Media Menu, January 22, 2011

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, January 22, 2011,
10:15-12:30 p.m. E/P
IFC- Independent Film Channel
U.S. History and Economics
Middle and High School

“Harlan County, USA”

Director Barbara Kopple's Oscar winning documentary look at a 13-month coal miners' strike that took place between 1973 and 1974 in Harlan County, KY. It, is one of the great films about labor troubles, though not for a sense of objectivity. Kopple lived among the miners and their families off and on during the four years the entire story played out, and it's clear in every frame of the film that her sympathies lie with the miners and not their bosses at Eastover Mining, owned by Duke Power Company. Kopple's camera focuses on the desperate plight of people still living in shacks with no indoor plumbing and working dangerous jobs with little security and few safety rules. The miners are determined to join the United Mine Workers, and the company is determined to break the strike with scabs, who are even more desperate than the men with jobs. The miners eventually win a new contract, though it turns out that some of the benefits they had fought for were not included in the final deal. The filmmaker's strong identification with one side of a labor struggle doesn't make for a balanced historical record, but it did provide the right stuff for a powerfully dramatic film.
Log on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074605

Sunday, January 23, 2011,
8-9 p.m. E/P
Science Channel
Science and Geography
Elementary, Middle and High School

“Mutant Planet: Australia”

This is a documentary about Australia. a floating laboratory whose ancient geological past and changing climate have triggered mutations in the animals here, culminating in over 200 species of bizarre pouched marsupials, which are all equipped with astounding survival features.

Monday, January 24, 2011,
9:00-10:30 p.m. E/P
PBS
U.S. and World History
Middle and High School

“Panama Canal”

On August 15, 1914, the Panama Canal opened, connecting the world’s two largest oceans and signaling America’s emergence as a global superpower. American innovation had succeeded where, just a few years earlier, the French had failed disastrously. But the U.S. paid a price for victory: more than a decade of ceaseless, grinding toil, an outlay of more than $350 million — the largest single federal expenditure in history to that time — and the loss of more than 5,000 lives. Along the way, Central America witnessed the brazen overthrow of a sovereign government, a revolutionary public health campaign, the backbreaking removal of hundreds of millions of tons of earth and construction on an unprecedented scale. The story of the canal features a cast of colorful characters ranging from an indomitable president to visionary engineers to tens of thousands of workers from around the world, rigidly segregated by race. Using an extraordinary archive of photographs and footage, some remarkable interviews with canal workers and firsthand accounts of life in the Canal zone, this documentary unravels the remarkable story of one of the world’s most significant technological achievements.
Log on http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/panama

Tuesday, January 25, 2011,
9-11p.m. ET, 6-8 p.m. PT
Major broadcast networks and cable news channels
U.S. History
Elementary, Middle and High School

“The State of the Union"

This is a live broadcast of the President’s State of the Union Message
Log on http://www.whitehouse.gov

Wednesday, January 26, 2011,
8-9 p.m. E/P
PBS
Science
Elementary, Middle and High School

“NOVA scienceNOW “Can We Live Forever?”

Why do our bodies fall apart over time? Is there any way to stop the process? How well can we build body parts and organs to replace ones that get damaged? Neil deGrasse Tyson hosts this episode of NOVA scienceNOW which examines whether we can slow down the aging process, looks at the latest on human hibernation, and checks in with bioengineers and a computer scientist inventing ways to keep us "going forever." TV-G
Log on http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/can-we-live-forever.html

Wednesday, January 26, 2011,
9-10 p.m. E/P
PBS
Science
Elementary, Middle and High School

“NOVA: Making Stuff - Making Stuff Smaller”

Hosted by The New York Times technology columnist David Pogue, this is an episode of a science documentary series on the personal qualities that underlie the process of invention — the visionary talent, sheer luck and determination that turn a wild idea into a cutting-edge material. This episode, is entitled “Making Stuff Smaller”. Here in the information age, smaller is better: transistors, microchips and the laptops and cell phone that they power are triumphs of tiny. Pogue takes us to an even smaller world, as he profiles the latest in high-powered nano-circuits and micro-robots that may one day hold the key to saving lives and building materials from the ground up. How small can we go? Could we one day have robots taking "fantastic voyages" in our bodies to kill rogue cells? The triumphs of tiny are seen all around us in the Information Age: transistors, microchips, laptops, cell phones. David Pogue takes viewers to an even smaller world in "Making Stuff: Smaller," examining the latest in high-powered nano-circuits and micro-robots that may one day hold the key to saving lives. TV-PG
Log on http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/making-stuff-smaller.html

Thursday, January 27, 2011,
8-9 p.m. E/P
National Geographic Channel
Science
Elementary, Middle and High School

“Naked Science: Dinomorphosis”

This is a documentary about new dinosaur research findings. Fuzzy babies. Stay-at-home dads. Flamboyant feathers. Exactly what you think when you hear the words T-Rex, right? If not, then think again. For hundreds of years, we thought dinosaurs ruled the planet as scaly, reptilian beasts that terrorized early earth. But new scientific advances are proving us wrong and painting an entirely new picture of not only the T-Rex, but the entire dinosaur world. With the discovery of feathered dinosaurs in China and a revolutionary new method of reconstructing original color, scientists are building a new picture of what dinosaurs actually looked like, how they behaved and how they used their feathers.

Friday, January 28, 2011,
8-8:30 p.m. E/P
PBS
U.S History
Elementary, Middle and High School

“Washington Week With Gwen Ifill and National Journal”

On this edition of PBS’ longest-running public affairs series, Washington’s top journalists analyze the State Of The Union address and its possible effect on the lives of all Americans. Gwen Ifill hosts.
Log on http://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek

Saturday, January 27, 2011,
7-8 p.m. ET, 4-5 p.m. PT
CNBC Channel
Economics
Elementary, Middle and High School

“Supermarkets Inc: Inside a $500 Billion Money Machine"

The typical modern American supermarket stocks 48,000 items, each battling for precious shelf space. How do they get there? Why are they arranged the way they are? This documentary goes inside the neighborhood supermarket and explores an industry that is using every device in its arsenal to learn as much as it can about you—watching, trailing and analyzing your shopping habits in ways you never imagined. As a supermarket shopper, you are part of the largest and longest running psychological experiment in history. From the minute you enter the store, you are the target not only of old-fashioned salesmanship, but high-tech tools designed to track and entice you into buying more. Did you know that stores put milk at the end of the aisle so shoppers are forced to pass hundreds of other items on their way to get it -- or that the bakery and produce departments are often located near the entrance because they have the best aroma and are the most visually appealing? The competition is fierce and retailers are doing whatever they can to gain an edge in a cutthroat business built on razor-thin margins. The program travels to Pittsburgh to go behind-the-scenes at a new upscale Giant Eagle Market District supermarket, three times the size of a typical grocery store The store manager explains the amazing logistical ballet required to stock 65,000 products and run one American grocery store for one day.
Log on http://www. supermarketsinc.cnbc.com