Category: TV

Nature dives into "Saving Otter 501"

Nature tells the story of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s 501st attempt to save a stranded orphan otter and teach it to fend for itself in the wild when…

Nature tells the story of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s 501st attempt to save a stranded orphan otter and teach it to fend for itself in the wild when Saving Otter 501 airs on Wednesday, October 16 at 8 p.m. on West Virginia PBS.

http://video.wvpubcast.org/video/2365094383/

After the broadcast, the episode will be available for online streaming at  pbs.org/nature.

From her discovery as a newborn pup crying on the beach, through her rehabilitation in secret roof tanks atop the Monterey Bay Aquarium, follow Otter 501 as she learns how to survive in the wild. Watch as she is introduced to her surrogate mother — a method invented by marine biologist Karl Mayer and his team in 2005 — and follow as she struggles to learn how to dive, hunt, eat, and fend for herself in an artificial environment meant to mimic the “real world.”

It is a tale of mysterious threats, persistent failures and small victories, where survival is a long shot at best. Throughout, Otter 501 acts as a lens. Her story reveals a previously unseen world of otter behavior and also acts to illuminate some of the most difficult ecological questions of our time: Do we have a responsibility to save species that hover on the edge? Are our actions the cause of the illnesses sweeping through the sea otter population? And since we simply can’t return the world to its pristine pre-human form, are preservation efforts like this doomed to fail?

Otter 501’s survival may hold the hint of an answer. California sea otters are struggling in the wild and no one quite knows why. Hunted to near extinction for their fur since the mid-18th Century, the hidden enclave of approximately 50 otters discovered near Big Sur in 1938 was a surprise to many along the California coast. The entire current population of about 2800 can trace their origins to that group of 50, but they all live in one small area which is a problem. One localized event, like an oil spill, could wipe them all out. That’s why their status is listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.

Find video clips, educational materials, and more at the PBS Nature website.

Credit Randy Wilder / Monterey Bay Aquarium
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Toola the southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis), acting as a surrogate mom to orphaned SORAC pup #327. Monterey, CA.

 

Masterpiece: Downton Abbey, Season 4

The most-watched drama in PBS history enters its fourth gripping season with the whole world waiting to learn how the beloved characters deal with a shocking tragedy.

See a preview from Season 4:

http://video.wvpubcast.org/video/2365089408/

The acclaimed ensemble is back, together with returning guest star Academy Award®-winner Shirley MacLaine and new guest star Paul Giamatti. Also joining the cast are Harriet Walter, Gary Carr, Joanna David, and Tom Cullen, as the legend continues on Downton Abbey, Season 4, airing over eight Sundays beginning with a two-hour premiere on January 5, 2014 on West Virginia PBS.

The returning cast includes Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Joanne Froggatt, Rob James-Collier, Lily James, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Dame Maggie Smith, Penelope Wilton, and a host of others, joined by Shirley MacLaine (Oscar® for Best Actress, Terms of Endearment), who reprises her role as Martha Levinson, the forthright American mother of Cora, Countess of Grantham (McGovern). Martha again battles wits with Cora’s wickedly acerbic mother-in-law, Violet (Smith).

Among the new faces are Paul Giamatti (Sideways) as Cora’s playboy brother, Harold, who appears in the season finale; Dame Harriet Walter (Little Dorrit) as Violet’s old friend Lady Shackleton; Gary Carr (Death in Paradise) as jazz singer Jack Ross; Joanna David (Bleak House) as the Duchess of Yeovil; Tom Cullen (World Without End) as the dashing Lord Gillingham, and Julian Ovenden (Smash, Any Human Heart) as an unexpected houseguest.

All who tuned in last season know that Matthew Crawley—heir to Downton Abbey, husband to Lady Mary (Dockery), and brand new father to a baby boy and successor—lies dead on a country road next to his overturned roadster. On top of this, the family is still grieving over the death in childbirth of Sybil, Mary’s youngest sister, who also left a baby behind.

Season 4 opens six months later. Although it is the 1920s, Britain still observes mourning rituals that are almost Victorian in their solemnity. Nonetheless, the Crawleys are beginning to snap out of it: Robert, Lord Grantham (Bonneville), must manage the estate without his canny son-in-law; Cora suddenly faces a staffing crisis; Violet, who has seen enough tragedy, knows how to recoup quickly; Isobel (Wilton), Matthew’s mother, may never recover; Edith (Carmichael), who was jilted at the altar, tempts scandal with a new beau; and Mary now finds herself the most desirable widow in Yorkshire.

The servants also pick up, buck up, and get on with it—with new arrivals, departures, rivalries, and betrayals among the downstairs staff. Life goes on at Downton Abbey.

Written and created by Julian Fellowes, the series has won many accolades include nine Emmys®, two Golden Globes®, and a coveted Screen Actors Guild Award® for the ensemble cast.

Celebrating Irene McKinney, Sept. 15, 2013

Irene McKinney was West Virginia’s Poet Laureate until her death in 2012. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDK8phzLiQg

This is an edited documentation of a multi-media celebration of the life and works of West Virginia poet Irene McKinney (1939-2012). The event was hosted by Marc Harshman, the new poet laureate of West Virginia.  Insights and readings are shared by Maggie Anderson, Jeff Mann, Devon McNamara, Jessie van Eerden, and Barbara Weaner.  West Virginia Public Broadcasting and John Nakashima provided montages of radio and video clips from some of Irene’s most memorable interviews and readings.  And Kate Long sang “Goodnight, Irene.”  Recorded at the Culture Center in Charleston, WV.  

Frank Kearns: American Correspondent Screening

Frank Kearns: American Correspondent

Screening and panel discussion

Room 205, Martin Hall

West Virginia University, Morgantown

Monday, September 30 at 7 p.m.

West Virginia University’s chapter of RTDNA (Radio Television Digital News Association) is hosting a screening of the Emmy award-winning documentary, Frank Kearns: American Correspondent.  The event is free and open to the public.  A panel discussion with the documentary’s writer, director, and producer Gerald Davis; producer and director of photography Chip Hitchcock; and editor John Nakashima will follow the screening.  

The documentary introduces the life and award-winning work of CBS News correspondent and former WVU School of Journalism professor Frank M. Kearns.  For 20 years, beginning in the 1950s, Kearns reported for CBS News from Africa and the Middle East.  In 1971, he returned to his alma mater in to teach and was named the distinguished Benedum Professor of Journalism. He retired in 1983.  During that time, a former CBS news executive told Congress that Kearns also worked for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency while he was reporting for CBS in the 1950s.  Kearns denied this accusation until his death from cancer in 1986.

This documentary premiered on West Virginia PBS and also aired on select PBS stations nationwide in 2012.  It won a regional Emmy this year.

Clifftop – the Appalachian String Band Music Festival.

  A documentary look at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival -aka Clifftop – where many of the participants are musicians. Each night at any given moment,there are literally a hundred jam sessions going on. The documentary  also explores the evolving concepts behind Old Time. Also featured are interviews and performances of legendary West Virginia fiddler Lester McCumbers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03lusDmD_v4

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