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THURSDAY 16 8:00 (2) Peter and Paul and the Christian Revolution: The Rock and the River. This series about the early days of the Christ movement follows Sts. Peter and Paul through persecution and propaganda as they spread the new faith throughout the Roman Empire. With New Testament readings, expert commentary, and some re-enactments. (Until 9 p.m.) 10:00 (2) Soundstage: Chris Isaak Christmas. Isaak records his highly personal Christmas album with help from Stevie Nicks, Brian McKnight, and Michael Bublé. To be repeated on Friday at 2 a.m. (Until 11 p.m.) FRIDAY 17 9:00 (44) This Is a Game, Ladies. Repeated from last week. A documentary about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team and its coach, C. Vivian Stringer, who came to wider prominence recently as part of the coaching team behind the 2004 Gold Medal US women’s Olympic basketball squad. The focus is on the Scarlet Knights’ 2000–2001 season. To be repeated on Saturday at 6 p.m. on Channel 2. (Until 11 p.m.) 1:00 a.m. (2) Great Performances: Bill Irwin: Clown Prince. So who’s Bill Irwin, you ask? We gather that Theater People know. He’s an "actor, director, choreographer, clown" who "defies categorization." His original Broadway works include Full Moon, The Regard of Flight, and Largely/New York. He also had something to do with staging a production of Waiting for Godot with Steve Martin and Robin Williams. And just to prove how hilarious the guy really is, he worked on Robert Altman’s laughing stock of a film Popeye. This show covers all that and Irwin’s "lifelong pursuit of the clown" (who appears to have gone into hiding, possibly for good reason). To be repeated on Sunday at 4 p.m. and midnight. (Until 1 a.m.) SATURDAY 18 1:30 (12) Football. The Pittsburgh Steelers versus the New York Giants. 4:00 (10) Andrea Bocelli Tribute on Ice. We don’t care how inspired and uplifting the guy is, blind people should not be encouraged to skate with the pros. The pros involved in this peculiar show include Brians Boitano and Orser, Todd Eldredge, Ekaterina Gordeeva, Nicole Bobek, Caryn Kadavy, and Shae-Lynn Bourne. (Until 6 p.m.) 5:00 (12) Basketball. Oklahoma versus Duke. 5:00 (64) Football. The Washington Redskins versus the San Francisco 49ers. 8:00 (2) Keeping Up Appearances Christmas Shows. Not that this Patricia Routledge comedy is all that funny in the first place, but it has its following. Here we get Christmas episodes from 1991, 1994, and 1995. (Until 9:50 p.m.) 8:00 (6) Remember the Titans (movie). A 2000 Disney offering starring Denzel Washington as the coach of a newly integrated high-school football team. (Until 11 p.m.) 8:00 (44) Doctor Zhivago (movie). This is actually the 1965 David Lean–directed epic starring Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Alec Guinness, and Rod Steiger and not the shallow TV remake with Keira Knightley. (Until 11:30 p.m.) 9:50 (2) Are You Being Served? Christmas Shows. The long-running gay-bathhouse revue checks in with two of its relentlessly not-funny holiday episodes: 1975’s "Christmas Crackers," and 1979’s "Punch and Judy." We know there are diehard fans of this thing; we just don’t understand why they exist (or why WGBH finds them such a valuable audience segment). (Until 11 p.m.) SUNDAY 19 1:00 (12) Football. The Denver Broncos versus the Kansas City Chiefs. 1:00 (64) Football. The Seattle Seahawks versus the New York Jets. 4:00 (12) Football. The Jacksonville Jaguars versus the Green Bay Packers. 