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These listings cover television programs up to Friday, September 19th.
Greetings, TV viewers!
For the Media Hour this week, we will be discussing the PBS "Flashpoint" program, airing Tuesday.
It asks whether we can trust the media any more. I also suggest watching "All The Presidents' Kids", airing Sunday
on A&E. That show explains how politicians try to protect their families from being badly portrayed in the press.
For the Media Hour, watch the show(s)-of-the-week, jot down some ideas, 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. You'll find that the Theater makes discussions pretty easy, since City Workers are able to direct people's movement and behavior, when we need to, and it 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 about what you and your parents think:
Y-mail me, the MediaWiz of Whyville!
And now... the Media Menu!
Friday, September 12
"Dateline NBC" (NBC, 8-10 p.m. E/P) In this two-hour "Katie Couric Special", she interviews popular
TV psychologist Phil McGraw about obesity -- and why the United States leads the world in this alarming epidemic. He will talk about why dieting doesn't work, the roles that family and the media play in how and what we eat and the differences in men and women when it comes to weight. The broadcast will also include an interactive quiz for viewers at home. Based on McGraw's 'Readiness Profile,' ten questions will run throughout the show and on the "Dateline" website (http://www.dateline.msnbc.com) which, according to McGraw, will tell viewers how ready they are to tackle their weight problems.
"Gambling Games -- Beating the House" (Discovery Channel, 9-12pm E/P) I don't like to gamble. Life's too uncertain already. But you may have the urge... so you'd better know the odds. This documentary looks into the techniques the pros use to win at popular casino games, blackjack secrets and video poker. It also examine slot machines from the inside out, including payout rates and the 'science' of locating them on the casino floor. TV rated PG-L because some of the people interviewed used strong language.
Saturday, September 13
"Diamonds in the Rough" (Discovery Channel, 7-8 p.m. E/P) This documentary is set in Canada's North where ice coats the landscape for nine months of the year and the mercury sinks below minus 40 degrees. Here, two small time prospectors have defied the odds and outwitted a formidable business rival to make one of the world's greatest diamond finds.
Sunday, September 14
"All the Presidents' Kids" (A&E, 8-10 p.m. E/P) This documentary, sort of a "stealth history lesson", looks at the lives of presidents' children, from the days of George Washington right down to George W. Bush. Luci Johnson reveals how she cut a deal with the press to preserve her privacy, Steve Ford talks about his White House pranks, and Michael Reagan describes how he was excluded from the family. Among other first kids highlighted are JKF, Jr. and Amy Carter. White House Correspondent Helen Thomas defends the media's right to report on the lives of the First Family.
Monday, September 15
"Guts & Bolts" (History Channel, 8:30-9 p.m. E/P) This is an episode in a high-energy technology documentary series, focusing on how tech is used by movie stunt-people. In this program, entitled "Fire Suit/Personal Submarine/Tunnel Digger", host Tim Beggy descends 200 feet below Chicago armed with a pickaxe to learn how tunneling was done in days of yore, then steps aside to let a fierce Tunnel Boring Machine do its thing. In Vancouver, he explores a shipwreck 80 feet below sea level from his own personal submarine.
"Daughter From Danang" (PBS, 9-10 p.m. E/P) This documentary is as
dramatic and emotionally challenging as a feature movie. In 1975, with the end of the Viet Nam war imminent, Mai Thi Kim sent her seven-year-old daughter
to America as part of a controversial evacuation program known as 'Operation Babylift'. The girl was adopted by a single woman, renamed Heidi and brought up in Tennessee, where she concealed her Asian past and became '101 percent American.' Twenty-two years later, Heidi tracked down her birth mother and visited Danang. Their reunion became fraught with tension and misunderstanding as the cultural gulf between Heidi and her Vietnamese family grew larger and larger.
Tuesday, September 16
"Flashpoints USA" (PBS, 9-10 p.m. E/P -- check local listings) This news magazine questions questions whether Americans should believe that they see, read and hear in their media. The press and its credibility has never been under more fire, from the Jayson Blair scandal at The New York Times to the merging of giant media companies. Commentators on the left and right decry "media conspiracies". Can we believe what we read, hear and see? Co-hosts Bryant Gumbel and Gwen Ifill illuminate these issues surrounding the media.
Tuesday, September 16
"Mavericks, Miracles & Medicine" (History Channel, 8-9 p.m. E/P) This is the
first episode in a 4 part documentary about some of the greatest moments in the history of medicine. Some remarkable, sometimes odd, individuals made medical discoveries while facing daunting challenges. Illustrating these
historical cases are new interviews with physicians, noted authors, and medical historians
-- as well as recipients of modern medical miracles. In this episode, a 70-year-old man with a damaged heart valve undergoes a cutting-edge surgical procedure -- minimally-invasive mitral
valve reconstruction. Later episodes cover The Brain, Transplants, and Infectious Disease. The website is valuable
-- http://www.historychannel.com/medicine/mavs_show.html.
Wednesday, September 17
"Moments in Time: St. John's Slave Revolt" (Discovery Channel, 9-10 p.m. E/P) This documentary, is set in the Caribbean islands in 1733, when slaves brought there from Africa rose up to take over a Danish and Dutch-controlled island
-- in the first slave revolt in the West Indies. The revolt was ultimately unsuccessful, and the slave trade continued to pour people from Africa into the island's sugar cane fields.
Thursday, September 18
"The Dammed" (PBS, 9-10 p.m. E/P -- check local listings) The title of this "Wide Angle" documentary is provocative
on purpose. Her subject is not a supernatural curse but a very real problem of modern technology:
What to do when your home is going to be flooded out by a dam being built nearby. Along Narmada
River in India, farming families have lived for centuries. The Sardar Sarovar dam, a keystone in the Indian government's plans, will force inhabitants to flee or drown. Proponents of the dam argue that while it will displace more than 300,000 people, it will provide electricity, irrigation, flood control, and drinking water to about 40 million. Critics maintain that the benefits could have been achieved with far less human cost. The program raises important questions about the costs of modernization and development, as the global community re-evaluates the social and environmental impacts of large dam projects.
Friday, September 19
"First in Flight: Wright Brothers" (Discovery Channel, 8-10 p.m. E/P) In this documentary, filmed nearly a century after the Wright brothers built the first powered aircraft, a modern team of engineers is building a reproduction of the 1903 Wright Flyer. From original notes, blueprints and photos, they are uncovering the Wright brother's technical genius.
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