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These listings cover television programs up to Friday, July
11th.
Greetings, TV viewers!
This week's MediaHour is Dogs with Jobs: Big Cat Parent, about how dogs are trained to do some pretty spectacular tasks for humans. Even if your cable provider doesn't offer the National Geographic Channel, you can look at the website I've listed -- and
also come to the meeting and share your own experiences with pets that help people.
Sometime this summer, I will be starting a Writing Workshop for citizens. Y-mail me your writings and we'll meet every week to discuss new techniques and writing styles! We'll be choosing the day soon -- and possibly moving the MediaHour time, as well.
Here's the deal: watch the show-of-the-week, then talk about them with me and other citizens (including other City Workers, if they're available) at the Greek Theater, over in City Hall. The nice thing about the Theater is that City Workers such as myself are able to direct the movement and behavior of citizens, when we need to. The seating keeps everyone's chat bubbles from overlapping too much.
We meet for MediaHour on Wednesdays from 6:30pm and 7:30pm Whyville Time (that's the same as Eastern Daylight Time). Everyone is welcome to write to me what you and your parents think:
Y-mail me, the MediaWiz of Whyville!
And now... the Media Menu!
Friday, July 4 -- Independence Day, USA
"Leaders -- With David Faber" (CNBC Network, noon-1pm ET, 9-10pm PT) You've
heard the latest news about music file sharing -- the recording companies are
going to sue individuals who've shared a lot of songs. This news-interview
program on the NBC business channel explains what's going on. Only you will know
if 'digital piracy' is an interesting topic to you; unless, by the time you're
reading this, the record company lawyers have already decided to call you.
"A Capitol Fourth" (PBS, 8-10pm E/P -- check local times) It's America's
biggest birthday party! Viewers join the July 4th celebration from the West Lawn
of the U.S. Capitol for an evening of musical entertainment, topped by a
dazzling display of fireworks over the Washington Monument Hosted by veteran
actor Barry Bostwick, it features Dolly Parton, The Chieftains, Kristin
Chenoweth and the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Erich Kunzel.
Saturday, July 5
"Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum" (Discovery Channel, 6-7pm E/P) Here's a way
to get an instant review of 200 years of Old World and New World history. Take a
TV tour of this museum. If you don't watch the show there's a website -- http://dimkin.df.ru/mt/hall_1.html
which also describes the exhibits -- amazing life-like wax sculptures of famous
people from history and the arts who
lived exciting lives. The 'Great Hall' part of the museum will acquaint you with
The six wives of Henry VIII, The French Royal Family, Richard III, Charles I,
Oliver Cromwell, Victoria Elizabeth II, Sir Winston Churchill, Bill Clinton, King
Juan Carlos,The Duke of Wellington, Napoleon Bonaparte, Benjamin Franklin,
Nelson Mandela, 'Mahatma' Gandhi, Pablo Picasso and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Sunday, July 6
"Memories of Oz" (TCM [Turner Clasic Movies Channel], 2:20-3pm ET, 11:30am-noon PT) This is a documentary about the place in history of the beloved film
"The Wizard Of Oz" -- and how it has affected so many lives. In the following
hour TCM airs another documentary, "Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The: 50 Years of
Magic", which explains the technical aspects of the film's production.
Monday, July 7
"American Experience: Bataan Rescue" (PBS, 9-10pm E/P) This documentary
describes the daring rescue of 500 POWs from a Japanese prison camp in the
Philippines during World War II. It also covers
topics including World War II in the Pacific theater, military strategy and
special operations, heroism, war prisoners and the
Geneva Conventions, American imperialism, and U.S.-Filipino relations.
In late 1941, tens of thousands of American and Filipino soldiers fought to
defend the Philippines from the Japanese -- and lost. They were marched to
prison camps and thousands died along the way. Three years later,
only 500 men in the Cabanatuan camp had survived the brutality of their captors and epidemics of tropical diseases. Fearing the Japanese would murder their captives, the Americans sent an elite Ranger battalion to rescue
them. The rangers sneaked 30 miles behind enemy lines and, with the help
of courageous Filipino resistance fighters, they mounted an astonishing rescue.
More info at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan.
Tuesday, July 8
"Dogs with Jobs: Big Cat Parent" (National Geographic Channel 6:30-7pm ET, 3:30-
4pm PT) This is an episode of a documentary series about dogs that perform
useful functions for people and other animals. Today's report is about a dog who
serves as a mother for orphaned lion and cheetah cubs. Another dog undergoes
training for search and rescue missions. And another works as an investigator
sniffing out contraband food -- from banned apples to smuggled sausage. There's
a website about these professional dogs at
http://dogswithjobs.com/about_dogs/dog_jobs/dog_jobs.html.
Wednesday, July 9
"Martin Luther: Driven to Defiance/The Reluctant Revolutionary" (PBS, 9-11pm
E/P) This documentary profiles the spiritual revolutionary whose criticism of
the Catholic Church sparked the collapse of the medieval world and the birth of
the modern age. Luther was a monk, but became increasingly doubtful
that the Church could actually offer him salvation. He traveled to Rome and
discovered the capital of Catholicism swamped in corruption. He found comfort in the
pages of the Bible, concluding that his own individual faith, not the Church
rituals, would guarantee his salvation. Aided by the newly invented printing
press, his ideas spread rapidly. Risking torture and execution, Luther
defended his right to believe what he wished, an attitude which inspired
revolution across Europe. But as the reformation of the Church he advocated
expanded into a movement for social freedom, Luther found himself overwhelmed by
the pace of change, and was left vainly protesting that his followers should be
concerning themselves with God. Info at
http://www.pbs.org/empires/martinluther/about_driv.html.
Thursday, July 10
"Wide Angle: 201 Exclusive to Al-Jazeera" (PBS, 9-10pm E/P) This documentary
goes behind-the-scenes at the Arabic news network Al-Jazeera during its nonstop
coverage of the war in Iraq. Watched by millions of people in the Arab world,
the first Arabic all-news network had continuous access to events in Iraq. Note
the similarities to its western media counterparts -- and the differences.
There's further English-language information about this network at
http://www.aljazeerah.info.
Friday, July 11
"Book Club of the Air for Young Adults" (audio webcast at
http://www.scpr.org,
5-5:30pm ET, 2-2:30pm PT) The discussion topic this month will be the novel
Yolanda's Genius by Carol Fenner. It's about 11-year-old Yolonda
and six-year-old Andrew, kids in an African American family that moves from the
inner city to the suburbs in Michigan. If Yolonda's adjustment is
difficult, her schoolwork is still outstanding; her teachers' reactions prompt
her to see if she matches the dictionary definition of a genius. This little
exercise yields a startling realization-musically gifted Andrew may be having
trouble in school, but he could be a real genius. For more info about this
on-air book club log on to
http://www.scpr.org/programming/talkofthecity/bcota.shtml.
Next week on July 16, the Whyville Media Hour will discuss the Fenner novel in
the Greek Theatre at 6:30pm Whyville time. Go get the book and read it.
"North America's Wild Mustangs" (Discovery Channel, 8-9pm E/P) This is a
documentary about the wild mustangs which have run free across the western
plains since they were re-introduced by Spaniards centuries ago. Forty thousand
strong, today they embody the surviving spirit of the wild west.
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