5:00 (2) Christmas at Baylor. Seasonal songs from Waco, Texas, featuring Baylor’s 150-voice Choral Union, the Baylor Symphony Orchestra, the Baylor Chamber Singers, and the Baylor A Cappella Choir. To be repeated tonight at 1 a.m. (Until 6 p.m.) 6:00 (2) Newport Jazz Festival 2003. This was meant to be highlights from the past summer’s show (the 50th-anniversary fest) at Fort Adams State Park featuring a lot of pick-up combos paying tributes to jazz history’s greats. But it turns out the 2004 highlight film won’t be available until 2005, so this is something from last year. (Until 7 p.m.) 7:00 (2) LA Holiday Celebration. First we heard of it, but for the past 43-plus years, it seems, Los Angeles has hosted an extravaganza showcasing the talents and holiday traditions of the city’s various and varied neighborhoods. This is actually the 2002 edition, edited down from six hours of performances recorded at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Music Center. (Until 8 p.m.) 9:00 (2) Masterpiece Theatre: Doctor Zhivago, part one. The Keira Knightley remake we warned you about earlier. Rather a far cry from the film version and removed farther yet from the politics-heavy Pasternak novel. Hans Matheson plays the title medic/poet; creepy Sam Neill stands in for Rod Steiger as Komarovsky. To be repeated tonight at 4 a.m., and at 1 and 4 a.m. on Channel 44. (Until 11 p.m.) 9:00 (12) Fallen Angel (movie). Redemption for the holidays. Gary Sinise plays a lawyer who goes back to his home town and finds love, forgiveness, and Joely Richardson. (Until 11 p.m.) 9:00 (44) Independent Lens: The Day My God Died. A documentary that puts a human face on the sex trade that forces young girls from Nepal to work in the filthy brothels of Bombay through a series of first-person victim profiles. Plus a look at advocates and activists who are working to dismantle the flesh market. (Until 10 p.m.) 10:00 (44) Indie Select: Shahrbanoo. This is a bit confusing and difficult to explain. Melissa, an American woman, marries an Iranian and goes to live in Tehran, where she meets Shahrbanoo, a housekeeper who introduces her to some sort of women’s discussion group. Needless to say, the discussions leap some cultural gaps. (Until 11 p.m.) 11:00 (44) Austin City Limits. Featuring music from Michael McDonald and Joss Stone. (Until midnight.) MONDAY 20 8:00 (2) Dickens: Secrets, Blazing Away, and Terror to the End. Hey, Christmas means Charles Dickens, right? So by that logic, we get this fairly negative three-part profile of the great writer hosted by Chas biographer Peter Ackroyd. The first hour covers the influential women in Dickens’s life — mother, wife, and mistress. Part two describes his literary fame and his social climbing. And finally, we watch his home life fall apart as his tortured wife goes mad and he gravitates toward the affections of actress Ellen Ternan. To be repeated tonight at 1 a.m. (Until 11 p.m.) 9:00 (6) Football. The Pats versus the Miami Dolphins. 9:00 (44) Mystery: Death in Holy Orders, part one. Martin Shaw plays Adam Dalgliesh in this truly complex adaptation of a P.D. James novel about the supposed accidental death of a seminary student that also has a long-winded subplot about closing and selling off St. Anselm’s College. Pretty good if you stick with it — and possibly take notes. (Until 10:30 p.m.) 1:00 a.m. (44) The American Experience: Miss America. An exhaustive look at the history and the cultural import of the nation’s oldest surviving beauty pageant. Featuring interviews with contestants and boycotters and an examination of how this silly event became a hot-button women’s-politics issue. To be repeated tonight at 4 a.m. (Until 3 a.m.) TUESDAY 21 7:30 (2) La Plaza: Conversations with Ilan Stavans: Paquito d’Rivera. An interview with the former Cuban child prodigy and lifetime jazz sensation. (Until 8 p.m.) 8:00 (2) Nova: The Elegant Universe: Einstein’s Dream and String’s the Thing. Do you understand string theory? For that matter, do you see the need for a unified theory of stuff that explains everything that’s ever happened (or will)? Well, some people devote much thought to these very issues, and host Brian Greene thinks he can explain them to you in this multi-part physics special. These initial two hours consider Einstein’s failure to explain everything and the birth of string theory through the rediscovery of a 200-year-old formula. To be repeated tonight at 1 and 4 a.m. on Channels 2 and 44. (Until 10 p.m.) 8:00 (44) Globe Trekker: Ultimate Italy. Continuing this season’s run of anthology shows, GT gives us Trekker Megan McCormick on skis (and not