Media Menu for April 18, 2013

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.

Thursday, April 18, 2012
7-8 p.m. E/P
PBS
Science
Elementary, Middle and High School

Nature: What Plants Talk About

When we think about plants, we don’t often associate a term like “behavior” with them, but experimental plant ecologist JC Cahill wants to change that. The University of Alberta professor maintains that plants do behave and lead anything but solitary and sedentary lives. This documentary, airing on KLCS, teaches us all that plants are smarter and much more interactive than we thought.
Log on http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/what-plants-talk-about/video-full-episode/8243

Friday, April 19, 2012
7-8 p.m. E/P
National Geographic Channel
Science and Geography
Elementary, Middle and High School

Big Sur: Wild California

California's Big Sur coastline is one of the most pristine wildernesses on Earth. This scenic meeting of land and sea boasts more than 200,000 acres of prime wildlife habitat - almost all of it undisturbed by humans. So why has it been only in the last few years that this rare ecosystem has experienced an explosion in wildlife?
When we think about plants, we don’t often associate a term like “behavior” with them, but experimental plant ecologist JC Cahill wants to change that. The University of Alberta professor maintains that plants do behave and lead anything but solitary and sedentary lives. This documentary, airing on KLCS, teaches us all that plants are smarter and much more interactive than we thought. As we solve the mystery of why Big Sur is the newest beacon for wildlife in the West, this documentary explores scenes of spectacular beauty.
Log on http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/episodes/big-sur-wild-california/

Saturday, April 20, 2012
4-6 p.m. E/P
History Channel
U.S. History and Science
Middle and High School

Marijuana: A Chronic History

This documentary is a look at the history of marijuana in America and how it has been front and center in the war on drugs. While many in the general public think of marijuana as the "safe drug," the DEA has referred to it as a "gateway" drug that can open the door to the use of stronger substances. This illustrates the paradox of marijuana, which is underscored by the fact that while the U.S. has spent over $100 billion dollars to fight its import, sale, and distribution, 14 states including New Jersey and Michigan have legalized it for medicinal purposes. Additional states are set to make it legal for the same purposes. This special will examine the changing social and legal landscapes of marijuana and its history in a fresh and compelling way. TV-PG
Log on http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/marijuana-chronic-history

Sunday, April 21, 2012
9-10 p.m. E/P
CNBC
Economics and Government
Middle and High School

BILLIONS BEHIND BARS: INSIDE AMERICA'S PRISON INDUSTRY

With more than 2.3 million people locked up, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. One out of 100 American adults is behind bars — while one out of 32 is on probation, parole or in prison. This reliance on mass incarceration has created a thriving prison economy. The states and the federal government spend about $74 billion a year on corrections, and nearly 800,000 people work in the industry. From some of the poorest towns in America to some of the wealthiest investment firms on Wall Street, this
documentary travels the country to go inside the big and controversial business of prisons. We go inside private prisons and examine an Idaho facility nicknamed the “gladiator school” by inmates and former prison employees for its level of violence. We look at one of the fastest growing sectors of the industry, immigration detention, and tell the story of what happens when a hard hit town in Montana accepts an enticing sales pitch from private prison developers. In Colorado, we profile a little-known but profitable workforce behind bars, and discover that products created by prison labor have seeped into our everyday lives — even some of the food we eat. We also meet a tough-talking judge in the law-and-order state of Texas who’s actually trying to keep felons out of prison and save taxpayer money, through an innovative and apparently successful program.
Log on http://www.cnbc.com/id/44762286

Monday, April 22, 2012
9-10 p.m. E/P
National Geographic Channel
Science
Middle and High School

Brain Games

Brain Games is a documentary mini-series designed to reveal the inner-workings of your brain. Delving into topics like focus, fear, persuasion, decision-making and neural fitness, it turns your mind’s eye inwards for a journey into the three and a half pounds of tissue that makes you...you. This episode is about focus. Think your field of vision is really in focus, or that your brain is focusing on everything happening in front of you?
Think again. Your peripheral vision is blurrier than a cell phone camera from 1998! In this episode, host Jason Silva—with the help of deception specialist Apollo Robbins and psychologist Brian Scholl, the director of Yale University’s Perception and Cognition Lab—reveals the secrets behind the mysteries of focus and attention. Using the all-American pastime football as a backdrop, they'll demonstrate how your brain is
constantly working to select what it thinks is the most important information, and filtering out the rest... as if it was never there. From change blindness tests involving the hairiest "cheerleaders" you've ever seen, to a play-along test of your abilities to tell left from right (we make it harder than you think), to a "spot the errors" sequence of movie continuity errors, you'll enjoy exploring the limits of your attention system in this episode.
Log on http://braingames.nationalgeographic.com/episode/1/

Tuesday, April 23, 2012
7-8 p.m. E/P
PBS
Science
Middle and High School

NOVA: Smartest Machine on Earth

In this documentary, airing on KLCS, the work of IBM researchers to create Watson, the supercomputer competing on "Jeopardy!", is detailed. Included: the technological hurdles in developing a system that mimics the human thought process; potential applications for the future.
Log on http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/smartest-machine-on-earth.html

