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HISTORY DETECTIVES

Monday, July 6 at 9 p.m.

History Detectives stares down the barrel of a shotgun for clues that one of Al Capone’s men fired it at the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. The barrel and the stock were shortened the way the Capone gang liked its guns. Thirty years before John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln, Booth’s father threatened to kill Andrew Jackson. The writer insists that Jackson pardon two men who were sentenced to death. Was the letter a hoax? Or did assassination run in the Booth blood? In Michigan a man who collects war munitions snapped up an item at an estate auction that looked like a Civil War-era weapon. On closer inspection he decided he had a grave alarm: an explosive device meant to guard against grave robbers. Is this truly a grave alarm?

Meet the newest detective, Eduardo Pagan

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Origins of the Mortgage Crisis in South Florida

From this week's ISSUES with Helen Ferre, a look at the roots of the current mortgage crisis in South Florida.

Watch here

DTV Ready?

Nielsen reports progress continues to be made with switching all US households to DTV. Since the actual transition date of June 12, more than 800,000 US homes have made the switch with half that number converting last week. This now leaves 1.5% of US homes or 1.7 million total homes remaining completely unready.

Actress Mollie Sugden dies at 86

The TV star, best known for playing Mrs Slocombe in long-running BBC sitcom Are You Being Served?, died at the Royal Surrey Hospital after a long illness.

The Yorkshire-born actress's twin sons, Robin and Simon Moore, were at her bedside, agent Joan Reddin said.

David Croft, one of the writers of Are You Being Served?, remembered her as a "marvellous character" who would never turn down chances to make people laugh.

"She would never refuse any sort of comedy situation no matter how undignified it was she would always go along with it. She was marvellously funny," he said.

'Lovely person'

Actor Frank Thornton, who played Captain Peacock in the sitcom, told the BBC she was part of a very happy team.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - uVuSouthFlorida Video

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - uVuSouthFlorida Video

A CAPITOL FOURTH 2009

Saturday, July 4 at 8 p.m. Actor Jimmy Smits returns to host the biggest and brightest birthday party in the country, featuring Barry Manilow along with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Choral Arts Society of Washington. A star-studded cast including Aretha Franklin, Natasha Bedingfield and the cast of Jersey Boys will light up the stage on the West Lawn of the United States Capitol. As a special treat for the entire family, the Sesame Street gang will be on hand to celebrate America’s 233rd birthday. The Muppets will perform a medley of patriotic favorites. A Capitol fourth will be broadcast live on National Public Radio and around the world to American troops on the American Forces Radio and Television Network. Test your knowledge of the 4th

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BBC adaptation heads to the US

25 June, 2009 | By Will Hurrell

The BBC’s adaptation of award-winning novel Small Island will air in the US following a move by PBS, a key investor in UK drama, to come on board as co-producer.

The 2 x 90-minute drama, which stars Pirates of the Caribbean’s Naomie Harris, is being produced by Ruby Television and is an adaptation of Andrea Levy’s bestselling novel, which won the 2005 Orange, Whitbread and Commonwealth writers’ prizes.

Small Island will air in the US on the Masterpiece strand, a regular slot on PBS that is produced by its Boston-based, non-commercial television and radio service WGBH. The deal was brokered by BBC Worldwide.

Read the full article here.

AMERICAN MASTERS: GARRISON KEILLOR: THE MAN ON THE RADIO IN THE RED SHOES

Wednesday, July 1 at 8 p.m.

Lake Wobegon has become America’s collective hometown, visited weekly for the past 40 years on a fictional radio program that creates bona fide nostalgia. With his “Prairie Home Companion,” Garrison Keillor became our national philosopher, filling the empty shoes of Will Rogers and Mark Twain, through his running commentary about the human condition and the social politic. With biting wit, a quirky perspective and an uncanny ability to home in on the pulse of America, Keillor’s themes and characters are somehow familiar to us all. For more than a year, American Masters followed this great raconteur--and his motley crew of actors, musicians and technical staff--as he criss-crossed the country, broadcasting, recording and revealing himself.

Check out other American Masters

CHANGING SEAS: FARMING THE SEAS

Tuesday, June 30 at 7:30 p.m. 

An ever-growing demand for fresh seafood has pushed wild stocks around the world to the brink. Aquaculture is one alternative to meet the increasing need for fish and crustaceans.  Some aquaculture methods have been highly criticized for their negative environmental impacts, but other, more environmentally friendly techniques, are being perfected at various research institutions in Florida. Changing Seas meets former gill-net fishermen turned clam-farmers and visits re-circulating aquaculture systems which make it possible to grow seafood inland. These systems produce fish for food production and to replenish depleted wild populations coveted by Florida’s huge recreational fishing community.

Fun Facts about our oceans

HISTORY DETECTIVES

Monday, June 29 at 9 p.m. 

A contributor is certain his father worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II. His father refused to talk about his war assignment, except to say that he sold his patent to the U.S. government. Was this invention used to build the atomic bomb? A woman in Portland has a large chunk of what she believes is very old beeswax. For centuries, ships carried beeswax on trade routes. Could this beeswax have been cargo on a legendary ship that foundered more then 300 years ago? A Chicago man recently unearthed a French manuscript rolled in a cardboard tube. “Duplessis,” his great-grandmother’s mother-in-law’s surname, is jotted in a margin, and “Rouzan,” his grandmother’s maiden name, appears at the bottom of another page. What is it and why has his family kept it for 160 years?

See what the detective say about their cases