Inspiring tales of "the underdog" and film have always gone together like peanut butter and jelly andeven though those PB&Js might not taste as great as they did when you were 6, underdog films never get old. This Saturday, WETA presents two free movies about people at a disadvantage working hard to make a difference. First, we follow the big win of a small town basketball team in Hoosiers (1986) at 9:30pm. Next, learn about rape cover up of the U.S. military and its survivors in Independent Lens: The Invisible War.

Hoosiers (1986)

The small town of Hickory, Indiana loves basketball, so the pressure is on when a new coach arrives to train the high school team. After failing to impress the community with his unusual style of coaching, Norman Dale hires Shooter, the alcoholic father of one of his players, as his assistant. With the addition of a star player, the team begins a winning streak that leads to the State Championship game. But can this band of misfits win against their rivals of South Bend? Find out Saturday at 9:30pm! Watch a preview!

Hoosiers (1986) airs Saturday, May 18th at 9:30pm on WETA TV26 & HD.

Independent Lens: The Invisible War

Washington D.C. is often seen as military central for the United States, where training, planning and honors take place on a daily basis. But has a cover up also been developing at our nation’s capital? In the new investigative documentary by Independent Lens, the veil is lifted from one of the biggest scandals within the U.S. military where, according to the Department of Defense, there were an estimated 22,800 violent sex crimes in 2011. The Invisible War presents personal accounts of survivors, like Kori Cioca, who was beaten and raped by her supervisor in the U.S. Coast Guard.  For the few who do report abuse, a flawed judicial system awaits, leading to only 8 percent of military sexual assault cases prosecuted. Watch a preview!

Independent Lens: The Invisible War airs Sunday, May 19th at 1:30am on WETA TV26 & HD.

This weeked in the Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia area, expereince a one-of-a-kind event at the Kennedy Center and get a hefty dose of fine art in Reston. Read on for more details!

Center this weekend! Combining radio show and comic book elements, this unique production follows the story of reporter Molly Sloan, her assistant Timmy Mendez, and a librarian named Ben Wilcott as they face the threat of an invasion of sludge monsters from the planet Zygon. The live performance features three actors, one Foley artist, and one keyboardist who perform all the voices, sound effects and music, while more than 1,000 hand-drawn, comic book images fill a two-story-high screen. This adventure is perfect for families with children ages 8 and up! Watch a preview!

How long has it been since you’ve set aside some time to appreciate art? From May 17-19, stop by Reston Town Center and experience the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival. The outdoor festival, now in its 22nd year, offers attendees the opportunity to admire and purchase original work from over 200 artists across a wide range of mediums. Enjoy live performances and entertainment, and be sure to visit the Family Art Park, which offers something for children, teens, and adults alike. Held by the Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE), a non-profit organization with the goal of promoting visual arts, the festival begins this Friday with its Opening Night Party from 6pm-9pm. 

This weekend on WETA, watch three movies right from your Washington, DC, Maryland, or Virginia home! Watch a blind love unravel into danger and fear with Alfred Hitchcock's classic film Suspicion. Then discover the struggle between love and infatuation in Independent Lens' Seeking Asian Female. And if you're still awake at midnight, watch POV's In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee as a Korean born woman delves into her past to find the person whose name she bears.

For those of you who believe opposites attract, you’ll want to check out this documentary from Independent Lens.  Seeking Asian Female follows the lives of two people who fall in love and decide to get married after meeting on the internet.  Steven, a white American man from San Francisco, has always had a fascination with Chinese women.  After divorcing twice, the struggle for Steven to find the Asian woman of his dreams seems to be merely impossible until he meets Sandy.  Sandy, a determined 30 year old woman from China, immediately falls in love with Steven and flies out to San Francisco to marry him.  But marriage isn’t all fun and games as the cross-cultured couple soon find out.  Communicating through a translator, overcoming Steven’s obsession with Chinese women and adapting to life in a foreign country are just a few issues the couple must face in order to make their relationship work.  But are Steven and Sandy willing to take these drastic measures for true love?  Tune in to find out! Watch the trailer!

Looking for a new series to watch or just a great adventure to follow? WETA UK has everything you need! From new mysteries, to new seasons, and new shows all together, this week on WETA UK is sure to please every viewer.

Monday at 8:00pm tune in to WETA UK for the first part of a new Foyle’s War mystery, Plan of Attack. It’s April 1944 and when shots are fired outside Hastings police station killing DCS Meredith. Christopher Foyle must put aside his memoirs and return to his old job. This episode is the first of Foyle’s War season 6. Watch the trailer!

Tuesday at 7:30pm start watching May to December with season 3! A balding Scottish solicitor in his mid-50s and an attractive gym-mistress half his age fall in love despite plenty of conflicting advice from family and friends. 

Wednesday at 11:00pm begin Hustle from the very first episode of season 1. Con artist Mickey Stone is fresh out of jail. His marriage is on the rocks, but he has a strong family to fall back on. That family – Albert and Ash, two old-timers and beautiful, street-sharp Stacie – are his partners in crime. Coming together to perform one last con, they hook up with young blood Danny Blue, a rookie with the makings of a master. But after the first last one, there have just got to be more. Watch the trailer!

