Media Menu for May 30, 2012

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.

Wednesday, May 30,  2012,
9-10  p.m. E/P
Science Channel
Science
Middle and High School

Brave New World : Environment

This is a documentary about   recent scientific efforts  to save the planet and preserve the human race. In California, physicist Jim Al-Khalili sees how the power of the world's largest laser could create a fuel to answer all our needs, while  Sir David Attenborough helps collect the DNA of an elephant for the Frozen Ark - a project to save all the world's species from extinction. Mark Evans discovers a scientist in Holland who is growing pork in a petri dish; a way to feed the world and free up land from grazing animals. Jim Al-Khalili also meets the scientist in Louisiana who thinks he has found a microbe that can help clean up oil spills, and Maggie Aderin  Pocock gazes into the face of the sun at NASA's solar laboratory, where they are learning how to predict solar storms. TV-PG
Log on http://www.channel4.com/programmes/brave-new-world-with-stephen-hawking

Thursday, May 31,  2012,
8-10  p.m. ET, 5-7  p.m. PT
ESPN  Channel
English
Middle and High School

2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee –Championship Finals

The Scripps National Spelling Bee, the nation’s largest and longest running educational competition whose  purpose  is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts and develop correct English usage that will help them all of their lives.   The 2012 Spelling Bee Finals will feature 278 champion spellers, ranging in age from six to 15.  Spellers qualify for the national competition by winning locally sponsored spelling bees in their home communities. The spellers represent all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Department of Defense Schools in Europe; as well as the Bahamas, Canada, China, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
Log on http://www.spellingbee.com/about-the-bee  and
http://search.espn.go.com/spelling-bee/videos/6

Friday, June 1,  2012,
7-8  p.m. E/P
National Geographic
Channel
Science and Technology
Middle and High School

The Link: From Aqueducts to Oil Rigs

This documentary explores the origins of technology currently  used on the world's deepest offshore oil rig. It starts out in ancient Rome, where local volcanic ash was once used to create superstrong concrete, which the Romans utilized in creating their famous aqueducts. Readily available water resulted in the Romans developing the hand pump, which in turn was modified by the Greeks to make a flamethrower, enabling them to defend Constantinople.
Log on http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/the-link/facts-aqueducts-to-oilrigs/

Saturday, June 2,  2012,
8-10  p.m. E/P
History  Channel
History
Middle and High School

The National History Bee

In this telecast students race to demonstrate their knowledge of history from a wide array of eras and disciplines in the National History Bee competition. TV-PG
Log on http://www.historybee.com

Sunday, June 3,  2012,
11 am. – continuing  ET, 8 a.m. – continuing , PT
CNN
History and
Geography
Elementary, and High School

Diamond Jubilee

Celebrations marking 60 years of Queen Elizabeth's reign begin on CNN Sunday, June 3rd. News anchors Piers Morgan and Brooke Baldwin report live from London , beginning at 11AM Eastern.
Log on http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/diamond-jubilee    and
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/09/world/europe/queen-elizabeth-biography/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

Sunday, June 3,  2012,
7-8  p.m. E/P
KLCS-PBS
U.S. History
Middle and High School

History Detectives

Topics covered in this documentary include a George Washington Miniature, St. Valentine's Day Massacre and Stalag 17. Objects are a shotgun that may have played a role in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre; a miniature painting of George Washington's profile that was found in one of Manhattan's first taverns. Also: a former WWII POW asks for help in tracking down a fellow prisoner of war.
Log on http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/george-washington-portrait

Monday, June 4,  2012,
8-10 p.m. ET, 5-7- p.m., PT
TCM-Turner Classic Movie Channel
World History
Middle and High School

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

There was an earlier Queen Elizabeth Queen of England. This multi-Oscar-nominated classic movie  is based a series of historical  public and private episodes in her life: In London, in 1596, the Earl of Essex returns from his victory at Cadiz to be greeted by the admiration of Lady Penelope Gray and other ladies of the court and the jealousy of Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Robert Cecil. Queen Elizabeth, although in love with Essex, fears his thirst for power and so castigates him for the high cost of his empty victory. Proud and headstrong, Essex retreats to his ancestral home at Wonstead and refuses to return to court. His friend, Francis Bacon, seeking to reconcile the battling lovers, suggests that Elizabeth appoint Essex Master of the Ordnance in order to quell the uprising in Ireland led by the Earl of Tyrone. To serve his country, Essex returns to court where he falls victim to the intrigues of Raleigh and Cecil who conspire to drive a wedge between him and the queen by sending Essex to Ireland. Against Elizabeth's wishes, Essex leads the army to Ireland, where his pleas for help go unanswered and thus, facing suffering and death, he is forced to surrender to Tyrone. Unknown to either Essex or Elizabeth, Cecil, Raleigh and Penelope have been intercepting the lovers' letters, and so Essex returns to England, believing that he has been betrayed and abandoned by his queen. Essex and his men take the palace by storm, and although the court conspiracy is finally brought to light, Essex still refuses to subordinate himself to Elizabeth's throne and, thirsting for power, demands that she share it with him. Elizabeth refuses and orders him arrested and executed. In one final meeting, both lovers refuse to relinquish their hold on the throne, and therefore bid each other a final farewell as Essex goes to his death.
Log on http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/87215/Private-Lives-of-Elizabeth-and-Essex-The/

