Giant dust devils from NOVA "Solar System: Storm Worlds"
American Experience “The American Vice President” – Monday, October 1 at 8pm
What happens when the president cannot 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 “Solar System” – Wednesdays at 9pm, beginning October 2
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 4 at 10pm
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 7 at 10pm
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 a shelter, waiting room, hospital, and confessional.
Citizen Nation – Tuesdays at 9pm, beginning October 8
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.
Next at the Kennedy Center “Snarky Puppy: The Family We Make” – Friday, October 11 at 10pm
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 14 at 10pm
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.
Next at the Kennedy Center “Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet: Deep River” – Friday, October 18 at 10pm
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 21 at 10pm
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 22 at 10pm
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 23 at 8pm
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.
Great Performances “Émigré” – Friday, October 25 at 9pm
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 – Sundays at 9pm, beginning October 27
Retired archaeologist Judith, 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 “Our Texas, Our Vote” – Monday, October 28 at 10pm
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 30 at 8pm
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.