Media Menu for July 23, 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, July 23, 2011,
6-7 p.m. E/P
Science Channel
Science and Geography
Elementary, Middle and High School

Geologic Journey: The Rockies

In this documentary viewers will see how the Rocky Mountains were formed and how people fought to carve out a living in the mountain townships and the vast prairies beyond. TV-G
Log on http://www.cbc.ca/geologic/eg_rockies.html

Sunday, July 24, 2011,
10-11 p.m. E/P
CNBC
Economics and Arts
Elementary, Middle and High School

Titans: Quincy Jones

This is a documentary about jazz musician, arranger, the first black executive of a major record company, producer, entrepreneur, and social activist, Quincy Jones. He is a one- person history of the entertainment industry over the past 60 years, going from be-bop to hip-hop. With more Grammy nominations and awards than anyone else alive, he produced the biggest selling album of all time, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and the landmark We Are The World. As a film and TV producer, he introduced the world to Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple and Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Jones’ life—many of his greatest accomplishments happened after recovering from a near fatal brain aneurism—is one of the great African-American success stories.
Log on http://www.cnbc.com/id/43740425

Monday, July 25, 2011,
9-10 p.m. E/P
Science Channel
Science
Elementary, Middle and High School

Unlocking the Universe The Hidden Order

This documentary looks at the 19th century chemists who struggled to impose an order on the apparently random world of the elements. Ultimately, the quest would lead to one of chemistry's most beautiful intellectual creations - the periodic table of the elements. The host of this program British professor Jim Al-Khalili who obtained his PhD in theoretical nuclear physics.TV-G
Log on http://www.surrey.ac.uk/physics/people/jim_al-khalili/

Tuesday, July 26, 2011
4-6 p.m. E/P
History Channel
U.S. History
Elementary, Middle and High School

First Invasion: The War of 1812

The events in this documentary happened just thirty years after American independence from Great Britain was won. Tension between the United States and England persisted in the years after the revolution. A complex set of concerns, including the impressments of American citizens into the British navy and the ongoing efforts of the British to control commerce on the high seas, thrust the two nations into war. What has been termed America’s “second war of independence” was authorized by Congress in June of 1812 in response to the pleas of a reluctant yet determined President James Madison. In what would become a three-year odyssey fought on many fronts, these two nations challenged each other in Canada, at sea, and in the heart of the nation’s capital.
Log on http://www.history.com/images/media/interactives/warof1812SG.pdf

Wednesday, July 27, 2011,
9-11 p.m. E/P
History Channel
Economics and U.S.. History
Elementary, Middle and High School

Meat America

The host of this documentary, Jamie Stachowski, looks into his version of the American melting pot to see what’s cooking. Beef, Pork and Chicken, the meats Jamie calls the “Usual Suspects” are definitely in the mix, but these animals weren’t even on the continent before Columbus discovered the New World. Like just about everyone in America today, the “Usual Suspects” hail from the Old World. Jamie travels across the country to try and unravel how these meats made it to America, and why. Along the way he visits the mid-west and discovers that the roots of the Hot Dog are in “Old World” Sausage brought over by the millions of Eastern Europeans who made America home in the late 1800’s. He takes a trip to Chicago’s Union stock yards, a memorial to America’s Beef industry worth over 70 billion dollars today, an industry that helped spark America’s own industrial revolution and inspired the production line techniques perfected by Henry Ford. He dons his ten-gallon hat and travels to Texas to wrap his mouth around some Long Horn beef. Louisiana’s never been the same since Stachowski turned up at Lafayette’s annual Black Pot cook off, a carnivore’s delight where everything that moves is on the menu - gator, coon, squirrel and even snapping turtle.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011,
10-11 p.m. E/P
PBS
U.S. History and Science
Elementary, Middle and High School

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: Dinosaur Wars

This is a documentary about the history of science. In the summer of 1868, paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh boarded a Union Pacific train for a sightseeing excursion through the heart of the newly opened American West. While most passengers simply saw magnificent landscapes, Marsh soon realized he was traveling through the greatest dinosaur burial ground of all time. Ruthless, jealous and insanely competitive, Marsh would wrestle over the discovery with the other leading paleontologist of his generation, Edward Drinker Cope. Over time, the two rivals would uncover the remains of dozens of prehistoric animals, including 130 species of dinosaur; collect thousands of specimens; provide ample evidence to prove Charles Darwin’s hotly disputed theory of evolution; and put American science on the world stage. But their professional rivalry eventually spiraled out of control. What began with denigrating comments in scientific publications led to espionage, the destruction of fossils and political maneuvering that ultimately left both men alone and almost penniless. TV-G
Log on http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/dinosaur/

