FEATURED PROGRAMS on Blue Ridge PBS
Be sure to check our schedule for additional air times!
American Masters
Tuesdays
Explore the lives and creative journeys of America’s most enduring artistic and cultural giants. With insight and originality, the series illuminates the extraordinary mosaic of our nation’s landscape, heritage and traditions.
April 1 @ 9pm – Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story
Take an intimate look into the life of Liza Minnelli, best known for her Oscar-winning role in Cabaret. Following in the footsteps of her mother Judy Garland, Minnelli used her boundless raw talent to build her own legacy in showbiz.
April 15 @ 10pm – Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse
Explore the work of cartoonist Art Spiegelman and the impact of his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus, about his parents’ survival of the Holocaust. A defender of free speech, Spiegelman has spoken out as book bans spread across the country.
Antiques Roadshow
Mondays @ 8pm
Part adventure, part history lesson, part treasure hunt
April 7 – Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms, Hour 3
ROADSHOW visits Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms in search of treasures including a WWII WASP archive, a fire helmet & fire parade hat, and a 1956 - 1968 Al Oerter Olympic collection. Guess the top $400,000 find!
April 14 – Maryland Zoo, Hour 1
Watch astonishing treasures from ROADSHOW’s Baltimore stop, including 1865 Lewis M. Rutherford lunar photographs, a Patek Philippe & Tiffany platinum pocket watch, ca. 1910 and Lynne Drexler oil paintings. One is worth up to $570,000!
April 21 – Maryland Zoo, Hour 2
ROADSHOW finds rare treasures at Maryland Zoo including 1973 Topps uncut card sheets, a ring collection, ca. 1970 and a 1967 Ram Kumar oil painting. Can you guess the top $180,000 treasure?
April 28 – Maryland Zoo, Hour 3
ROADSHOW searches for hidden treasures in Maryland including George Patton's gold WWI trench watch, a 1949 Charles Loloma pot, and a 1944 Joseph Erlanger's Nobel Prize & diploma. One is valued at $150,000 to $200,000! Plus, there's a face viewers from Southwest Virginia will recognize!
Austin City Limits Celebrates 50 Years
Friday, April 4 @ 9pm
The brightest stars in the show's history return to the ACL stage for a celebration a half-century in the making: including Chris Stapleton, Gary Clark Jr., Lyle Lovett, Billy Strings, Rufus Wainwright, Indigo Girls, and The Mavericks.
Call the Midwife
Sundays @ 8pm
Set in 1970, Nonnatus House faces various complex social and health challenges as the new decade begins.
April 6 – Episode 2
Trixie cares for a single mother recently discharged from a psychiatric hospital.
April 13 – Episode 3
Rosalind delivers a baby with a suspicious spinal lesion. A sudden gas explosion shocks all.
April 20 – Episode 4
The sisters welcome a new postulant, Sister Catherine, to Nonnatus House.
April 27 – Episode 5
The Nonnatus team oversee the care of a man living inside an iron lung.
Changing Planet
Tuesday, April 23 @ 10pm
In its second year, CHANGING PLANET revisits six of our planet’s most vulnerable ecosystems and catches up with the truly inspiring people introduced in the first season: scientists and local experts fighting to safeguard their communities and wildlife, and charting the progress of their game-changing environmental projects. Join conservation scientist Dr. M. Sanjayan to meet new faces who’ll deepen our understanding of these habitats and introduce new potential solutions to combat the effects of the climate crisis.
The Corridors of Power
Monday, April 14 @ 10pm
After the Soviet Union's collapse, America became the world’s sole superpower. But at what cost? Rare archives and in-depth testimony offer insights into the "what" and "why" behind the White House’s key decision-makers.
Finding Your Roots – NEW EPISODES!
Tuesdays @ 8pm
Explore the mysteries, surprises and revelations hidden in the family trees of popular figures.
April 1 – Moving on Up
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. maps the roots of actor Sheryl Lee Ralph & historian Lonnie Bunch.
