PBS Primetime Programming for The Week of 12/24

Christmas and PBS. Perfect together. Stop, hold the presses, that’s New Jersey and you.  Or me and Salma Hayek. Salma Hayek. Salma Hayek and me. Yup, perfect together.

 

Sunday, December 24th:

8:00 – 9:00PM

Nature – “Christmas in Yellowstone”. I just hope Yogi and Boo-Boo show up. Okay, so that’s an old joke. But at least it’s old faithful. 

9:00 – 10:00PM

Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Featuring Renee Fleming and Claire Bloom. The name says it all. My kind of auditory program, not really visual I think, but it will be in high-definition, so you can see all the nothing really, really well (yup, that’s the same as last week’s joke).

10:00 – 11:00PM

A St. Olaf Christmas in Norway. Here’s how it breaks down. St. Olaf is actually a college in Northfield, Minnesota. They’re going to sing with some nice folks from Norway… in Trondheim, which is in… wait for it… NORWAY!

 

Monday,December 25th:

8:00 – 9:00PM

Antiques Roadshow “Providence (Hour Three)”. So, it’s just like last week when they did Hour Two, except everyone is oh-so-slightly older now.

9:00 – 11:00PM

America’s Ballroom Challenge. Now when I first heard about this I thought they were going to put a bunch of three-year-olds into one of those rooms filled with balls and see who gets pneumonia first. Turns out that’s not the case. This show allows 24 of the top professional ballroom dancers to strut their stuff in one final battle for all the marbles.

 

Tuesday, December 26th:

8:00 – 9:00PM

Nova – “Underwater Dream Machine”. Yup, that’s right, they’re going to devote the whole hour to Luca Brasi! Sigh, I wish. Nope, this time around a guy stakes everything to build his own dream submarine. 

9:00 – 10:00PM

Frontline – “Diet Wars”. Telling everyone what they know already, but absolutely need to hear again, this episode delves into the massive amount of money generated by various diet plans. It also examines the fact that tons of diets contradict other diets and examines which ones might be best. 

10:00 – 11:00PM

Independent Lens – “Short Stack 2006/My Life Disoriented”. Mmm… pancakes. I like my short stacks with real maple syrup and bacon. I actually once found a recipe for waffles that had me put bacon in the batter. No joke. Bacon in the batter. So delicious. Yeah, sure, I had to watch the Frontline episode after that, but it was so delicious. Oh… “Short Stack 2006…” good short films, some of which appeared online, followed by the story of two teenagers that “struggle to find acceptance after their father uproots the family.” 

 

Wednesday, December 27th:

8:00 – 9:00PM

Emperors of the Ice. Using what is most likely patented technology, the Crittercam, some scientists in Antarctica follow emperor penguins as the go under the Ross Ice Shelf. As an aside, I saw March of the Penguins. I’m still not sure why, but I saw it.

9:00 – 9:30PM

When Parents are Deployed. Cuba Gooding Jr. and the producers of Sesame Street help approximately 700,000 children under the age of five whose parents are deployed overseas. They examine some of the families’ stories and look at the effects on these children.

9:30 – 10:00PM

Georgia Aquarium: Keepers of the Deep. The Georgia Aquarium is the largest aquarium in the world and houses 46 exhibit displays. This show looks at the inner workings of the whole shebang. Sushi, anyone? 

10:00 – 11:00PM

Window to the Sea. Imagine the show that aired in the previous half-hour. Now think about what that show would be like if it was on several different aquariums, and an hour long. Maybe make it in high definition. Yup, that’s this one. 

 

Thursday, December 28th:

8:00 – 9:00PM

The This Old House Hour – Episode TBA. It’s This Old House and Ask This Old House. It’s like maintenance… for your home. Wait, no, that’s exactly what it is.

9:00 – 10:00PM

Antiques Roadshow – “Providence (Hour Three)”. Please see above joke.

10:00 – 11:00PM

The Sinking of the Warship Belgrano. Seems as though the Belgrano was a part of the Argentine navy. “Was” being the operative word as it was sunk by the British during the Falklands War.

 

Friday, December 29th:

8:00 – 8:30PM

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal #4626. This is the next episode of the long-running public affairs series with folks from D.C.

8:30 – 9:00PM

NOW #252. It’s the Emmy award-winning weekly newsmagazine. It looks at issues facing our democracy. The show is hosted by David Brancaccio. And it’s now, now, NOW.

9:00 – 10:00PM

Window to the Sea. Please see above joke.

10:00PM – Lengths Vary

Monty Python’s Flying Circus – “#139”. This episode features wife-swapping and the much famed Dirty Vicar Sketch. Yeah, Dirty Vicar Sketch.

 

Saturday, December 30th:

9:00 – 10:00PM

Austin City Limits – “The Raconteurs/Cat Power”. Everyone but me probably already knows this, but apparently Jack White is in The Raconteurs. That makes them cool and a not overly-cool, too-trendy, over-sold way, but just the right amount of cool. Cat Power on the other hand is apparently not so much a band as a person. I did not know that either. 

And on Sunday, December 31… nope, sorry not going to tell you. Neener, neener, neener. There you were, all waiting for what PBS is going to air on New Year’s Eve and I had you going. You thought I was going to tell you but HA, I’m not! You’re just going to have to wait till next week to find that out. Stop your moping. We’ll have the next week’s schedule up before you can say Jack Robinson. Maybe not quite that fast, but it’ll be fast. We’re fast, and we’re smooth, we’re from the school that loves and leaves ‘em, pity if it grieves ‘em. Sorry, slipped into 007 theme mode there. Anyway, December 31 is coming, will come, eventually. You just come back now, y’here?