Thursday, July 28, 2011,
10-11 p.m. E/P
PBS
Geography and Technology
Elementary, Middle and High School

THE THIS OLD HOUSE HOUR: This Old House Los Angeles Project

This episode of PBS’s popular technology documentary series s goes Hollywood with the first ever renovation project in the Los Angeles area. After seeing some of the local sights, master carpenter Norm Abram and host Kevin O’Connor arrive at the 1933 Spanish Colonial Revival project house in the hillside neighborhood of Silver Lake. Homeowners Kurt Albrecht and Mary Blee plan to expand and renovate the 1,500-sq.-ft. house, while keeping and extending the character of the existing house into the small addition. Changes include a major kitchen renovation, a second floor addition and reconfiguration of the back half of the first floor. Norm ventures up into the Hollywood Hills to meet general contractor Steve Pallrand at a job he’s been working on that showcases the unique challenges of building in Los Angeles. Back at the house, site supervisor Angel Leon gets to work salvaging finish materials for later reuse. Project manager Joe Luttrell begins preparations to replicate the plaster “cake decorating” details on the walls, and takes some time to show Norm their salvage yard. Angel and Kevin review the plans and outline the scope of work for adding a second floor on the back of the house to gain a full master suite. In order to do that, they need to remove the roof, so roofing contractor John Dybas arrives to harvest the valuable antique clay roof tiles for future use. In the second half of the hour, landscape contractor Roger Cook shows Kevin a few ways to deal with rainwater from gutters and downspouts. Then, up in the workshop, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey talks “All About” pliers. Then Roger, Kevin, Richard and general contractor Tom Silva ask, “What is it?” Afterward, Tom and Kevin insulate an attic floor using fiberglass batts and blown-in insulation.
Log on http://www.pbs.org/thisoldhouse/home/

Friday, July 29, 2011,
8-9 p.m. E/P
NBC
U.S. History
Middle and High School

Who Do You Think You Are?

In this episode of NBC’s genealogy documentary series actor Steve Buscemi travels through New York, Philadelphia and the battlefields of Virginia and discovers a questionable character among his ancestors. One of the most prolific actors of his generation (in addition to being a writer and director), Steve was born in Brooklyn, but spent most of his childhood on Long Island. In his 30s he returned to Brooklyn, where he now lives with his wife and son. He's embarking on a journey into his ancestral past in hopes of finding really interesting characters with compelling stories. The first stop is his parents' home in Valley Stream, Long Island, to ask his mother anything she knows about her side of the family - the side he knows least about. Steve's maternal grandmother Amanda Van Dine committed suicide when his mother was three, and his family doesn't talk much about this painful subject. TV-PG
Log on http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/episode-guide/season-2/282228/steve-buscemi/episode-206/296241/

Saturday, July 30, 2011,
8- 10:30 p.m. ET, 5-7:30 p.m. PT
TCM - Turner Classic Movie Channel
World History and Literature
Middle and High School

All Quiet On The Western Front

This Oscar-winning 1930’s movie, based on Eric Maria Remarque’s classic novel, follows a young German soldier’s try to adjust to the horrors of World War I. Paul Baumer, as young German schoolboy, along with his friends, is inspired by his schoolmaster to "save the Fatherland" and joins the Kaiser's forces. Their illusions are soon dispelled, however, by the cruel realities of battle, relieved only by a brief romantic interlude with some French farm girls. When Paul, the only survivor of the group, returns home, he finds the professor still haranguing his young scholars to join the conflict; and when Paul denounces this attitude, he is proclaimed a coward by the youths. Tiring of the false impression of war at home, he returns to the front to instruct his new comrades in warfare. As the sole survivor of this group also, Paul reaches over the top of a trench to catch a butterfly and is killed by an enemy sniper. That day the official war news report is ‘All quiet on the western front”.
Log on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020629/