Thank goodness, Pledge Week is over. I should put week in quotes, but I’m not going to. Even so, I’m very happy PBS is back to regularly scheduled programs, because the plethora of complaints I received about their changing the schedule around and stuff not airing at all in certain markets was deafening. Completely deafening. I now completely understand the concept of deafening silence, and am thrilled to be going back to regular old silence.

Sunday, March 18:

8:00 - 9:00PM

Nature - “War Wrecks of the Coral Seas”. Ships sink. After they sink things grow on them. This happens in the Coral Seas, where many ships sank during World War II. Ships sank there at that time mostly because there was a war on, and many battles took place in the Pacific that dealt with the Navy. 

9:00 - 10:20PM

Soundies: A Musical History Hosted by Michael Feinstein. A “soundie” is type of movie, first appearing in 1941, that is three minutes long, black and white, and featured big band, jazz, and swing-era artists. And that, is your musical history for today.

Monday, March 19:

8:00 - 9:00PM

Antiques Roadshow - “St. Paul (Hour Three)”. I’m standing by this summary from last two weeks: how great would it be if this was at the Cathedral? The experts could go around looking at ancient artifacts and declare them good, bad, or ugly. It’d be really, really funny. 

9:00 - 10:000PM

American Experience - “Hijacked”. In September of 1970 the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked five commercial planes. Three of these were blown up. This show examines the incident, antecedents, and aftermath. 

10:00 - 11:00PM

Secrets of the Dead - “The Sinking of the Andrea Doria”. See, to me this is just funny, because I know well that dead man tell no tales. At least that’s true until you use science to pry tales from the cold, frozen grip of the dead. And that’s exactly what the scientists do here with the Andrea Doria.

Tuesday, March 20:

8:00 - 9:00PM

Nova - “Mystery of the Megaflood”. Not to worry, this flood was back during the last ice age. It occurred in what would become the American Northwest, and Nova proves once and for all that it did indeed happen. Must’ve been that damned global warming, Mr. Gore, I salute you.

9:00 - 10:00PM

Frontline - “The Soldier’s Heart”. Frontline examines the psychological toll of the war in Iraq. This story originally aired two years ago when a medical study estimated that one in seven returning vets are expected to suffer from major depression, anxiety or PTSD. 

10:00 - 11:30PM

Independent Lens - “Stolen”. A look at the successful execution of the largest art heist in modern history (just for the record it occurred in 1990 at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston). I’ve thought for the longest time that the most successful art heist in modern history was when Titanic stole all those Oscars from deserving movies.