American Experience “The American Vice President” – Monday, October 1st at 9 p.m.
What happens when the president is unable to serve due to death or incapacity? This film explores the fraught period between 1963 and 1976, when a grief-stricken, then scandal-stricken America was forced to confront the purpose of the vice president and the succession process through the evolution of the 25th Amendment.
NOVA “The Solar System: Storm Worlds” – Wednesday, October 2nd at 9 p.m.
Across the solar system, wild storms are raging. From globe-spanning dust storms to monsoons of liquid methane, to monstrous storms with lightning bolts ten times more energetic than anything on Earth – our solar system is full of weird and wonderful weather. Explore the forces that create the truly awesome and extreme conditions found on our neighboring planets and moons.
Voces “Mambo Legends: The Music Never Ends” – Friday, October 4th at 10 p.m.
The Mambo Legends Orchestra is committed to keeping the sounds of the great Afro Cuban bandleaders Machito, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodriguez alive for future generations. Comprised of several former members of these legendary orchestras, The Mambo Legends provide a link to the golden era of music in New York in the early 1940s, when the Machito Orchestra fused the big-band sound of popular music with the rhythms of Africa, Cuba, and Puerto Rico to create an enduring musical genre beloved around the world.
POV "In the Rearview" – Monday, October 7th at 10 p.m.
In a volunteer aid van occupied by multiple generations of civilians, an authentic, intimate observation of the war in Ukraine unfolds. Each passenger is unique in age, origin, and circumstance, but alike in where they find themselves – huddled together in a cramped back seat. Bound for Poland, the vehicle operates as shelter, waiting room, hospital, and confessional.
Citizen Nation – Tuesday, October 8th at 9 p.m.
This four-part documentary series is an inspiring coming-of-age story that follows teenagers from across America as they face off in the nation's premier civics competition. Culminating in a championship showdown in the nation’s capital, high school students with diverse personal and political backgrounds grapple with critical questions about democracy. Watch the future unfold on Citizen Nation as a new generation discovers what it means to show up, be civil and tackle the big issues straight on.
NOVA “The Solar System: Strange Worlds” – Wednesday, October 9th at 9 p.m.
There’s no other way to describe it: Some worlds in our solar system just look strange. But these worlds, misshapen in the weirdest ways, offer clues to understanding how a fundamental force of nature – gravity – works to shape our solar system. From a dwarf planet that looks like a deflated football, to a tiny moon with cliffs taller than Mt. Everest, to the spectacular rings of Saturn, discover how the effects of gravity produce the amazing variety of bizarre worlds in our solar system.
Next at the Kennedy Center “Snarky Puppy: The Family We Make” – Friday, October 11th at 10 p.m.
Snarky Puppy, the acclaimed Grammy Award-winning band, brings their genre breaking sound to a sold-out show at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall. When one of the main guest artists, Afro-Peruvian icon Susana Baca, falls ill the band quickly come up with a new plan to transform the concert into a loving tribute to her music and influence. Joined on stage by stars from several Spanish-speaking countries: Silvana Estrada (Mexico), Gaby Moreno (Guatemala), Silvia Pérez Cruz (Spain), and Fuensanta (Mexico) – they perform a special “Family Dinner”- style concert playing their own songs along with Susana’s.
POV “Twice Colonized” – Monday, October 14th at 10 p.m.
Aaju Peter is a renowned Inuit lawyer and activist who defends the human rights of Indigenous peoples. She's a fierce protector of her ancestral lands in the Arctic and works to bring her colonizers to justice. As Aaju launches an inspiring effort to establish an Indigenous forum, she also embarks upon a deeply personal journey to mend her own wounds, including the unexpected passing of her son.
NOVA “The Solar System: Volcano Worlds” – Wednesday, October 16th at 9 p.m.
All around our solar system, volcanoes are powerful shapers of worlds. Next door on Mars is Olympus Mons, a giant volcanic mountain more than twice the size of Mt. Everest. And closer to the Sun, thousands of volcanoes produce the toxic atmosphere that keeps Venus boiling. Then there’s Jupiter’s moon Io, the most volcanically active world in the entire solar system, and Saturn’s moon Enceladus, where clues in its watery eruptions hint at the possibility of life. Discover the explosive forces that molded each of these worlds – and what makes the volcanoes right here on Earth so special.
Next at the Kennedy Center “Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet: Deep River” - Friday, October 18th at 10 p.m.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet performs the elegant piece “Deep River” in collaboration with Grammy Award®–winning vocalist Lisa Fischer and Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz Jason Moran. Founder and choreographer Alonzo King invites audiences to look at human beings as the pinnacle of creation in this deeply soulful work. The San-Francisco-based, celebrated contemporary dance company is recognized for its impeccable technique, captivating dancers, and rich visual works that challenge the way we look at ballet.