shopping, for a change), Trekker Justine Shapiro fishing for sea urchins and shedding a tear for Pompeii, and Trekker Estelle Bingham failing to make pizza. To be repeated on Wednesday at 1 a.m. on Channel 2. (Until 9 p.m.) 10:00 (2) Nova: The Elegant Universe: Welcome to the 11th Dimension. That’s so far beyond the Twilight Zone, it’s not even funny. The conclusion of this Theory of Everything for Everybody documentary visits Princeton, where in 1995, Edward Witten combined the five existing string-theory versions into one big . . . uh . . . multi-dimensional strung-out monster called, appropriately, M-theory. To be repeated tonight at 3 a.m. (Until 11 p.m.) 3:00 a.m. (44) Independent Lens: Fine and Doki-Doki. Two experiential films, the first about a factory worker who doubts the validity of his chosen life over lunch with a co-worker, the second about a Japanese woman who decides to probe the private lives of her fellow commuters. (Until 4 a.m.) WEDNESDAY 22 7:30 (2) Arthur’s Perfect Christmas. He bills this as Christmas, but the ever politically correct Arthur gives equal time to Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. No doubt a heartwarmer whatever your faith. (Until 8:30 p.m.) 8:00 (44) The Civil War: A Very Bloody Affair (1862) and Forever Free (1862). The remastered version of Ken Burns’s documentary masterpiece continues with two installments devoted to the slavery issue and the war’s progress, which in ’62 was largely progress on the South’s part. (Until 10:30 p.m.) 8:30 (2) The Greatest Store in the World. Proof that some homeless families have fun. A mom and her two daughters decide to hide out in a department store for the holidays, only to end up playing cat-and-mouse with a wicked Santa impersonator and his henchman elf. (Until 9 p.m.) 1:00 a.m. (44) Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Christmas the way Governor Romney likes it — from Temple Square in the truly peculiar town of Salt Lake City. Joining the world-famous choir will be world-famous mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and world-famous baritone Bryn Terfel. Featuring carols from around the world. To be repeated tonight at 3 a.m., and at 4 a.m. on Channel 2, and on Thursday at 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. on Channel 2. (Until 2 a.m.) 2:00 a.m. (44) Christmas at Belmont. No, not Governor Romney’s Belmont, but Belmont University, one of the many places we’ve never heard of. It’s in Nashville, it specializes in the performing arts, and every year the music department there stages a Christmas concert. This year’s host is Brenda "Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree" Lee. To be repeated tonight at 4 a.m., and at 5 a.m. on Channel 2, and on Thursday at 5 a.m. on Channel 44. Only the sleepless celebrate Christmas in song. (Until 3 a.m.) THURSDAY 23 7:30 (2) Basic Black: A Conversation with Antwone Fisher. Host Darren Duarte talks with the subject of Denzel Washington’s 2002 movie of the same name — the story of a violent man salvaged by a shrink who uncovers his abused childhood. (Until 8 p.m.) 8:00 (2) Peter and Paul and the Christian Revolution: The Empire and the Kingdom. The history of the early Christ movement continues with a look at how the title apostles spread the Word throughout the Roman Empire, which turned out to be a good idea because after a failed Jewish revolt left Jerusalem in ruins, the new church need somewhere to take root. (Until 9 p.m.) 8:00 (6) The Santa Clause (movie). Tim Allen stars in the heartwarming tale of a man who kills Santa and takes his place. (Until 10 p.m.) 9:00 (2) Andrea Bocelli: Sacred Arias. Andy goes to Rome for the holidays and sits in with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, under Myung-Whun Chung, for a no-surprises selection of Schubert, Verdi, and traditional carols. To be repeated tonight at 1 a.m. (Until 10 p.m.) |
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Issue Date: December 17 - 23, 2004 Back to the Television table of contents |
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