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Greetings, TV viewers!
Some broadcast and cable programs
contain material included in the public school curriculum and on standardized
exams. Here are home-viewing suggestions for May 16-May 22, 2005.
The topic for this week's Media Hour is video games. E3, a major video game and interactive technologies conference, will happen this week... check out the news coverage and let's talk about your favorite games and consoles!
There's always more to discuss where that came from, so crack open your questions and do some investigating. Science teachers, schoolbooks, libraries and your local university scientists are all great places to find answers, and more questions.
We had a great time discussing nuclear power the other week. Several people dug up some great facts about the topic, and I want to thank you all! Maybe this week I'll know how to give you clams for all your great work. :-)
If you've got the smarts to answer a few trivia-type questions, make sure you watch the shows and read the websites! I really want to give out clams to folks who saw the show and who help others in the room learn!!!
Remember to come to Saturday's Media Hour prepared. It's all about an open discussion, with everybody pitching in on a good topic -- remember to talk amongst yourselves while I'm down there! Explore what everyone thinks and remind us to think about what was in the shows and on the websites. The more you help others discuss things (and the more you know about the shows), the better your chances of getting on stage, or even earning clams.
What's the Media Hour? Watch the show(s)-of-the-week, jot down some ideas, then
come and talk about them with me and other citizens (including other City Workers,
if they're available). We get together at the Greek Theater (next to
City Hall), every Saturday morning at 9 a.m., Whyville Time. You'll find that
discussions are easier in the Theater, since everyone's chat bubbles overlap
a little less than in other rooms, and City Workers are able to direct people's
movement and behavior, when we need to.
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Monday, May 16
8-9 p.m. E/P
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Discovery Channel
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Science and Technology
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Middle and High School
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"Science Of Star Wars: Droids,
Bots and Artificial Intelligence"
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The "hosts" of this
documentary about robots are two of the most famous robots ever, C3-PO
and R2-D2. Right now, robots can clean the house, walk the dog and identify
life in the rubble of an earthquake. Soon, droids will replace astronauts
on dangerous spacewalks and may even act as flying R2-D2s to people living
in space. How soon will it be before your mother has an unmanned drone
to figure out what you're doing all day? Forget about Big Brother -- can
the school principal use these things to patrol the hallways?
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Tuesday, May 17
8-9 p.m. E/P
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PBS
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Ancient History and Archaeology
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Middle and High School
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"America's Stone Age Explorers"
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Who were the first Americans
and where did they come from? The conventional view is that ancient big-game
hunters entered the Americas across the Bering land bridge -- a strip
of dry land that spanned the Bering Strait between Asia and Alaska during
the last Ice Age some 12,000 years ago. But in recent years, a wave of
startling discoveries has overturned that idea. The first Americans almost
certainly came thousands of years earlier, traveling in skin boats and
living off sea mammals along the edge of the ice. Now a truly provocative
theory has stirred a storm of disbelief and argument among archaeologists.
A leading prehistorian at the Smithsonian Institution claims that some
of these first canoe-borne migrants came not from Asia but Europe, and
that they crossed the Atlantic in skin boats by following the fringes
of the ice sheets. This Stone Age detective story reveals that the peopling
of the Americas is a far more tantalizing riddle than anyone had ever
suspected. Rated TV-PG.
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| Log on
to http://www.pbs.org/nova |
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Wednesday, May 18
8-9 p.m. E/P
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CBS
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Economics
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High School
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"CBS 60 Minutes Wednesday"
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The lead story in this newsmagazine
is a warning about how to manage your money. Millions of Americans may
have to pay off loans with up to 400 percent interest, thanks to "payday
lending." Correspondent Scott Pelley shows how this works.
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Wednesday, May 18
9-10 p.m. E/P
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PBS
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American History and Arts |
Middle and High School
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"Ray Charles: The Genius
of Soul"
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Eighteen years after his Grammy
Award for lifetime achievement and eight months after his death at age
73, Ray Charles again proved his lasting power by posthumously winning
another eight Grammys, including Best Album and Best Record of 2004; and
the biographical movie. "Ray" was one of the most popular feature
films of the year. Charles' revolutionary blend of gospel, soul, rock,
jazz and country has earned him status as a genuine national treasure.
This documentary follows the blind singer from his impoverished childhood
through his rise to stardom and personal recognition by two American presidents.
Along the way, "The Genius of Soul" looks at Charles' musical
influences and the creation of his distinctive style, but does not ignore
his dark side, including a 15-year heroin addiction and his infamous pursuit
of women. The film also shows his delightful side -- playing chess with
Willie Nelson, joking onstage with Johnny Carson and cutting up backstage
with his lifelong friend, Quincy Jones. Rated TV-PG.
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Log on #offsite_article( 'http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters' '' )http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters
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Thursday, May 19
8-9:30 p.m. ET, 5-6:30 p.m. PT
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TCM Channel
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World History - The Americas |
Middle and High School
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"El Compadre Mendoza"
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This drama about Mexican history
is being broadcast as part of a TCM series of classics of Mexican cinema.
It's in Spanish with English subtitles. It focuses on a landowner and
his family torn between the government and the revolutionaries there in
the early 1900s. Zapatistas with rifles arrive at the hacienda of Rosalio
Mendoza. The servants replace the picture of Huerta, the government President
with one of Zapata, the rebel leader. Mendoza provides a feast and sells
the rebels guns. Later he welcomes a federal government colonel, and says
he gave the Zapatistas worthless guns. In the rest of the story, Mendoza
continues playing both sides of the war to protect his land and family,
in a series of developments as rich as those in "Gone With the Wind".
The events portrayed are based on what actually happened in Mexico --
where neither side was angelic.
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Friday, May 20
8-9 p.m. E/P
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Discovery Channel
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Science and Technology
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Middle and High School
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"Spies Above"
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This documentary goes behind-the-scenes
for an inside view of the secret world of surveillance from space. The
CIA's National Reconnaissance Office has collected satellite photos that
have changed the course of history.
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Saturday, May 21
8-10 p.m. E/P
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Discovery Channel
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Science and Technology
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Middle and High School
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"Voyage To The Planets And Beyond"
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Could mankind survive a
trip through our solar system? While the science now exists to get us
there, the voyage has not yet been taken. In this docudrama about the
exploration of space, a crew of five astronauts takes off on this six-year
journey to Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury -- and to the
largest, most deadly place in the solar system: the Sun. The program shows
in detail the dangers of such a trip.
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Sunday, May 22
8-11 p.m. E/P
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NBC
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Ancient Mythology
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High School
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"Hercules"
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This is a new Hallmark movie
based on the classic myth. It stars Sean Astin ("Lord of the Rings"
trilogy), Leelee Sobieski ("Uprising," "Joan of Arc"),
Elizabeth Perkins ("Big") and Timothy Dalton ("Licence
to Kill") with Paul Telfer (USA's "Spartacus") in the title
role as the super-strong legendary Greek hero. Filmed in New Zealand,
the epic follows the exploits of Hercules who, after killing his three
sons, is compelled to redeem himself by performing 12 heroic labors. Using
special effects, it tells the story of a half-god/half-man who, through
extraordinary feats of strength, becomes a legend on Earth and gains immortality
among the Greek gods.
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Log on http://www.nbc.com/nbc/Hercules.
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The majority of the text in these descriptions come from the television
stations and production groups that produced the shows; the MediaWiz and Numedeon,
Inc. claim no copyright over the text itself.
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