July Schedule

Tue, July 1, 2008
Posted in Program Highlights

Here are the down-loadable (PDF) schedule grids for daytime and prime time programming in July 2008.

Key programs for July include the season premiere of WIDE ANGLE; the last case of the MASTERPIECE MYSTERY!: INSPECTOR LEWIS SERIES and the start of MASTERPIECE MYSTERY!: FOYLE’S WAR SERIES airing every Sunday; new episodes of HISTORY DETECTIVES; the premiere of CLICK & CLACK’S AS THE WRENCH TURNS, a sitcom based on the hit NPR radio show, CAR TALK; a three episode series, CHASING CHURCHILL; and don’t forget to celebrate the Fourth with the live musical and fireworks extravaganza, A CAPITOL FOURTH 2008 hosted by Jimmy Smits. Other programs of note in July include:

P.O.V.: Election Day
Tuesday, July 1, 9 - 10:30 pm
Forget the pie charts, color-coded maps and hyperventilating pundits. In a triumph of documentary storytelling, “Election Day” combines 12 stories - shot simultaneously on November 2, 2004, from dawn until long past midnight - into one. Factory workers, ex-felons, harried moms, Native-American activists and diligent poll watchers, from South Dakota to Florida, take the process of democracy into their own hands. The result: an entertaining, inspiring and sometimes unsettling tapestry of citizens determined on one fateful day to make their votes count.

WIDE ANGLE
Tuesdays, July 1- July 29, 8 - 9:00 pm
This acclaimed series delivers up-to-the-minute reports from global hotspots to give American television viewers a unique forum for understanding the complex, often dramatic, sometimes explosive and always relevant stories that are shaping the present and future of the world. The premeire episode July 1st, focuses on the rising fears in the Darfur region. With the Darfur Peace Agreement in shambles, the region might be headed for a new cycle of bloodletting. WIDE ANGLE offers character-driven narratives while eschewing on-camera correspondents, think-tank analysts or talking heads. At the end of each documentary, Aaron Brown conducts an interview or presents a short essay to “connect the dots” and offer greater insight into how the subject matter of the program affects Americans.

SOUNDSTAGE
Thursdays, July 3- July 31, 9 - 10:00 pm
Summer concerts feature performances by REO Speedwagon, Bon Jovi, Stevie Nicks and Matchbox Twenty.

A CAPITOL FOURTH 2008
Friday, July 4, 7 - 8:30 pm
Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning film, theater and television actor Jimmy Smits hosts the 28th annual broadcast of A CAPITOL FOURTH, live from Washington, DC. The star-spangled party will feature unrivaled musical performances from some of the country’s best known and award-winning artists like Huey Lewis and the News and rock-and-roll legend, Jerry Lee Lewis. A spectacular fireworks display against silhouettes of the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, follows the musical performances. The event will also feature a special tribute to the Olympic athletes with figure skater and gold medal winner Scott Hamilton. Capping the show will be a rousing rendition of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” complete with live cannon fire provided by the United States Army Presidential Salute Battery, an audience favorite and now A CAPITOL FOURTH tradition.

MASTERPIECE MYSTERY!: Inspector Lewis, Series 1
Sunday, July 6, 8 - 9:30 pm
When an Oxford housewife is found hanged in her home, Lewis and Hathaway unearth a far darker murder case than the initial suicide verdict suggests.

HISTORY DETECTIVES
Mondays, July 7- July 28, 8 - 9:00 pm
America’s top gumshoes are back for a sixth season to prove once again that an object found in an attic or backyard might be anything but ordinary. Some cases they tackle include: a circus program that connects a society woman, FDR and the Boy Scouts; a letter from Ronald Reagan that links a Navy captain to the development of Camp David; sheet music bearing Abraham Lincoln’s signature; and a bell that may have been ringside at Jack Dempsey’s legendary world heavyweight championship match.

CLICK & CLACK’S AS THE WRENCH TURNS
Wednesdays, July 9- July 30, 7 - 8:00 pm
This animated sitcom takes off from the hit NPR show “Car Talk” and follows the on- and off-air escapades of Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers (alter-egos of “Car Talk’s” Tom and Ray Magliozzi), as they try to fix cars, fend off disgruntled customers and seek out increasingly creative ways to goof off. The episodes take place primarily at Car Talk Plaza, a fictional building that houses their radio studio and their famed garage in Harvard Square in the fair city of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

NOVA SCIENCENOW
Wednesdays, July 2- July 30, 8 - 9:00 pm
Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson hosts the third season of this fast-paced and provocative science magazine. Topics investigated include: the implications of personal genetic profiles; early primates; what the songs of zebra finches can tell us about the evolution of language; the glorious but mysterious northern lights; SETI - the search for extraterrestrial intelligence; and brain trauma.

MASTERPIECE MYSTERY!: Foyle’s War, Series V
Sundays, July 13- July 27, 8 - 9:30 pm
The popular World War II whodunit called “a triumph from start to finish” by The Wall Street Journal returns with three new episodes. Far away from the glory of the front, Inspector Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen, “Reckless,” “Oliver Twist”) fights his own battle against murder, mystery and betrayal on the south coast of England.

CHASING CHURCHILL: IN SEARCH OF MY GRANDFATHER
Mondays, July 21 and 28, 9 -10:00 pm
Winston Churchill’s quest for his inner self took two forms: a constant thirst for exotic travel and a passion for the exuberance of painting and the beauty of words. His granddaughter Celia Sandys traveled extensively with Churchill towards the end of his life. Now, she follows in her grandfather’s footsteps. Sandys begins her pursuit of the enigmatic private life of Winston Churchill at Sandhurst Military Academy, which he left in 1894 in search of adventure and danger. After a brief visit to New York, Sandys visits the battlefields of the Cuban uprising of 1895, where Churchill nearly died, and South Africa, where he finally found the fame that brought him public acclaim. Sandys focuses on Churchill’s growing gift with words and his deepening passion for painting acquired during the middle period of his life.