PBS Primetime Programming for The Week of 2/11

Happy Valentine’s Day week! Frankly I’m one of those people that don’t care a lick for the “holiday” though I gather some people do. Yup, that’s love, spending $100 on a dozen red roses when you can buy them at any other time of the year for $15.

“Dearest, I love you so much that I’ve completely lost all sense of proportion and propriety and am going to spend all my life savings to buy you some flowers. Yup, that’s right, I don’t need to eat for the rest of the month because I’m taking you out to dinner tonight so we can have a price-fixed horrifically cutesy special dinner tonight. I know you’ll appreciate our lives together 50 years from now, when we’re too old to work and too poor to retire because I decided to blow $500 I didn’t have tonight just for you.” 

Sunday, February 11:

8:00 – 9:00PM

Nature – “Supersize Crocs”. Apparently the crocs haven’t gotten the message that supersizing is out, and that we’re all about portion control now. You may still be able to go king size, but I know supersizing is done. 

9:00 – 10:30PM

Masterpiece Theatre – “Dracula”. A new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic. This one stars Marc Warren as the titular character and David Suchet (Poirot) as Van Helsing.

10:30 – 11:00PM 

A Room Nearby.  Stick with me here. Five people tell their life story, each apparently has their own “brick wall of loneliness.” The tales are all narrated by the animated character’s real-life counterpart. Never mind. Don’t stick with me, you explain it, because I can’t. I am, however, intrigued.   

Monday, February 12:

8:00 – 9:00PM

Antiques Roadshow “Tucson (Hour One)”. The Roadshow has left Philly and gone west, landing smack dab in the middle of Tucson. It would be better if they were in Winslow, so that they could be standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, it’d be such a fine sight to see.    

9:00 – 11:00PM

American Experience – “New Orleans”. No, this isn’t about Katrina, it focuses primarily from Reconstruction to the 1960s. But way to focus on the bad times, dear reader. There’s more to New Orleans than the hurricane and the French Quarter despite what you think. 

Tuesday, February 13:

8:00 – 9:00PM

Nova – “The Last Great Ape”. Many a year ago, a group of scientists were studying apes known as bonobos in the Congo. But in 1997 civil war broke out and the scientists were forced to leave. Finally the scientists are returning and are afraid of what they might find due to the bush meat industry in the Congo, either that or because the scientists were the handful of people that went to see the movie Congo, saw what happened to all the apes in that flick and got really, really worried. 

9:00 – 10:00PM

Frontline – “News War: Secret, Sources & Spin (Part 1)”. The first hour in a four part Frontline series that deals with how political, cultural, legal, and economic forces are affecting the role of the press in our society. 

10:00 – 11:00PM

Independent Lens – “Motherland Afghanistan”. Did you know that there’s a “Laura Bush Maternity Ward” in Afghanistan? Well, there is, and the filmmaker’s father works there as an OB/GYN. He is attempting to improve the mortality rate of women going through childbirth. 

Wednesday, February 14:

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. 

9:00 – 11:00PM

The Hidden Epidemic: Heart Disease in America. There is a certain comfort in the notion that hearts go bad both physically and emotionally. Today is Valentine’s Day, so after your special dinner goes up in smoke and your valentine figuratively breaks your heart when they announce that they’ve been sleeping with your siblings and cousins, go home, take a load off, and learn all about how physically your heart will be destroyed later in your life.   

Thursday, February 15:

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 One)”. Please see above joke.

10:00 – 11:00PM

Soundstage – “Jewel”. She writes songs. She sings songs. She writes poetry. She sings poetry? Well, even if she doesn’t go that far, she is a three-time Grammy nominee and will even sing her version of “Somewhere over the Rainbow.” Awesome. 

Friday, February 16:

8:00 – 8:30PM

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal #4633. Another whole week has gone by and good old Gwen Ifill and National Journal are here to fill us in. 

8:30 – 9:00PM

NOW #307. 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).    

9:00 – 10:00PM

America’s Ballroom Challenge. Please see above joke.

10:00PM – Lengths Vary

Monty Python’s Flying Circus – “Monty Python’s Fliegender Zirkus (Part One)”. That last bit is German for, I believe, “Flying Circus.” You see, it’s in German. It also has the Silly Olympics, which, if you haven’t seen it, is wonderful, though moderately silly. 

Saturday, February 17:

9:00 – 10:00PM

Austin City Limits – “Robert Randolph & The Family Band”. My understanding is that this is one group, not two. They would normally denote two groups with a slash, not an ampersand. That being said, I wonder if the band is Robert Randolph’s family or a separate family that he happens to play with. Or, is it just family in a “we’re all part of a larger human family yada yada” nonsense?   

So ends another Valentine’s Week. Maybe Hallmark will do us a “solid” and come up with something to fill the void between this and St. Patrick’s Day. We all really could use something like Widget Day at the end of March, couldn’t we?