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Programming

Best Bets - Week of 2/8/10

Posted by Greg Petersen on 02/08 at 03:38 PM

Blueprints and Genealogy Highlight the Week ...

TV: BLUEPRINT AMERICA: BEYOND THE MOTOR CITY – Monday, 10pm – Miles O’Brien examines whether Detroit can transform itself into a modern hub of public transit. Included: Spain’s extensive transit systems; a 2008 voter referendum in California on a high-speed rail system.

TV: FACES OF AMERICA WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. – Wednesday, 8pm – “The Promise of America” – What made America? What makes us? These two questions are at the heart of this new series. The Harvard scholar turns to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12 renowned Americans — professor and poet Elizabeth Alexander, chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Louise Erdrich, journalist Malcolm Gladwell, actress Eva Longoria, musician Yo-Yo Ma, director Mike Nichols, Her Majesty Queen Noor, television host/heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, actress Meryl Streep, and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi.

TV: LOCKED OUT: THE FALL OF MASSIVE RESISTANCE – Saturday, 6pm – Recalling white resistance to the desegregation of Virginia public schools in the late 1950s. It was codified in state laws (termed “massive resistance” by Sen. Harry F. Byrd) that were overturned in 1959.

TV: SCARRED JUSTICE: THE ORANGEBURG MASSACRE 1968 – Sunday 6pm – Filmmaker Bestor Cram examines a tragic act of police violence that occurred in 1968 when a group of African-American students were shot and killed while protesting a segregated bowling alley.