands of unknowing illegitimate descendants of English Royalty. In Britain this program might be considered to be an entertaining piece of "TV treason." For American audiences, it is truly a guilty pleasure! Host Jennie Bond, a former royal correspondent, enlists renowned genealogists Stephen Thomas and Anthony Adolph to accompany her on the trail of unfaithful monarchs. They come up with the fascinating history of philanderers, such as Charles II, and trace the lives of the children they fathered. Thomas and Adolph investigate more than 900 years of history to find descendants to the throne who have no knowledge of their heritage. (Back to Top)
Caring For Your Parents
(Thursday, 1/29 at 8:00 p.m.)
As the population ages, many adult children are grappling with an unprecedented social, cultural, economic and personal revolution as they become the primary caregivers for their aging parents. This documentary draws much-needed attention to this widespread reality. Through an intimate look at five American families, the first 90 minutes of the special underscore today's struggle to keep parents at home, the tensions between siblings and the complexity of shifting caregiver roles. In the end, successful care giving requires one primary ingredient - love. Immediately after the 90-minute broadcast, former NBC medical correspondent Dr. Art Ulene leads "A Conversation About Caring," a half-hour panel discussion that offers concrete advice and guidance on how to start the conversation - often the most difficult step in care giving. (Back to Top)
Frontline: Can You Afford to Retire?
(Thursday, 1/29 at 10:00 p.m.)
The baby boomer generation is headed for a shock as it hits retirement: boomers will be long on life expectancy but short on income. In addition to Social Security, the pillars of retirement income for Americans have been either lifetime corporate pensions or employee-contribution plans such as 401Ks. But both retirement strategies are in trouble. Buffeted by pension cuts, corporate bankruptcies and the 2001-2002 stock market crash, most boomers now expect to be working into their retirement years. (Back to Top) |
