Media Menu, December 4, 2010

Here are home viewing suggestions for the week, selected from online advanced TV program listings and aligned with the state and national K-12 academic standards available online. Please consult local listings also, since actual broadcast times may vary. The Websites cited in the “Log on“ box below the tv listing provide further details about the show’s topic and may contain links to video clips from the show or a complete streaming video version of the show.

Saturday, December 4, 2010,
6-8 p.m. E/P
Discovery Channel
U.S. History
High School

“The Kennedy Detail”

It was their duty to prevent one of the greatest tragedies in U.S. history and they failed, a fact that has haunted them ever since. For years, the men of President John F. Kennedy's Secret Service detail have kept silent about that terrible day in Dallas, but now they've gathered together back at the scene of the assassination and are speaking out about their experiences there for the first time. Revealing, gut-wrenching and heartbreaking, this documentary is their story told through their eyes for the very first time. TV-PG
Log on http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/the-kennedy-detail

Sunday, December 5, 2010,
7-8 p.m. E/P
CBS
U.S. History and Economics
High School

“60 Minutes”

The reports in this newsmagazine include: “The Chairman” - The Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke gives a rare interview to Scott Pelley in which he discusses pressing economic issues, including the unemployment rate, the deficit and the Fed’s controversial $600 billion U.S. Treasury Bill purchase. And “Facebook”- Mark Zuckerberg, the 26-yr.-old founder and CEO of mega-social media site Facebook, talks to Lesley Stahl about his life and his business, now worth an estimated $35 billion.
Log on http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml?tag=hdr;snav

Sunday, December 5, 2010,
9-9:30 p.m. E/P
Nickelodeon Channel
Science
Elementary, Middle and High School

“Nick News with Linda Ellerbee: Good Dog - Kids And Their Service Dogs”

Under ordinary circumstances, dogs can make us feel happy, less stressed, even healthier. But these dogs also help kids feel less alone, more confident, more independent. They can act as a kid’s eyes, legs or hands; they can turn on the lights, open the door, warn someone about food they’re allergic to — or even calm them down when they are anxious. They’re called service dogs. This discussion program profiles kids who have these unique dogs in their lives. “Today, the number and kinds of dogs that can be trained and are being used in such a great variety of ways to help people, many of them children, is truly astounding,” said Ellerbee. “These are dogs raised to perform remarkable tasks. And often they’re raised by a kid, too.
Log on http://news.nick.com/11/2010/19/good-dog

Monday, December 6, 2010,
8-10 p.m. ET, 5-7 p.m. PT
Ovation Channel
Arts
Elementary, Middle and High School

“Royal Opera House: The Nutcracker”

In this production of the beloved Christmas classic, members of the Royal Opera Ballet inhabit their roles with a fluid elegance that brings this lush production to life. Miyako Yoshida is a standout, playing the Sugarplum Fairy with finesse. Sets and costumes are sweeping in scope. Viewers will enjoy the spectacle as they watch Clara find her Prince in this dazzling imagination-land of sights and sounds.
Log on http://ovationtv.com/programs/211-bolshoi-ballet-the-nutcracker for information about another “Nutcracker” airing December 9.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010,
8-9 p.m. E/P (check local listings)
PBS
Science
Middle and High School

“NOVA: Absolute Zero - The Race for Absolute Zero”

This is the initial episode of a 2-part documentary miniseries which re-creates groundbreaking discoveries across four centuries that expanded our knowledge of low temperatures and led ultimately to today's cutting edge "cold technologies." The experimenters range from a 17th-century court magician who rigged a primitive form of air conditioning in Westminster Abbey to the original Captain Birdseye, who invented frozen food. The program also tells the story of the decades-long scientific race between two leading chemists to liquefy helium and nitrogen, which opened the door to the modern era of refrigeration and modern air conditioning. The story climaxes in a recent Nobel-winning breakthrough, the production of a new form of matter that Albert Einstein predicted would exist within a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero. Part Two airs in this timeslot December 14. Check local listings. TV-PG
Log on http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/zero

Tuesday, December 7, 2010,
10 p.m. – midnight E/P
PBS
Science and Geography
Elementary, Middle and High School

“Dirt! The Movie”

Industrial farming, mining and urban development have endangered soil and resulted in cataclysmic droughts, starvation, floods and climate change. How can humans reconnect to dirt — the living skin of the Earth? Floods, drought, climate change, and even war are all directly related to the fate of humble dirt. Made from the same elements as stars, plants, and human beings, dirt is very much alive. One teaspoon of dirt contains a billion organisms working in balance to sustain a series of complex, thriving communities that are invisibly a part of our daily lives. Narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis and inspired by William Bryant Logan’s acclaimed book Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, this documentary introduces viewers to dirt’s fascinating history. Four billion years of evolution have created the dirt that recycles our water, gives us food, and provides us with shelter. But humanity has endangered this vital living resource with destructive methods of agriculture, mining practices, and urban development, with catastrophic results: mass starvation, drought, and global warming. The filmmakers travel around the world to capture the stories of global visionaries who are discovering new ways to repair humanity’s relationship with soil, checking in with Dr. Vandana Shiva to discuss her fight to prevent world hunger by preserving biodiversity in India, and documenting the tree planting work of renowned photographer Sebastião Salgado and his wife Lélia in Brazil. From farmers rediscovering sustainable agriculture and scientists discovering connections with soil to inmates learning job skills in a prison horticulture program and children eating from edible schoolyards, the movie brings to life the environmental, economic, social, and political importance of soil and suggests ways we can create new possibilities for all life on Earth.
Log on http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/dirt-the-movie

Wednesday, December 8, 2010. 6-8 p.m. ET, 3-5 p.m. PT
Ovation Channel
English
Elementary, Middle and High School

“The Little Prince ”

Based on the beloved classic children's book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, this movie stars Richard Kiley as a pilot who's forced down in the Sahara Desert and listens to a little boy's (Steven Warner) magical stories about distant planets and strange people and animals. Before long, the pilot realizes that his life will be forever altered by his encounter with the mesmerizing little prince.
Log on http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/littleprince/

Thursday, December 9, 2010,
10-11 p.m. E/P
History Channel
U.S. History and Science
Elementary, Middle and High School

“Brad Meltzer’s Decoded: Secret Presidential Codes”

This documentary investigates the secret presidential codes of Thomas Jefferson and how they may be partially responsible for the death of one of the world’s greatest explorers, Meriwether Lewis, of Lewis and Clark fame. Host Brad Meltzer discovers that although the Lewis family has been working for 15 years to exhume his body, the National Parks is preventing the exhumation. The program attempts to answer why the federal government would want to keep the body buried against the family’s wishes and what really happened to the man who more than 200 years after his death remains our most iconic explorer. TV-G
Log on http://www.history.com/shows/brad-meltzers-decoded

Friday, December 10, 2010 ,
8-9:30 p.m. ET, 5-6:30 p.m. PT
TCM-Turner Classic Movie Channel
English
Elementary, Middle and High School

“A Christmas Carol”

In this movie adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel, an elderly miser learns the error of his ways on Christmas Eve. TV-G
Log on http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=70898

Saturday, December 11, 2010,
8-9 p.m. E/P
Science Channel
Science
High School

“Speed Science”

Mastering speed means understanding the science behind it. This documentary follows Fall-Line Motorsports' three Grand-Am race cars as they use physics, engineering, chemistry and a perfect partnership of man and machine to probe the limits of speed.
Log on http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/motion.htm