MARTHA SPEAKS
Monday-Friday, beginning September 1, 7:30 a.m. & 3:30 p.m.
MARTHA SPEAKS follows the story of Martha, a loveable dog whose appetite for alphabet soup gives her the ability to speak. Martha’s dog’s-eye view of the world, combined with her rich vocabulary, creates a wonderfully comic series with a solid educational heart.
SID THE SCIENCE KID
Monday-Friday, beginning September 1, 8:30 a.m. & 12:30 p.m.
SID THE SCIENCE KID is a new educational animated television series using comedy to promote exploration, discovery and science readiness among preschoolers.
PBS CONVENTION COVERAGE – A NEWSHOUR SPECIAL REPORT “Republican Convention”
Monday-Thursday, September 1-4, 8:00-11:00 p.m.
Live coverage of the Republican Convention from St. Paul, Minnesota, from THE NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER.
GOOD EVENING EV’RYBODY: IN CELEBRATION OF LOUIS ARMSTRONG
Saturday, September 6, 8:00-9:00 p.m.
This program presents a never-before-released concert performance of Louis Armstrong — and other musical greats, including Dizzy Gillespie and Mahalia Jackson — at the 1970 Newport Jazz Festival in celebration of Armstrong’s 70th birthday. Armstrong performs several of his greatest hits throughout the concert and rehearsals.
VISIONS OF ISRAEL
Sunday, September 7, 4:30-6:00 p.m.
An aerial pilgrimage to the world’s only Jewish state — home to approximately 7.2 million and the Holy Land of Christianity, Islam and Judaism — showcases Israel in all its diverse glory in honor of the state’s 60th anniversary.
ANDRE RIEU: LIVE IN VIENNA
Sunday, September 7, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra and Choir perform on the square in front of the imperial Hofburg Palace in the heart of Vienna.
CELINE DION: A NEW DAY
Sunday, September 7, 8:00-9:30 p.m.
International superstar Celine Dion brings her acclaimed stage show to public television in CELINE DION: A NEW DAY, a live concert taped at the Coliseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Celine enthralls the sold-out crowd with her biggest hits, including "To Love You More," "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" and "My Heart Will Go On." Backed by a visually stunning, exquisitely designed stage show, Celine sings a virtual duet with Frank Sinatra, crooning along with the Rat Pack star to "I've Got the World on a String."
CIVIL WAR IN HAMPTON ROADS: PENINSULA CAMPAIGN
Monday, September 8, 9:30-11:00 p.m.
When Virginia left the Union in April 1861, Northern and Southern leaders alike recognized the Peninsula as an extremely strategic location. It was one of the major approaches to the Confederate capital at Richmond. The bountiful, yet strategic waterways, fertile farm fields, and quiet little towns along this path to Richmond would immediately become the scene of some of the Civil War’s greatest events. CIVIL WAR IN HAMPTON ROADS: PENINSULA CAMPAIGN, the third episode in a series of one-hour, high definition documentaries looks at this tumultuous time in American history.
RAIN: THE BEATLES EXPERIENCE
Wednesday, September 10, 8:00-9:30 p.m.
EXPERIENCE WHAT BEATLEMANIA WAS ALL ABOUT! FROM ED SULLIVAN TO ABBEY ROAD! – They look like them and they sound just like them! “The next best thing to seeing The Beatles,” raves the Denver Post. All the music and vocals are performed totally live! RAIN covers the Fab Four from the earliest beginnings through the psychedelic late 60s and their long-haired hippie, hard-rocking rooftop days.
BILLY JOEL: THE STRANGER LIVE
Wednesday, September 10, 9:30-11:00 p.m.
Billy Joel’s 1978 British concert debut -- a live television performance on the BBC's "Old Grey Whistle Test." During the appearance, the legendary singer/songwriter played a set of now-classic hits, including “Only the Good Die Young,” “Movin’ Out,” “She’s Always a Woman” and “Just the Way You Are,” which earned 1978 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Joel and his band also performed “New York State of Mind” and “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” off 1976’s Turnstiles as well as Piano Man stomper “Ain’t No Crime
THE BERLIN CELEBRATION CONCERT
Thursday, September 11, 8:00-10:00 p.m.
Conducted by Leonard Bernstein, THE BERLIN CELEBRATION CONCERT is an historic performance marking the fall of the Berlin Wall. Performed on Christmas Day 1989 in the former East Berlin, the concert unites an international cast of celebrated musicians and vocalists for a moving performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The program is introduced by JoAnn Falletta, music director of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
THE 60S LIVE! – MY GENERATION, MY MUSIC
Saturday, September 13, 8:00-11:00 p.m.
The MY MUSIC series presents an extra-special three-hour event focusing on the hit-making artists from the second half of the 1960s. This treasure-trove of essential folk-rock, rhythm and blues and pop classics is hosted by Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas. Live from San Francisco.
GREAT PERFORMANCES “Pavarotti: A Life in Seven Arias”
Sunday, September 14, 8:00-10:00 p.m.
Performance documentary looks back over the career of Luciano Pavarotti, one of opera’s greatest tenors.
HISTORY DETECTIVES
Monday, September 15, 9:00-10:00 p.m.