Tuesday, June 5,  2012,
10-11 p.m. E/P
KLCS-PBS
U.S. and World History
Middle and High School

 Bataan: A 70th Anniversary Commemoration

This broadcast commemorates the 70th anniversary of the fall of the Philippines  to Japanese invasion during World War II. Included in the broadcast is "The Tragedy of Bataan," a documentary that chronicles the events of the war leading up to the infamous Bataan Death March; interviews with veterans.
Log on http://www.bataanmarch.com/r09/history.htm

Wednesday, June 6,  2012,
8-10 p.m. E/P
KLCS-PBS
World History
Middle and High School

 Masterpiece Classic: The Diary of Anne Frank

This movie dramatizes the two years that the Jewish teenager, her family and four others hid in a secret annex above her father's office in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Actress Ellie Kendrick is mesmerizing as the intense, headstrong teen.
Log on http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/annefrank/frank.html

Book TV Schedule

Saturday, June 2nd

8am (ET)
Approx. 47 min.
"Heroes for My Daughter"
Brad Meltzer

9am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 3 min.
"A Difficult Woman: The Challenging Life and Times of Lillian Hellman"
Alice Kessler-Harris

10:15am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 34 min.
"James Madison and the Making of America"
Kevin Gutzman

12pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 30 min.
BookTV in Wichita, Kansas
BookTV Visits Wichita, Kansas

1:30pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 56 min.
"By Any Means Necessary - Malcom X: Real, Not Reinvented"
Herb Boyd

3:30pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 8 min.
"Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II"
Arthur Herman

4:45pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 3 min.
"A Difficult Woman: The Challenging Life and Times of Lillian Hellman"
Alice Kessler-Harris

6pm (ET)
Approx. 57 min.
Encore Booknotes: The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress
Virginia Postrel

7pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 19 min.
"The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto"
Tavis Smiley; Cornel West

8:30pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 10 min.
"Ron Paul's Revolution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired"
Brian Doherty

10pm (ET)
Approx. 57 min.
After Words: Steve Coll, "Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power," hosted by Dina Cappiello, Associated Press

11pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 20 min.
"The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities"
Will Allen

Sunday, June 3rd

12:30am (ET)
Approx. 59 min.
"No One's World: The West, the Rising Rest, and the Coming Global Turn"
Charles Kupchan

1:45am (ET)
Approx. 54 min.
"When General Grant Expelled the Jews"
Jonathan Sarna

2:45am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr.
BookTV in Wichita, Kansas
BookTV Visits Wichita, Kansas

3:45am (ET)
Approx. 59 min.
"The Spirit of Compromise: Why Governing Demands It and Campaigning Undermines It"
Amy Gutmann; Dennis Thompson

5am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 7 min.
"Deadly Monopolies: The Shocking Corporate Takeover of Life Itself - and the Consequences for Your Health and Our Medical Future"
Harriet Washington

6:15am (ET)
Approx. 31 min.
"Service: A Navy SEAL at War"
Marcus Luttrell

7am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 19 min.
"The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto"
Tavis Smiley; Cornel West

8:30am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr.
BookTV in Wichita, Kansas
BookTV Visits Wichita, Kansas

9:30am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 20 min.
A Lecture on Global Economics by Author John Perkins
John Perkins

11am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr.
After Words: Victor Cha, "The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future," hosted by Scott Snyder, Council on Foreign Relations

LIVE 12pm (ET)
Approx. 3 hr.
In Depth: Anna Quindlen
Send questions for the author to Book TV

3pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 10 min.
"Ron Paul's Revolution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired"
Brian Doherty

4:30pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 20 min.
"The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities"
Will Allen

6pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr.
"Reagan: A Life in Letters"
Annelise Anderson; Martin Anderson; Kiron Skinner

7pm (ET)
Approx. 43 min.
"The Cause: The Fight For American Liberalism From Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama"
Eric Alterman

8pm (ET)
Approx. 54 min.
"When General Grant Expelled the Jews"
Jonathan Sarna

9pm (ET)
Approx. 57 min.
After Words: Steve Coll, "Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power," hosted by Dina Cappiello, Associated Press

10pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 8 min.
"Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II"
Arthur Herman

11:15pm (ET)
Approx. 40 min.
"They Eat Puppies, Don't They?
Christopher Buckley

Monday, June 4th

12am (ET)
Approx. 3 hr.
In Depth: Anna Quindlen

3am (ET)
Approx. 57 min.
After Words: Steve Coll, "Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power," hosted by Dina Cappiello, Associated Press

4am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 7 min.
"Permanent Emergency: The Truth About the TSA and the Fight for the Future of American Security"
Kip Hawley

5:15am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 56 min.
"By Any Means Necessary - Malcom X: Real, Not Reinvented"
Herb Boyd

7:30am (ET)
Approx. 25 min.
2012 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: Interview with Elizabeth Price Foley, "The Tea Party: Three Principles"
Elizabeth Price Foley