On the Next NOW on PBS: Obama’s Border Fence

In 2006, Congress authorized the Secure Fence Act—a multi-billion dollar plan to build hundreds of miles of fencing along the southern border of the U.S. The plan has been billed as the way to stem the flow of undocumented immigrants and provide security from potential terrorism.

And now an even greater issue and concern may be the virtual fence the Obama administration is planning for the remaining 1,300 miles of border, at an estimated cost of nearly $7 billion. The problem? The new technology to complete the virtual fence has not been proven to work in the field.

This week, NOW Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa travels to Texas to meet border families who fear losing their property, their safety, and their way of life.  Friday night at 8:30pm on WVPT.

 

Hunt for Alien Earths – on NOVA Science NOW

For years, astronomers have tried to determine whether humans are alone in the universe. While their quest for evidence of other Earth-like planets has so far been fruitless, promising new search techniques could soon reveal the answer.

 

 

The discovery of planets around other stars—especially Earth-like ones—will help us better understand the likelihood of life elsewhere in the Universe.  Find out more on NOVA Science Now, July 7^th at 9PM on WVPT.

 

What Happened to the “Lost Colony” of Fort Raleigh? Find out on TIME TEAM AMERICA

It is one of the oldest mysteries in American history: What happened to the “Lost Colony” of Fort Raleigh? In 1587 the English sent a group of hardy, hopeful colonists to make a go of it in the New World. But when English ships returned with supplies just three years later, they found the settlement empty and the colonists gone. Only one clue was left behind: the word “Croatoan” carved in the gatepost of their fort. To this day, the fate of the colonists and the location of the original settlement remain a mystery. Time Team America  travels to Roanoke Island to look for evidence of the colony, find out what it looked like, and learn what life might have been like for those first English colonists.  Tune in Wednesday night July 8^th at 8PM on WVPT and WVPT-HD.

 

“Mrs. Slocombe” – Mollie Sugden Has Passed Away

Anyone who has enoyed the wonderful, comedic antics of actress Mollie Sugden as Mrs. Slocombe on the ever popular “Are You Being Served?” will be saddened by the news that she has passed away.  The WVPT “Saturday Sillies” line-up has included “Are You Being Served?” for many years – it is truly a Viewer Favorite – for good reason. 

Rest in peace Mollie . . .  More information can be found by clicking here.

 

Next Time on NOVA: “Secrets of the Samurai Sword”

English archers had their longbows, Old West sheriffs had their six-guns, but samurai warriors had the most fearsome weapon of all: the razor-sharp, unsurpassed technology of the katana, or samurai sword. In this program, NOVA probes the centuries-old secrets that went into forging what many consider the perfect blade.

The beauty and lethality of the curved steel blade became identified with the distinctive culture of those who wielded it so expertly: the samurai warriors of medieval Japan, celebrated in countless Japanese woodcuts, prints, and films. Fifteen traditional Japanese craftsmen spent nearly six months creating the sword that NOVA follows through production, from smelting the ore to forging the steel to sharpening the blade to a keen edge, capable of slicing through a row of warriors at one swoop—although NOVA does not put the super-weapon to this ultimate test.  But tune in to WVPT Tuesday night July 7^th at 8PM and see all that the NOVA producers DID find out.

 

Celebrate July 4th with WVPT!

Tune in Saturday night at 8PM for A CAPITOL FOURTH.  It will be the biggest and brightest birthday party in the country, featuring Barry Manilow. Joining him are the National Symphony Orchestra, the Choral Arts Society of Washington and the “Queen of Soul,” Aretha Franklin. Broadcast live in high definition before a concert audience of hundreds of thousands, millions more at home, even on National Public Radio and around the world to American troops on the American Forces Radio and Television Network.  If you miss it at 8PM, WVPT will repeat the program at 9:30PM.

 

Miss Marple Returns to Masterpiece Mystery!

A new face takes on the role of Agatha Christie’s familiar spinster sleuth in series IV of Miss Marple. Julia McKenzie, best known to Masterpiece audiences for her portrayal of Mrs. Forrester in the acclaimed series Cranford, brings her distinctive style to the role.  Tune in to four weeks of great MASTERPIECE MYSTERY. . . Beginning Sunday July 5^th  with A Pocket Full of Rye, on July 12^th Murder is Easy, on July 19^th They Do It With Mirrors and on July 26^th Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?  Sunday nights at 9PM on WVPT – YOUR SOURCE for drama and mystery!

 

Next Time On NATURE: “The Vanishing Lions”

Africa’s lion population appears to be declining at an alarming rate. NATURE’s The Vanishing Lions searches for explanations and solutions to the troubling trend. Across Africa, the King of Beasts is in trouble. In the late 20th century, wildlife preserves were created to curtail safari hunting, but the African lion population continues to decline. Their numbers have dwindled from 100,000 in the early 1990s to no more than 30,000 and as few as 16,000 today. What could be endangering the King of Beasts?   Find out on NATURE, Sunday July 5^th at 8PM on WVPT.

 

 

On The Next NOVA: “Musical Minds”

Can the power of music make the brain come alive? On the next NOVA: Musical Minds, we will find out. Throughout his career Dr. Oliver Sacks, neurologist and acclaimed author, whose book Awakenings was made into a Oscar-nominated feature film starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, has encountered myriad patients who are struggling to cope with debilitating medical conditions. While their ailments vary, many have one thing in common: an appreciation for the therapeutic effects of music. NOVA follows four individuals—two of whom are Sacks’s case studies—and even peers into Sacks’s own brain, to investigate music’s strange, surprising, and still unexplained power over the human mind.  Learn more @ NOVA or tune in Tuesday June 30^th at 8pm on WVPT and WVPT-HD.

 

Who is “The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes”?

America’s foremost humorist and social pundit, Garrison Keillor takes his skits and monologues across the country in his popular radio show, A Prairie Home Companion. American Masters trails this yarn-smith and his crew of actors and musicians as they spin stories and song into American gold in Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes, premiering Wednesday, July 1st at 8pm on WVPT.