"Inside The Pentagon" (National Geographic Channel, 8-10pm ET, 5-7pm PT) This is a documentary examination of an American institution -- as well as a building covering 29 acres -- which was built beginning September 11, 1941 and after decades of service, was again visited by fate on September 11, 2001 when it was subjected to a terrorist attack. In offices and special areas along its 17 miles of halls, you will meet the people who plan America's defense and the projection of its power around the globe, sometimes at the risk of their lives.
"Rediscovering George Washington" (PBS, 9:30-1pm E/P) This unusual documentary will have a strange effect on contemporary viewers. The way historian Richard Brookheiser describes this warrior, politician and man of suprising charisma -- all based on eyewitness accounts -- you'll wish the "Father Of Our Country" would come back and lead the U.S. today. Washington was not perfect -- you might even say he was a slow learner. But, boy, did he get his act together finally. And, if he has not been possessed of a profoundly democratic sensibility, those of us living in the U.S. would probably be living in a military dictatorship. Watch and see how he faced down the bad guys in fine Mel Gibson/Harrison Ford style when the nation was first born. And he was no prude -- customarily serving voters gallons of rum on their way to vote for him on election day!
