PBS Story Archives - Page 4 of 5 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Count the Days to January 5 for Masterpiece: Downton Abbey

Celebrate the return of Downton Abbey and dust off your favorite lucky charm–the 2014 Masterpiece Sweepstakes is here! As in previous seasons, this year’s sweepstakes offers one person the chance to win a trip for two adults from the U.S. to Britain. And new this year—four monthly prizes of a $500 shoppbs.org gift certificate.

Enter the 2014 Masterpiece Sweepstakes daily through March 15, 2014, for a chance to win a trip for two adults from the US or Canada to Great Britain! This 5-day, 4-night trip features a VIP reception at Highclere Castle (setting of Downton Abbey), hosted by Lord Carnarvon and Lady Carnarvon, author of Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the Real Downton Abbey. The trip also includes VIP tours of the Museum of London’s forthcoming Sherlock Holmes exhibit and the famous Selfridges & Co. department store. You will also attend the Tower of London’s evening Ceremony of the Keys and enjoy the annual “Battle Proms” concert with fireworks on the grounds of Highclere Castle. Travel must be from July 30-August 4, 2014. You may also win 1 of 4 monthly prizes—gift certificates to purchase PBS merchandise. No purchase necessary; winners will be selected by random drawing. Enter at http://www.pbs.org/sweepstakes

Downton Abbey, Season 4, begins with a two-hour premiere on January 5, 2014 on West Virginia PBS.

Viewership and social media buzz have been soaring since the series launched in January 2011. Season 3
reached a record 24.1 million viewers, more than any other drama in the history of PBS, and the season
had the highest Twitter buzz ever for public television. Join the conversation on Twitter at #DowntonPBS

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.

Enjoy this new concert from 12-year-old pianist, singer and songwriter

Watch Ethan Bortnick The Power of Music Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. on WV PBSJoin Ethan, in this exciting new television concert that was recorded before…

Watch Ethan Bortnick The Power of Music Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. on WV PBS

Join Ethan, in this exciting new television concert that was recorded before a live audience of over 2,000 people. Twelve-year-old Ethan Bortnick — pianist, singer, songwriter, composer, and natural born entertainer — is accompanied by a 50-piece orchestra and a four-piece band, along with 120-member Kids Choir and three background vocalists. It’s a powerhouse combination of musical talent with an upbeat and inspiring song list that will touch you on so many emotional levels!

Ethan’s special guests on the program are Damian McGinty of Glee and Celtic Thunder, and Grammy nominated vocalist Jane Monheit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM7McfgcxSM

Watch this new holiday special from Celtic Woman on WV PBS

Celtic Woman: Home for Christmas

Watch this brand new holiday special on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 9:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 15 at 5:30 p.m. on WV PBS

Internationally renowned for alluring stage productions and songs of heartwarming inspiration, Celtic Woman present their new chapter of musical enchantment in Home For Christmas. Vocalists Lisa Lambe, Susan McFadden, Méav Ni Mhaolchatha and Celtic violinist Máiréad Nesbitt perform timeless holiday favorites (“Silent Night,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” “Joy to the World”) with their signature Celtic twist.

Home For Christmas, directed by Russell Thomas and filmed at Dublin’s Helix Theatre, is both a visual and aural feast. Featuring Ireland’s finest musicians composing a 36-piece orchestra and the 40-member Philharmonic Choir, this large-scale production is a moving and festive celebration of the music cherished for generations.

JFK: Explore a Cultural Icon on WV PBS

Forever enshrined in myth by an assassin’s bullet, Kennedy’s presidency long defied objective appraisal. Recent assessments have revealed an administration long on promise and vigor, and somewhat lacking in tangible accomplishment.

JFK: American Experience begins Tuesday, November 11 at 9 p.m. on West Virginia PBS, and concludes on November 12.