April 8 – Finding My Roots
Family mysteries are solved for actor Laurence Fishburne & scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Frontline: Alaska’s Vanishing Villages
Tuesday, April 22 @ 10pm
Alaska Native villages fighting for survival against climate change. With the Howard Center at ASU, why communities are relocating, and struggling to preserve their traditions. Also: an investigation into Russian atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine.
The Future of Nature
Tuesdays @ 10pm
Follow a growing number of inspiring people, fighting to save nature. Understand the impact of carbon on our planet and how nature is helping to mitigate its effects.
April 2 – Grasslands
Explore the planet’s rich grasslands, dynamic, huge, and above all vital for our planet’s future.
April 9 – Forests
Understand the carbon drawdown superpower of forests, and why restoring and protecting them is critical.
April 16 – Humans
Discover how humans can become a force for good throughout the natural world.
The Glencoe Sessions
Saturdays @ 9:30pm
FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge in partnership with the Glencoe Mansion Museum presented "The Glencoe Sessions” in fall 2024 that featured an intimate "listening session" with musicians from the Blue Ridge region
April 5 – Jim Lloyd
Musical eclectic, singer, old-time banjo great, public radio host, music teacher, bluegrass rhythm guitarist, storyteller, banjo museum curator, barber of Rural Retreat, Virginia, Jim Lloyd puts his mountain guitar expertise front and center on Play Guitar in 7 Days.
April 12 – Pythagoras
Forged in the heart of Johnson City, Tennessee, Pythagoras pushes the boundaries of bluegrass and acoustic music.
April 19 – Earl White
A fixture in the old time music community for nearly 50 years, Earl White is known for his broad collection of tunes and his driving style.
April 26 – Domino
In the heart of Nashville, the trio of Cole Ritter, Luca Chiappara, and Addie Levy weaves a stellar blend of Bluegrass, Jazz, and Swing. Their music, polished through years of exploration, brings a magic to the stage.
Great Performances: Now Hear This - NEW SEASON!
Fridays @ 9pm
Join Scott Yoo, renowned violinist and conductor of the Mexico City Philharmonic, on a voyage of music discovery in NOW HEAR THIS. Explore new stories of gifted young artists, virtuosos, unique collaborations, and Yoo's experiences as a composer.
April 11 – Chopin's Polish Heart
Explore Chopin’s musical evolution from Poland to Paris with Scott Yoo and pianist Jan Lisiecki.
April 18 – Boccherini: Night Music
Explore Boccherini’s love for Madrid through a musical night tour of the city with Scott Yoo.
April 25 – Rachmaninoff Reborn
Discover Rachmaninoff's reinvention as an American artist after losing everything in Russia.
Independent Lens: We Want the Funk
Tuesday, April 9 @ 9pm
Some of the best funk artists in history—like James Brown, George Clinton, Labelle, and Afrofunk star Fela Kuti—are featured in this musical voyage showing funk's early roots to the explosion of '70s urban funk and beyond.
Marie Antoinette
Sundays @ 10pm
Marie Antoinette knows that her enemies are waiting to destroy her as she and Louis face an unprecedented financial crisis. Provence and Chartres stir up the hatred of the nobles while disastrous consequences loom as the revolt rumbles on.
April 6 – Treacherous Legacy
The people of Paris openly protest against Marie Antoinette as she protects her unborn child.
April 13 – The Pursuit of Happiness
Marie Antoinette overhauls her image, and the King and Queen find happiness when they experience a taste of "ordinary" life.
April 20 – Enemies Assemble
When Marie Antoinette is implicated in the diamond necklace theft, she is determined to prove her innocence and punish those responsible.
April 27 – Hated, Humbled, Mortified
As the public trial begins, events quickly spiral out of Marie Antoinette and Louis’s control.
Nature
Tuesdays @ 8pm
Forty years on, Nature is the premier voice for the natural world, an essential lens on the creatures, great and small, that sustain us all on our living planet.
April 2 – Katavi: Africa’s Fallen Paradise – Sanctuary
Meet the hippo, crocodile and lion families of Katavi, navigating the worst drought in a century.
