Media Menu for July 30, 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 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/

Sunday , July 31, 2011,
4-6 p.m.
History Channel
World History and Geography
High School

Third Reich: The Fall

This documentary shows how Germans experience the Allied victory in WWII. It begins by taking viewers inside the Germany through the use of rare and never-before-seen home movies, German government propaganda films and other contemporaneous material. The narrative consists of personal recollections culled from German's diaries, journals and letters. The contemporary footage shot by people who were there as the events took place, isn’t at first particularly noteworthy, but it quickly sinks in that where some documentaries rely on reenactments or dramatizations of historical events, we're seeing what actually happened, when and where it happened. TV-14

Monday, August 1, 2011,
7-8 p.m. E/P
CNBC
Economics
Middle and High School

Biography on CNBC: Home Depot

When Home Depot’s founders were fired from Handy Dan in the late 1970’s, they put on their tool belts and went to work on a new concept. As shown in this documentary, after the Home Depot’s disappointing opening day when “nobody came,” the do-it-yourself center goes on to become the fastest growing retailer in U.S. history.
Log on http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=1274069992

Tuesday, August 2, 2011,
8-10 p.m. E/P
PBS
Arts
Middle and High School

LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER: Opening Night Mostly Mozart Festival

This is a telecast of a concert from the Mostly Mozart series. Louis Langrée, Music Director of the series, will be on the podium and the soloists will be violinist Christian Tetzlaff; violist Antoine Tamestit; and soprano Susanna Phillips. The program combines examples of three of the many sides — opera, concerto solo, and symphony — of the musician considered by many to have been the greatest composer ever. TV-G
Log on http://www.pbs.org/programs/live-from-lincoln-center/

Wednesday, August 3, 2011,
8-9 p.m. E/P
Science Channel
Science
Elementary,
Middle and High School

Wonders of the Universe : Children of the Stars

The same 92 elements we have on Earth are found throughout the cosmos. Forged deep in the hearts of stars, the untold trillions of atoms that make up each of us link together to tell the story, aimed at a general audience, in this documentary of the universe's origin. TV-G

Wednesday, August 3, 2011,
9-10 p.m. E/P
PBS
Science and Geography
Middle and High School

NOVA: Rat Attack

Every 48 years, the inhabitants of the remote Indian state of Mizoram suffer a horrendous ordeal known locally as mautam. An indigenous species of bamboo, blanketing 30 percent of Mizoram's 8,100 square miles, blooms once every half-century, spurring an explosion in the rat population that feeds off the bamboo's fruit. The rats run amok, destroying crops and precipitating a crippling famine throughout Mizoram. This documentary follows this gripping tale of nature's capacity to engender human suffering and investigates the botanical mystery of why the bamboo flowers with clockwork precision every half-century. TV-PG
Log on http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/rat-attack.html

Thursday, August 4, 2011,
8-10:15 p.m. ET, 5-7:15 p.m. PT
PBS
English and History
Middle and High School

A Tale Of Two Cities

This is an Oscar-nominated adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic tale of the French Revolution. It begins in England where English lawyer Sydney Carton defends French emigre Charles Darnay from charges of spying against England. He becomes enamored of Darnay's fiancée, Lucie Manette, and agrees to help her save Darnay from the guillotine when Darnay returns to France and is captured by Revolutionaries in Paris. Carton realizes that he can save Darnay by going to the Bastille and switching places with him. Because Darnay and Sydney physically resemble each other, the trick is successful, and Darnay is able to escape with his family to England. As Sydney faces his execution, he befriends a frightened seamstress who seems to gain strength from his presence. As he approaches the guillotine the next morning, Sydney holds the seamstress close to him and knows that he has done the right thing.
Log on http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/1614/A-Tale-of-Two-Cities

Friday, August 5, 2011,
6-7 p.m. E/P
History Channel
Science and Geography
Elementary, Middle and High School

Modern Marvels: Salt

It is the only rock we eat, and has 14,000 known uses. This documentary travels to a salt mine 1,800 feet below Lake Erie where workers blast salt from a massive deposit spanning four states, to an evaporation facility near San Francisco where machines harvest salt from the briny ocean. Visit a Florida restaurant that offers 40 different varieties of salt, and journey to New York to explore salt’s surprising number one application: de-icing snowy winter roads. See how a high-tech desalination plant removes salt from ocean water, producing 25 million gallons of drinkable water every day. If it’s speed you’re after, look no further than a natural drag strip in Utah made of pure salt.

Saturday, August 6, 2011,
3-4 p.m. E/P
National Geographic Channel
Science and World History
Middle and High School

The Truth Behind The Dead Sea Scrolls

In this documentary archaeologists and historians unravel the mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and explore theories about their creation, including the Church's 50-year embargo on their publication. TV-PG
Log on http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/the-truth-behind-the-dead-sea-scrolls-3087/Overview