Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Please note that March 3rd marks the start of PBS’s annual (or semi-annual, or monthly, or weekly) pledge drive. Thus, any and all times of programs starting on March 3rd may in fact be wrong, completely and totally and utterly wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It’s not that I don’t mean well, just that programming gets affected by the pledge drive. There’s nothing I can do about it, so back off already!
Sunday, February 25th:
8:00 – 9:00PM
Nature – “Andes: The Dragon’s Back”. Yup, he’s back and he’s voice by Sean Connery again. Don’t I wish. Nope, this is about the mountain chain, and the mountain chain is, sadly, not voice by Sean Connery. Maybe next time.
9:00 – 11:00PM
Masterpiece Theatre – “Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness (Episode 2)”. Helen Mirren. She’s back as Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison. And she makes a move that causes her to get dismissed from the case. Will that stop her? I kinda doubt it.
Monday, February 26th:
8:00 – 9:00PM
Antiques Roadshow “Tucson (Hour Three)”. Last chance for Tucson. Will they have that prized $1,000,000 two hundred year-old cow pie this time around? Fingers crossed.
9:00 – 10:00PM
American Experience – “Race to the Moon”. All about Apollo 8. This documentary features interviews Frank Borman, James Lovell, and Bill Anders (Apollo 8 astronauts), their wives, and just for good measure, Walter Cronkite. I think that’s because if you can interview Walter Cronkite you should interview Walter Cronkite.
10:00 – 11:00PM
Great Performances – “Sting: Songs from the Labyrinth”. Sting sings songs based off of the work of English composer and court musician John Dowland, who was born round about 450 years ago. Dowland, sadly, does not accompany Sting, but Edin Karamazov (not one of the brothers as far as I know) does.
Tuesday, February 27th:
8:00 – 9:00PM
Nova – “Treasures of the Sunken City”. Alexandretta! No, wait, it’s Alexandria, which is sad because the release date for the new Indy movie has been announced. Can you wait till May 2008, I know I can’t.
9:00 – 10:30PM
Frontline – “News War: What’s Happening to the News (Part 3)”. Seems as though corporate ownership of newspapers and networks may cause an increased desire in this day and age to squeeze every last drop of profit out news divisions. It’s good? It’s bad? It’s ugly? It’s your call, but Frontline will give you the tools to make your own decision.
10:30PM – 12:00AM
Independent Lens – “Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?”. Of course he can, there are several airports, as well as bus routes and Amtrak even goes there. This documentary however takes a look at the campaign of Jeff Smith, from the inside.
Wednesday, February 28th:
8:00 – 9:00PM
America’s Ballroom Challenge. Imagine Dancing with the Stars without the stars. Which makes it, more or less, dancing with dancers. Yup, that’s what it was last week, and that’s what it is this week, though this week focuses on the “International Latin” division.
9:00 – 11:00PM
Secrets of the Dead – “D-Day”. This episode focuses on D-Day and the D-Day invasion, which should not be confused with the Christmas Invasion, that was a different invasion. Seriously though, is this title for a show and then focusing on D-Day the right way to approach it?
Thursday, March 1st:
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 – “Tucson (Hour Three)”. Please see above joke.
10:00 – 11:00PM
Soundstage – “Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris”. I guess she knows how to spell it, but I would’ve thought that “Emmylou” was two words, or at the very least a hyphenate, not one word. Oh well, I’ve been wrong before and will certainly be wrong again.
Friday, March 2nd:
8:00 – 8:30PM
Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal #4635. Another whole week has gone by and good old Gwen Ifill and National Journal are here to fill us in. For the record, I like to pretend the National Journal is a sidekick, like Robin to Batman, Starsky to Hutch, or chocolate sauce to chocolate ice cream.
8:30 – 9:00PM
NOW #309. It’s the Emmy award-winning weekly newsmagazine. It looks at issues facing our democracy. The show is hosted by David Brancaccio. And, even better, they still send me e-mails (I think that makes me cool and them nice). Thanks, Now!
9:00 – 10:00PM
America’s Ballroom Challenge. Please see above joke.
10:00PM – Lengths Vary
Monty Python’s Flying Circus – #101. Pigs. Lots of pigs. Not the Pythons, I wouldn’t necessarily call them pigs, but pigs do feature heavily in this episode. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is there too. Rock me, Amadeus!
Saturday, March 3rd:
8:00 – 9:20PM
Great Performances – “Jerry Lee Lewis: Last Man Standing”. The “Killer” performs some of his hit songs and does duet performances with the likes of Willie Nelson, Norah Jones, John Fogerty, and Kris Kristofferson among others.
9:30 – 10:30PM
Elvis Lives: The 25th Anniversary Concert. This is the footage of a concert that commemorated the 25th anniversary of Elvis’s death. Correct me if I’m wrong, but if the concert commemorates Elvis’s death he doesn’t so much live. Just a thought.
So, that’s the week. Now, please remember, next week is all pledge drive. That means that stuff will be listed, but depending on exactly how local stations determine to do their driving of pledges stuff may air at slightly incorrect times. I ask you, please, do not e-mail me and complain that something started 10 minutes late because PBS wanted to give you a tote bag for your $50 pledge. I don’t control such things, I am neither their puppet nor their poppet.