April 9 – Katavi: Africa’s Fallen Paradise – Purgatory
Hippos fight, cubs face a rogue male lion, and fire and ash sweep across the parched land of Katavi.
April 16 – Katavi: Africa’s Fallen Paradise – Salvation
After drought, the rains finally come. But can Katavi sustain the flooding?
April 23 – Penguins: Meet the Family
Meet all 18 species of penguins from all over the world.
April 30 – Niagara Falls
Embark to Niagara Falls and witness its amazing beauty and the wildlife that call it home.
NOVA
Tuesdays @ 9pm
Explore the science behind the headlines in PBS's premier science series.
April 9 – Revolutionary War Weapons
How did a ragtag army defeat the most powerful army in the world to win American independence? Discover the key military technologies that helped propel the colonies to victory, from the Brown Bess musket to the world’s first military submarine.
April 16 – Secrets of the Forest
Follow researchers around the globe as they race to understand how nature processes and responds to carbon on the largest scales and how microorganisms, plants, animals, and humans combine to sustain healthy ecosystems.
April 23 – Arctic Sinkholes
Scientists investigate colossal explosions in Siberia and other evidence that rapidly melting soil in the Arctic is releasing vast amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. What are the implications for our climate future?
April 30 – Critical Condition: Health in Black America
This two-hour feature documentary produced by acclaimed Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson traces the roots of systemic racism in our medical system and the biological impacts of discrimination on the body to understand why Black Americans experience such disproportionately poor health outcomes - and did long before COVID-19 highlighted the devastating health disparities in our country.
Pati Jinich Explores Panamericana
Tuesdays, April 29 – May 13 @ 9pm
Join chef Pati Jinich on a journey inspired by the Pan-American Highway to celebrate the many cultures of the Americas and how they enrich each other. Follow her as she travels from the top of Alaska through Alberta.
Simon Schama: The Holocaust, 80 Years On
Tuesday, April 22 @ 9pm
In the year marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the last concentration camps, renowned historian Sir Simon Schama confronts the history of the Holocaust as not just a Nazi obsession, but as a European-wide crime. In the most personal and unflinching film of his career, Simon visits mass killing sites in Lithuania, the home of his mother's family. He travels to the Netherlands, a nation famed for its long history of tolerance and where he lived and worked as a young historian, to answer the question of why fewer Jews survived here than in any other Western occupied country. And despite a lifetime dedicated to documenting Jewish history, this film also captures the emotional toll of Simon's first ever visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Velvet - SEASON FINALE!
Thursday, April 3 @ 9pm
The big day has come, and Cristina must approve the new dress Ana made overnight. Alberto receives a mysterious letter.
Water for Life
Monday, April 21 @ 10pm
Meet three Latin American community leaders who risked their lives to resist government and corporate plans to divert critical local water resources to mining and hydroelectric projects. Narrated by Diego Luna.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light
Sundays @ 9pm
The series traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell’s (Mark Rylance) life and journey to become the most influential figure of his time under the notorious King Henry VIII (Damian Lewis). Jonathan Pryce, Kate Phillips, Lilit Lesser, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster return in their original roles.
April 6 – Defiance
Rebels in the North demand Cromwell’s head and a return to the old Catholic ways. With King Henry VIII beginning to contemplate his chief adviser’s failings, Cromwell withdraws from court and receives unexpected news from across the sea.
April 13 – Jenneke
The birth of a prince comes at a terrible price and Cromwell must help the King remarry. With European politics in disarray, Cromwell sees a chance to form a new alliance.
April 20 – Mirror
Cromwell brings Anne of Cleves to England to be Henry’s new wife. With France and the Holy Roman Emperor together threatening to invade England, the marriage will cement an alliance between the powerful reforming princes of Europe and defend England from attack.
SEASON FINALE! April 27 – Light
Fortune’s wheel turns as Cromwell finally finds himself in Henry’s crosshairs. Charged with treason and feeling the axe’s edge, only a masterstroke of political maneuvering can save him from the scaffold now.