A recording of a musical created by GIs for GIs to be performed anywhere in the world; a letter purportedly from James Monroe; and a silver bar from the wreck of the Atocha.
WHERE WE STAND: AMERICA’S SCHOOLS IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Monday, September 15, 10:00-11:00 p.m.
This program examines the major challenges for U.S. schools in the face of global competitiveness.
NOVA “Einstein’s Big Idea”
Tuesday, September 16, 8:00-9:00 p.m.
NOVA dramatizes the remarkable story behind the famous equation E=mc2.
P.O.V. “Calavera Highway”
Tuesday, September 16, 10:00-11:30 p.m.
Two Mexican-American men reunite with five brothers and try to piece together their family’s shattered history. Why was their mother cast out by her family? What happened to their father?
QUESTIONING THE CONSTITUTION
Wednesday, September 16, 8:00-9:00 p.m.
QUESTIONING THE CONSTITUTION educates viewers about the development and structure of the Constitution, its various interpretations over more than two centuries of existence and the debate surrounding its possible reformation.
LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER “New York Philharmonic Opening Night Gala with Sir James Galway”
Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 9:00-10:30 p.m.
Renowned flutist Sir James Galway performs with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Lorin Maazel.
LOS LONELY BOYS COTTONFIELDS AND CROSSROADS
Wednesday, September 17, 10:30-12:00 a.m.
Documentary tells the story of three Mexican-American brothers from Texas who create a signature music style they call “Texican.”
GLOBAL HARBORS: A WATERFRONT RENAISSANCE
Thursday, September 18, 9:00-10:00 p.m.
GLOBAL HARBORS: A WATERFRONT RENAISSANCE is an historical documentary and a living history about Baltimore's Inner Harbor revitalization and how it influenced waterfront cities around the world. Global Harbors, a one hour documentary shot in HD in Baltimore, Maryland, Sydney, Australia, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Long Beach, California and Norfolk, Virginia.
CASABLANCA
Saturday, September 20, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Easy to enter, but much harder to leave, especially if you’re wanted by the Nazis. Such a man is Resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), whose only hope is night-club owner Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart). Rick is a cynical American who sticks his neck out for no one — especially Victor’s wife Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), the ex-lover who broke his heart. Ilsa offers herself in exchange for Laszlo’s transport out of the country and bitter Rick must decide what counts more: personal happiness or countless lives hanging in the balance. Winner of three Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay, CASABLANCA has been a beloved movie for more than 60 years.
NATURE “Raptor Force”
Sunday, Sept 21, 8:00-9:00 p.m.
Raptors are nature’s elite killing force — winged predators whose graceful beauty belies their stunning speed, acrobatics and precision.
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE “Reagan”
Mondays, September 22, 9:00-11:00 p.m. and September 29, 2008, 9:00-11:30 p.m.
When he left the White House in 1988, Ronald Reagan was one of the most popular presidents of the century — and one of the most controversial. A failed actor, Reagan became a passionate ideologue who preached a simple gospel of lower taxes, less government and anti-communism. One by one, his opponents underestimated him; one by one, Reagan surprised them, rising to become a president who always preferred to see America as a “shining city on a hill.”
NOVA “Monster of the Milky Way”
Tuesday, September 23, 8:00-9:00 p.m.
NOVA mounts a mind-bending investigation into one of the most bizarre corners of cosmological science: the truth about black holes.
AMERICAN MASTERS “You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story”
Tuesday-Wednesday, September 23-24, 9:00-11:00 p.m. and Thursday, September 25, 2008, 9:00-10:00 p.m.
Three-part program celebrates 85 years of the legacy and evolution of Warner Bros. with clips from hundreds of films, archival interviews and on-camera discussions with Hollywood luminaries. Clint Eastwood narrates.
KILLER STRESS: A NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SPECIAL
Wednesday, September 24, 8:00-9:00 p.m.
In the beginning, stress saved our lives. It made us run from predators and enabled us to take down prey. But now, scientists are discovering, stress is measurable and dangerous.
NATURE “Dogs That Changed the World: The Rise of the Dog”
Sunday, Sept 28, 8:00-9:00 p.m.
If all dogs claim the wolf as their ancestor, how did the hundreds of breeds come to be so different?
MASTERPIECE MYSTERY! “The Shadow in the North”
Sunday, September 28, 9:00-10:30 p.m.
Seemingly unconnected events set young sleuth Sally Lockhart (Billie Piper) on the trail of an evil more awful than she could ever imagine.
NOVA “Sputnik Declassified”
Tuesday, September 30, 8:00-9:00 p.m.
NOVA tells the untold story behind that moment 50 years ago when the world changed as the U.S. public heard the shocking news that the Soviet Union had successfully launched the first satellite, Sputnik I, into space.
P.O.V. “Critical Condition”
Tuesday, September 30, 9:00-10:30 p.m.
Program puts a human face on the nation’s growing health care crisis by capturing the harrowing struggles of four critically ill Americans who discover that being uninsured can cost them their jobs, health, home, savings, even their lives.
RX FOR CHANGE
Tuesday, September 30, 10:30-11:00 p.m.
Follow-up to P.O.V. “Critical Condition” outlines the presidential candidates’ stands on health care reform and features a discussion with experts who evaluate the plans.