Kennedy’s proposals for a tax cut and civil rights legislation promised significant gains in the months before his assassination. While maturation, as evidenced in the handling of the Cuban missile crisis, was apparent, the potential legacy of the New Frontier will forever be left to speculation.

http://video.wvpubcast.org/video/2365081399/

President Kennedy and his daughter Caroline on a yacht during a weekend in Hyannis Port.

This new portrait offers a fresh assessment of the man, his accomplishments and his unfulfilled promise. Produced and directed by Susan Bellows, JFK features interviews with Kennedy family members and historians including Robert Dallek, Robert Caro, and Evan Thomas. Beginning with Kennedy’s childhood years as the privileged but sickly second son of one of the wealthiest men in America, the film explores his early political career as a lackluster congressman, his successful run for the U.S. Senate, and the game-changing presidential campaign that made him the youngest elected president in U.S. history.

Fifty years later, NOVA investigates the assassination of John F. Kennedy

NOVA: Cold Case JFK premieres Wednesday, November 13 at 9 p.m. on West Virginia PBS

In Cold Case JFK, NOVA follows a unique group of experts trying to unravel the lingering mysteries of the Kennedy assassination. What should have been a homicide investigator’s best-case scenario—a crime that occurred in broad daylight in front of hundreds of witnesses—instead became a forensics nightmare in a case plagued by a mishandled crime scene, a controversial autopsy, and a prime suspect gunned down while in police custody.

NOVA combines cutting edge technology and contemporary scientific techniques with archival footage and expert interviews to recreate the crime and the Warren Commission’s investigation–examining the shooting, the assassination scene, the medical information and wounds, and the evidence found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.

The film features several exclusive elements: For the first time since the original investigation by the FBI laboratory, forensic scientists trained and experienced in both firearms identification and shooting scene reconstruction review and evaluate the ballistics evidence in the JFK assassination. These experts apply new technology, not available until recently, to this historic crime.

http://video.wvpubcast.org/video/2365105347/

Renowned JFK assassination expert and professor John McAdams weighs in on the findings of the original Warren Commission, the deficiencies of the medical and autopsy evidence, and the lack of understanding on the part of the Kennedy camp on the need for a forensic autopsy at the time.

Veteran investigator Josiah Thompson also studies the most famous “eye witness” account of that day: the 8mm Zapruder film—perhaps the best known “home movie” in history–which captures the shooting and wounds sustained by both the president and the Texas governor as their motorcade rides through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas.

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy was a defining moment in our nation’s history and one that continues to perplex us. It was also the murder of a man. A half-century later, the shooting remains controversial to a majority of the public that doubts the Warren Commission findings that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. In Cold Case JFK, NOVA shows viewers the importance of re-examining the evidence of prior eras using the technology and tools of today to try to unlock the secrets of the past and yield important new insights.

JFK: One PM Central Standard Time recounts Walter Cronkite's iconic news coverage

This documentary is part of a series of PBS primetime special programs airing November 11-13 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the President’s death

JFK: One PM Central Standard Time, a Secrets of the Dead special presentation, airs Wednesday, November 13 at 10 p.m. on West Virginia PBS.

http://video.wvpubcast.org/video/2365090806/

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the 35^th President of the United States serving from January 20, 1961 until his assassination on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. Five decades later, as we mark the 50^th anniversary of his death, JFK: One PM Central Standard Time tells the story of two men, one the President of the United States John F. Kennedy – shot in Dallas and rushed to Parkland hospital, his fate unknown – and the other respected CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite, knowing he had to get the story right amid myriad uncertainties that tragic day.

Narrated by George Clooney and featuring interviews with President Bill Clinton and Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor, NBC Nightly News and Rock Center with Brian Williams, the special recounts the riveting story of the reporting from Dallas and the New York CBS Newsroom from the moment President Kennedy was shot until Cronkite’s emotional pronouncement of his death at 1 p.m. CST.

The program features moving memories from the producers, writers and reporters who were there on the day, including Dan Rather, Bob Schieffer, Marvin Kalb and Marianne Means.