Wednesday April 24, 2012
9-10:30 p.m. E/P
TCM –Turner Classic Movie Channel
U.S. History
Middle and High School

The Devil’s Disciple

This is a movie about the American Revolution. The opening credits say "Based on a play by Bernard Shaw." After the opening credits a written prologue states: "General John Burgoynes Punitive Expedition Against the Rebels in New England." The prologue is followed by a voice-over narration spoken over animated figures of toy British soldiers and Indians fighting with American Colonists positioned on top of a map of New Hampshire. The narration sets the time as 1777 and indicates that the British viewed the conflict as quelling a rebellion whereas the Colonists saw the war as a defense of liberty. The film also utilized the toy soldiers in the opening credits and during segues between Springtown and Websterbridge, dissolving from the toy figures into battle sequences. At the film's conclusion, a voice-over narration reveals that Gen. Burgoyne surrendered three weeks later, "the details being a matter of history." TV-PG
Log on http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/17513/The-Devil-s-Disciple/full-synopsis.html

Book TV Schedule

Saturday, April 20th

8am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 21 min.
"The Esperanza Fire: Arson, Murder, and the Agony of Engine 57" 
John Maclean

9:30am (ET)
Approx. 52 min.
"Working with Sharks: A Pakistani Woman's Story of Sexual Harassment in the United Nations - From Personal Grievance to Public Law" 
Fouzia Saeed

10:30am (ET)
Approx. 49 min.
"Turnaround: Third World Lessons for First World Growth" 
Peter Blair Henry

11:15am (ET)
Approx. 39 min.
"Leading the Way: The Story of Ed Feulner and the Heritage Foundation" 
Lee Edwards

12pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr.
BookTV in Virginia Beach, Virginia 
BookTV Visits Virginia Beach, Virginia

1pm (ET)
Approx. 51 min.
"Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?" 
James Antle

LIVE 2pm (ET)
Approx. 6 hr. 30 min.
2013 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: Saturday 
Multiple Authors

8:30pm (ET)
Approx. 34 min.
Interview with Eric Draper, "Front Row Seat: A Photographic Portrait of the Presidency of George W. Bush" 
Eric Draper

9pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr.
"Two Presidents are Better Than One: The Case for a Bipartisan Executive Branch" 
David Orentlicher

10pm (ET)
Approx. 55 min.
After Words: Benjamin Wiker, "Worshipping the State: How Liberalism Became Our State Religion," hosted by Krissah Thompson, Washington Post

11pm (ET)
Approx. 54 min.
"Medicare Meltdown: How Wall Street and Washington are Ruining Medicare and How to Fix It" 
Gibson Rosemary

Sunday, April 21st

12am (ET)
Approx. 6 hr. 30 min.
2013 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: Saturday 
Multiple Authors

6:30am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 16 min.
"Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians" 
Lela Gilbert; Paul Marshall; Nina Shea

7:45am (ET)
Approx. 16 min.
Book Party for Bob Ney, "Sideswiped: Lessons Learned Courtesy of the Hit Men of Capitol Hill" 
Robert Ney

8am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 1 min.
"Army of God: Joseph Kony's War in Central Africa" 
David Axe; Tim Hamilton

9am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr.
BookTV in Virginia Beach, Virginia 
BookTV Visits Virginia Beach, Virginia

10am (ET)
Approx. 50 min.
"Capital of the World: The Race to Host the United Nations" 
Charlene Mires

11am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 4 min.
"Blood of Tyrants: George Washington & the Forging of the Presidency" 
Logan Beirne

12pm (ET)
Approx. 51 min.
After Words: Martin Clancy & Tim O'Brien, "Murder at the Supreme Court: Lethal Crimes and Landmark Cases," hosted by Kimberly Tignor, National Bar Association

1pm (ET)
Approx. 54 min.
"Educating America's Military" 
Joan Johnson-Freese

LIVE 2pm (ET)
Approx. 6 hr. 30 min.
2013 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: Sunday 
Mutiple Authors

8:30pm (ET)
Approx. 29 min.
"Hope Against Hope: Three Schools, One City, and the Struggle to Educate America's Children" 
Sarah Carr

9pm (ET)
Approx. 55 min.
After Words: Benjamin Wiker, "Worshipping the State: How Liberalism Became Our State Religion," hosted by Krissah Thompson, Washington Post

10pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 28 min.
"Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East" 
Rashid Khalidi

11:30pm (ET)
Approx. 30 min.
Book TV at American University: Akbar Ahmed, "The Thistle and the Drone: How America's War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam" 
Akbar Ahmed

Monday, April 22nd

12am (ET)
Approx. 55 min.
After Words: Benjamin Wiker, "Worshipping the State: How Liberalism Became Our State Religion," hosted by Krissah Thompson, Washington Post

1am (ET)
Approx. 6 hr. 30 min.
2013 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: Sunday 
Mutiple Authors

7:30am (ET)
Approx. 22 min.
Book TV at American University: Allan Lichtman, "FDR and the Jews" 
Allan Lichtman