Tuesday, August 30
8-9 p.m. E/P

PBS

Subjects: Science

Middle and High School

"NOVA: Origins - How Life Began"

This is the second episode in NOVA's science documentary miniseries about the beginnings of Earth. It highlights that moment when inert, lifeless matter managed to organize itself into life a few hundred million years after the formation of the planet. Afterward, it increased in complexity over the course of hundreds of millions of years, until primitive organisms in the oceans started converting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into a waste molecule - oxygen. This reactive gas combined with iron in seawater. Later, it began to build up in the atmosphere, setting the stage for a whole new class of organisms - including human beings - that thrived on oxygen. TV PG.

Log on http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova.

Wednesday, August 31
9-10 p.m. E/P

CBS

Subjects: Science

Middle and High School

"60 Minutes II"

The main reports in this newsmagazine are about breakthrough medical transplants using mismatched hearts and underwater explorers solving a 60-year-old mystery.

Wednesday, August 31
9-10:30 p.m. E/P

PBS

Subjects: Englishh

High School

"American Masters: F. Scott Fitzgerald"

This is a biographical documentary about a writer whose classic novel, "The Great Gatsby," continues to sell thousands of copies a year, yet in the last year of his life, his entire income from novels and short stories was $37.63. Only 11 people went to the funeral of one of the most important writers of the 20th century. He also wrote "This Side of Paradise," "Tender Is the Night," and "The Last Tycoon" - the "beautiful people" of the 20th century - flappers, tycoons, young cosmopolitans in love - revealed a "wasteland" that lay behind the glitter of the Jazz Age, where dreams were shattered and lives were wrecked by extravagance, greed and grand illusions. This film, which won Peabody Award, covers his life and work, his tortured relationship with his wife Zelda and his troubled friendships with other literary giants, and includes insights from people who knew Fitzgerald and have never before been interviewed. TV PG

Log on http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters

Thursday, September 1
5-6 p.m. E/P

A&E Channel

Subjects: Social Science and Medical Science

Middle and High School

"Investigative Reports: Healing And Prayer ??? Power Or Placebo?"

This documentary explores the question "Does prayer have the power to heal illness?" It interviews patients, doctors, and medical educators who are both believers and skeptics, and visits medical schools that teach doctors how to use faith to treat the sick. TV PG

Friday, September 2
6-7 p.m. E/P

History Channel

Subjects: World History

Middle and High School

"Vikings: Fury From The North"

This documentary described the raiders of the Dark Ages who swept down from the north of Europe to plunder the wealth of that continent, and for 300 years, no one was safe from their brutal attacks. But they also built cities, founded empires, and crossed the Atlantic to discover the New World. The Vikings changed the face of the world before vanishing into myth and legend. TV PG

Friday, September 2
7-8 p.m. E/P (Check local listings)

History Channel

Subjects: Geography and World History

Middle and High School

"Modern Marvels: Machu Picchu"

The "modern" aspect of this documentary is the mystery - still unsolved in our modern times - of the purpose of some magnificent ancient structures perched on a ridge in the Peruvian Andes. Originally built by the Incas, were they for an observatory? Pleasure retreat? Fortress? This program presents the most current theories.

Saturday, September 3
8-9 p.m. E/P

ANML (Animal Planet Channel)

Subjects: Natural Science

Middle and High School

"Growing Up Penguin"

If you've seen the movie "March Of The Penguins" in theatres and are interested in more information about these creatures, here's a documentary about nesting season for the Humboldt penguins at the Oregon Zoo. Scientists there are helping an endangered penguin chicks begin their journey into adulthood.

Sunday, September 4
8 a.m.-4 p.m. E/P

HIST (History Channel)

Subjects: American History

Middle and High School

"The Presidents"

Here is an opportunity to set your home videotape recorder on slow speed and pick up all the episodes of an excellent series about American Presidents, and to give your teacher when school begins. The eight programs, covering George Washington to the present, are based on the book "To the Best of My Ability" edited for the Society of American Historians by James M. McPherson and David Rubel. This initial episode probes the Constitutional Era, when the fledgling nation's revolutionary Founding Fathers became its first administrators. From George Washington, who defined the presidency, to James Monroe, the last of the Revolutionary War heroes, the office of president??evolves and is tested as the United States undergoes growing pains. Defining moments include Washington's Whisky Rebellion, Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase, James Madison's War of 1812, and the Monroe Doctrine. The programs examine the human side of the Presidents, offering a look at their strengths and weaknesses, their families, and accomplishments. TVPG.

For information on the book on which this series is based log on http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0789481561/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-6631361-1696109#reader-link