September brings an eclectic collection of offerings for all ages and all tastes: England’s smash hit Call the Midwife comes to America! New PBS KIDS program Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood premieres, introducing the legacy of Mr. Rogers to a whole new generation. For art lovers, two of the world’s best opera company’s take center stage! Also in prime time, the competition unfolds as young actors vie to be America’s best high school musical theater performers. Three local KQED productions (Check, Please! Bay Area, QUEST, and Truly CA) launch new episodes. And this is just the beginning! Here are the highlights for September 2012 on KQED Public Television:
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Premieres Sunday, September 30, at 8pm CALL THE MIDWIFE England’s smash hit comes to America! This moving, intimate, funny and true-to-life series, based on the best-selling memoirs of the late Jennifer Worth, tells colorful stories of midwifery and families in London’s East End in the 1950s. Jenny Lee, a young woman raised in the wealthy English countryside, has chosen to become a midwife and arrives for work in the poorest area of the city. The drama follows Jenny as she meets her patients and learns to love the people who live in the East End. |
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OPERA ON KQED Get your front row seats for two of the leading opera companies in the world! First, enjoy Robert Lepage's groundbreaking new production of Wagner's The Ring Cycle on Great Performances at the Met. Then join celebrated mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade as she hosts the third season of San Francisco Opera's acclaimed series featuring four spectacular productions. All productions are presented in brilliant HD where available.Great Performances at the Met: Wagner’s Ring Cycle Tuesday–Friday, September 11–14, at 7pm on KQED Plus and Sunday, September 16, at 12pm and Sundays, September 23, 30 and October 7, at 11am on KQED 9Wagner's Dream Mon, Sep 10, at 8pm on KQED Plus The award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke’s documentary chronicles the backstage story of the creation of the Metropolitan Opera’s ambitious new staging.San Francisco Opera The Magic Flute: Thursday, September 20 at 8pm on KQED 9 Salome: Thursday, September 27, at 8pm on KQED 9 Il Trittico: Thursday, October 4, at 8pm on KQED 9 Otello: Thursday, October 11, at 8pm on KQED 9 Support for Opera on KQED is provided by a generous gift from Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem. |
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Monday, September 3, at 7am and 4:30pm on KQED 9 DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD A new generation of preschool “neighbors” will get to experience the Neighborhood of Make-Believe with Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, the first TV series inspired by the iconic, award-winning Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. The new show aimed at preschoolers ages 2-4 stars 4-year-old Daniel Tiger, son of the original program’s Daniel Striped Tiger, who invites young viewers into his world, giving them a kid’s-eye view of his life. |
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Sunday, September 9, 16 and 23, at 8pm on KQED 9 BROADWAY OR BUST KQED is bound for Broadway with a prime time documentary series that tracks the real-life stories of America’s top high school musical performers, vying in the ultimate competition to find the nation’s best young theater stars. |
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New episodes begin Wednesday, September 12, at 7:30pm on KQED 9 QUEST From the streets to the lab; from your own backyard to the far reaches of the planet and the depths of space. Get ready to make new discoveries with new episodes of QUEST, KQED’s multimedia science series. |
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New episodes begin Thursday, September 13, at 7:30pm on KQED 9 CHECK, PLEASE! BAY AREA The spotlight is on hidden gems that don’t make the headlines for the seventh season of KQED 9’s must-watch foodie favorite. Three local foodies join host Leslie Sbrocco for each episode to introduce their favorite restaurants and to dish about each other’s choices. For a special treat, don’t miss the season finale on October 25 featuring three of the Bay Area’s most popular television journalists CBS 5’s Thuy Vu, NBC Bay Area’s Raj Mathai and KQED’s very own Andrea Kissack. |
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Sunday, September 23, at 6pm on KQED 9 A BRUSH WITH THE TENDERLOIN (TRULY CA: OUR STATE, OUR STORIES) Truly CA, KQED Public Television’s premiere showcase for documentaries, presents A Brush With the Tenderloin, a cinema vérité documentary that follows a soft-spoken muralist who decides to paint a fanciful mural on one of San Francisco’s diciest street corners. A diverse collection of locals with colorful personalities interact with artist Mona Caron and end up playing key roles in the mural’s evolution. Among the characters, we meet former heroin addict Lisa Demb, neighborhood kite-maker Jeff Marshall and homeless rocker ‘Indian Joe.’ |
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Premieres Sunday, September 9, at 9pm on KQED 9 MASTERPIECE MYSTERY!: WALLANDER, SERIES III In three gripping new episodes, Kenneth Branagh returns to his Emmy-nominated role as the soul-searching Swedish detective created by best-selling novelist Henning Mankell. |
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Wednesday, September 12, at 9pm and 10pm on KQED 9 CALIFORNIA FOREVER The two-part television special that tells the story of California’s magnificent state parks from Yosemite in 1864 to the present day. Together, the two one-hour programs remind viewers of the importance of California’s state parks as well as their priceless legacy. |
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Tuesday, September 4–Thursday, September 6, at 5pm on KQED 9 PBS CONVENTION COVERAGE — A NEWSHOUR SPECIAL REPORT Nightly gavel to gavel coverage of the 2012 Democratic National Convention from Charlotte, NC. Between speeches and events on the convention floor, anchors Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff interview political newsmakers and solicit analysis and perspective from NewsHour regulars Shields and Brooks, presidential historians and others. |
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Tuesday, September 18, at 8pm on KQED 9 AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: DEATH AND THE CIVIL WAR Drawing heavily on This Republic of Suffering, historian and Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust’s acclaimed book, Death and the Civil War explores a critical but largely overlooked aspect of the Civil War experience: the immense and varied implications of the war’s staggering and unprecedented death toll. The program premieres in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of Antietam, the bloodiest one-day battle in American history. |