Look what's coming to Blue Ridge PBS!
American Experience
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Tuesdays
Television's most-watched history series, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE has been hailed as "peerless" (Wall Street Journal), "the most consistently enriching program on television" (Chicago Tribune) and "a beacon of intelligence and purpose" (Houston Chronicle). On air and online, the series brings to life the incredible characters and epic stories that have shaped America's past and present. Visit the companion website at pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/
June 18 at 8:00pm – “John D. Rockefeller”
For decades, the Rockefeller name was despised in America — associated with John D. Rockefeller Sr.’s feared monopoly, Standard Oil. The world’s first billionaire, Rockefeller held 90 percent of the world’s oil refineries, 90 percent of the marketing of oil and a third of all the oil wells. Working methodically and secretly, he transformed an industry — and changed forever the way America did business. Though Rockefeller’s only son dedicated his life to redeeming the family reputation, and Rockefeller had given away half his fortune by the end of his life, his philanthropy couldn’t erase the memory of his predatory business practices.
June 25 at 8:00pm
HENRY FORD paints a fascinating portrait of a farm boy who rose from obscurity to become the most influential American innovator of the 20th century. Ford’s Model T automobile and his five-dollar-a-day wage ushered in the modern world, earning Ford reverence from millions of Americans. Yet many of the changes he wrought deeply troubled the carmaker. In frustration, he lashed out at enemies, real and imagined, blamed Jews for the country’s problems, bullied those who worked for him and exhibited great cruelty to his only son, often, it seemed, wishing to retreat to an idyllic fantasy of the past.
Finding Your Roots
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Wednesdays at 8:00pm
This 10-part series, with renowned cultural critic and Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., journeys deep into the ancestry of a group of remarkable individuals and provides new understanding of personal identity and American history. Featuring Kevin Bacon, Cory Booker, Angela Buchdal, Geoffrey Canada, Margaret Cho, Harry Connick Jr., Robert Downey Jr., Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Samuel L. Jackson, John Legend, John Lewis, Branford Marsalis, Yasir Qadhi, Condoleezza Rice, Michelle Rodriguez, Kyra Sedgwick, Wanda Sykes, Ruth Simmons, Martha Stewart, Barbara Walters and Rick Warren.
June 19 – Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis
Their European immigrant ancestors blazed unconventional trails in America, from capturing British ships for the American Revolution to crossing racial barriers in slave-era Louisiana. Generations later, as children growing up in New Orleans, Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis found a deep and abiding friendship through their common love of jazz and of the city itself. In this hour, we trace the turbulent and contradictory history of the city of New Orleans through the family stories of these two fascinating men.
June 26 - Cory Booker and John Lewis
In this episode, we feature two African American politicians from different generations and opposite backgrounds. John Lewis grew up in a sharecropping family in rural Georgia, while Cory Booker was raised in an affluent, all-white New Jersey suburb. Although both men have devoted their lives to the betterment of African-American people, neither of them knows much about their own ancestors. In this episode, we introduce Booker to his white great-grandfather, a man he never knew, and move Lewis to tears over the extraordinary ambitions and accomplishments of his slave ancestors.
NOVA
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Wednesdays
PBS' premier science series helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines. Along the way, NOVA programs demystify science and technology, and highlight the people involved in scientific pursuits. Visit the NOVA website at pbs.org/wgbh/nova/
June 19 – Extreme Cave Diving
This episode of NOVA follows the charismatic Dr. Kenny Broad as he dives into blue holes — underwater caves that formed during the last ice age when sea level was nearly 400 feet below what it is today. The holes are Earth’s least explored and perhaps most dangerous frontiers. With an interdisciplinary team of climatologists, paleontologists and anthropologists, Broad investigates the hidden history of Earth’s climate as revealed by finds in this spectacularly beautiful “alternate universe.”
June 26 – Earth from Space
This groundbreaking special reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of Earth. Produced in consultation with NASA scientists, “Earth From Space” takes data from earth-observing satellites and transforms them into dazzling visual sequences, each one exposing the intricate web of forces that sustain life on earth. See the astonishing beauty and complexity of our dynamic planet: how dust blown from the Sahara fertilizes the Amazon; how a vast submarine “waterfall” off Antarctica helps drive ocean currents around the world; and how the sun’s heating of the southern Atlantic gives birth to a colossally powerful hurricane.
Masterpiece Mystery! Inspector Lewis
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9:00pm
Kevin Whately returns as Inspector Lewis in thispopular detective series. Lewis and his young partner DS Hathaway (Laurence Fox, MASTERPIECE CLASSIC “A Room With a View”) continue solving cases in the seemingly perfect academic haven of Oxford.
Series V
Thursday, June 20 – Fearful Symmetry
Lewis and Hathaway are drawn into a darker side of Oxford while investigating the murder of a suburban babysitter. Will the babysitter's secret life help the detectives unravel a tangled web of lies and deceit to find their killer?
Thursday, June 27 – The Indelible Stain
A controversial American academic is found strangled after a guest lecture at Oxford, leading Lewis and Hathaway to narrow down a list of motives that includes politics, ambition and vengeance, in order to find their culprit.
Series VI-NEW EPISODES!
Monday, June 17 - Down Among the Fearful
When a psychic is found murdered, Inspector Lewis and DS Hathaway discover that the victim is really an Oxford psychology research fellow. As they probe further, the truth behind the psychic’s double life unravels, revealing numerous suspects.
Sunday, June 23 – The Ramblin’ Boy
With DS Hathaway on holiday, Inspector Lewis is assigned a new partner to investigate the discovery of an elderly man’s body in a field. Finding that the man had already been embalmed, the inquiry leads to a funeral home and those connected to it, including one of Lewis’ former colleagues. Peter Davison (“Doctor Who”) guest stars.
Sunday, June 30 – Intelligent Design
Lewis and Hathaway are called in to examine the brutal death of a chemistry professor recently released from prison. There may be a connection to the discovery of a murdered Oxford student reported lost for 15 years. As more casualties and suspects emerge, Lewis considers his future on the force. Edward Fox (Ghandi, “Foyle’s War”) guest stars.
Visit the Masterpiece website at pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/
In Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul
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President and Mrs. Obama host a celebration of the timeless classics of “Memphis Soul” in this PBS music special taped in the East Room of the White House. The all-star concert honors the memorable soul sounds from the mid- to late-1960s that came from Memphis, Tennessee, and legendary labels like Stax-Volt Records, which featured artists such as Al Green, Mavis Staples, Carla Thomas, Otis Redding and many more. The evening pays homage to Memphis, a segregated city in the 1960s, where many whites and blacks nonetheless came together to make soulful music, a mix of gospel and potent rhythmic grooves — known as Memphis Soul.
Visit the companion website at pbs.org/inperformanceatthewhitehouse/