POV “Tokyo Uber Blues” – Monday, October 21st at 10 p.m.
Shot with a mix of smartphones and GoPros from a first-person perspective, filmmaker Taku Aoyagi takes us on his daily bike rides as an Uber Eats worker. But pedaling on Tokyo’s deserted streets, delivering boba tea to cloistered condos, he starts wondering, “What was it that Ken Loach said about the Uberization of society?” “And what does gig work offer an unemployed person with student debt?”
Voces Latino Vote 2024 – Tuesday, October 22nd at 10 p.m.
Voces Latino Vote 2024 is a one-hour documentary and six digital shorts that examine a range of election related issues that matter most to the politically diverse Latino community in battleground states (Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin and Arizona) and states with large Latino populations (California and Florida). The program will also examine the role that Latino evangelical pastors are playing in shaping community perspectives and the role that Spanish-language media will play in the 2024 election.
Nature “Silverback” – Wednesday, October 23rd at 8 p.m.
An observational documentary following cinematographer, Vianet Djenguet (Nature “My Congo”), as he fulfills his lifelong dream to embed himself within a wild gorilla troop. Follow D’jenguet as he joins the park rangers of Kahuzi-Bienga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. With less than 5,000 gorillas left in the wild, the goal is to create vital income from tourism by habituating a family of 23 gorillas, led by Mpungwe, so tourists can safely observe them in the forest. The habituation process has never been filmed before, and it is dangerous and unpredictable as the silverback’s role is to protect its family from perceived threats.
NOVA “The Solar System: Icy Worlds” – Wednesday, October 23rd at 9 p.m.
Ice might seem familiar to us on Earth, but out in the solar system, it can get quite exotic. From Uranus’s ultra hot superionic ice to glaciers of nitrogen ice on Pluto, to carbon dioxide snow on Mars, ice is a fundamental building block throughout our cosmic neighborhood. Visit some of the strange, frozen worlds of our solar system to discover why the ice here on Earth is so special – and why we wouldn’t be here without it.
Great Performances “Émigré” – Friday, October 25th at 9 p.m.
Enjoy this semi-staged oratorio, featuring the New York Philharmonic and an international cast telling the story of Jewish refugees during World War II. Following Kristallnacht in 1938, two brothers are sent halfway around the world to Shanghai to escape the threat of Nazis. Otto cherishes his heritage, while Josef seeks a new path, and falls in love with Lina, a Chinese woman recovering from the loss of her mother in the Nanjing Massacre. A sweeping tale of love and loss, “Émigré” is set to music by film and concert composer Aaron Zigman with lyrics by Grammy-winning librettist Mark Campbell and additional lyrics by Brock Walsh. Long Yu conducts this New York Philharmonic co-commission with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
The Marlow Murder Club on Masterpiece – Sunday, October 27th at 9 p.m.
Retired archaeologist Judith (Samantha Bond, “Downton Abbey”), vicar’s wife Becks and local dog-walker Suzie, forge an unlikely friendship as amateur sleuths as they race against time to stop a serial killer in their town. Based on the bestselling novel by Robert Thorogood.
Voces “Battleground Texas” – Monday, October 28th at 10 p.m.
On the eve of the 2024 presidential election, acclaimed filmmaker Hector Galán takes viewers inside the largest Latino voter registration mobilization in Texas history, led by a new generation on the frontlines of one of the most crucial battleground states that neither political party can ignore.
Nature “Dracula's Hidden Kingdom” – Wednesday, October 30th at 8 p.m.
Discover Transylvania, a region in central Romania that most people have heard of, but few can place on a map. It is a land of mystery and mythology and home to some of the biggest wolf packs in the world who roam across seemingly endless untouched mountain ranges. A sanctuary to vast ancient forests, the land has never seen a chainsaw and is the realm of the magnificent lynx and European brown bear. It is a land where crumbling medieval villages abandoned by humans long ago have been resettled by elegant storks – the mythical child-bearers of olden times. Bats shelter in the crumbling castles and in the Basilica. Follow one family of mouse-eared bats as they struggle to bring up their fragile young in the ruined walls.
Nova “The Solar System: Wandering Worlds” – Wednesday, October 30th at 9 p.m.
The classic view of our solar system contains eight orderly planets, some with moons in neat orbits – but when we look closer, we discover a bunch of stuff missing from this simple, clockwork model. Wandering worlds that seem out of place, found in the gaps between and beyond the planets, offer clues that our cosmic neighborhood is far more dynamic than we once thought. From the meteorites that impact Earth, to a moon that orbits backwards, to an imposter lurking in the asteroid belt, these wandering worlds are rewriting what we know – and even how we think about – our solar system.