Thursday at 10:00pm settle in for the first episode of Waking the Dead season 6. The award-winning, edge-of-your-seat spy drama is a white-knuckle ride through the perilous world of deadly terrorists, international cover-ups and treacherous double-agents.

Friday at 8:00pm have you been watching Ladies of Letters? This gentle comedy drama is about two very different widows who forge a friendship through letters, each letter attempting to out-do the other. Watch the trailer!

Saturday at 8:00pm continue watching the WETA UK Event: The Complete Prime Suspect! This week watch four episodes back-to-back. Watch the trailer!

Sunday at 9:30pm join us for the WETA UK premiere of Worst Week of My Life! The week before a wedding can be stressful at the best of times but to Mel and Howard, it becomes a nightmare and everything that can go wrong does. Watch the trailer!

Whether in our own backyard or across the plains of Africa, four-legged creatures have learned to co-exist with humans or migrate to safer pastures. In the new episodes of PBS’ Nature this month, we will explore The Private Life of Deer on Wednesday the 8th and The Great Zebra Exodus on Wednesday the 15th.

The Private Life of Deer

The Washington, D.C. area is home to many Whitetailed deer, which enjoy eating our gardens, hopping into oncoming traffic, and slipping into the woods of our local parks. In the past century, the deer population has increased from less than a million to almost 30 million as of today. In an effort to document this ever increasing species, footage was acquired in unique ways throughout the country. In one segment, residents of Cayuga Heights, NY were given video equipment to document populations in their area, while in another segment; small cameras were strapped to the backs to wild deer. The footage acquired provides unprecedented insight into the lives of our furry neighbors. Watch the trailer!

Nature: The Private Life of Deer airs Wednesday, May 8 at 8:00pm on WETA TV26 & HD. Also Airs Thursday, May 9 at 2:00pm.

The Great Zebra Exodus

Traveling with family can be complicated, especially when it seems like everyone’s moving in a different direction. But can you imagine voyaging with 20,000 of your closest kin? Follow the story of one zebra family, a stallion, his three mares and their offspring, traveling with the herd in Southern Africa’s biggest animal migration. Taking place every year across the Kalahari’s Makgadikgadi Pans, this trek to grass and water tests the social bonds that hold zebra families together. Watch the trailer!

Nature: The Great Zebra Exodus airs Wednesday, May 15 at 8:00pm on WETA TV26 & HD. Also Airs Thursday, May 16 at 2:00pm.

This Earth Day, join WETA Kids and America’s favorite monkey for a new one hour Curious George special: Curious George Swings into Spring. From spring fever to spring cleaning, from a canoe ride to a hot air balloon journey, George and his friends get WETA Kids ready to explore the outdoors this Earth Day. Tune into WETA Kids Monday, April 22 for the premiere and throughout the week to swing into spring with George again, and again!

You know it must be springtime if a curious monkey named George is dancing on the balcony at sunrise! The Man with the Yellow Hat is sure that George has spring fever, so he takes George to the park to experience all the wonders of spring. George is so excited about spring that he wants Hundley the dog to have spring fever, too, but Hundley and the Doorman are busy trying to win the Mayor’s spring cleaning prize. When a broken water pipe floods the building, Hundley has to stay with George in the country, and George tries to make sure Hundley enjoys spring, too. Even blooming flowers, baby animals and a canoe ride can’t make Hundley love spring. What’s worse – Hundley gets lost in the country! Searching for his lost friend, George accidentally launches a hot air balloon rally and, piloting a balloon, sails over the countryside. Luckily George manages to grab Hundley from a hilltop along the way. Together they balloon triumphantly to the city. The Man with the Yellow Hat and the Doorman stage a daring rooftop rescue. Not only are George and Hundley saved, but they manage to win the coveted Spring Building Prize! Finally, to George’s delight, Hundley now has spring fever, too!

Watch the trailer here!

WETA’s Start with a Book offers adults engaging ideas for getting kids into books and reading. The free resources from Start with a Book build on topics that children already like — dinosaurs, building, animals, sports, superheroes and music — so that parents, camp counselors, and others can have fun and interact meaningfully with children while helping to strengthen their reading skills.

In conjunction with the WETA Kids special episode Curious George Swings into Spring, WETA’s Start with a Book has three resource topics that relate to the show:

• Our Green World
• Bugs, Birds, Animals
• Gardening

Check out these resources and head to your local library to begin exploring!

Grab the popcorn or set your DVRs, because the documentaries featured this Saturday night on WETA TV26 & HD are guaranteed to open your eyes to lands near and far. First we delve into American culture with POV to discover a female role model in comic books and the way modern food is produced. Next, we head overseas with Independent Lens to learn about a city filled with trash and the feuding land of Kashmir. Tune in to WETA TV26 & HD this Saturday for these inspirational movies beginning at 11:30pm.

Saturday, April 20th at 11:30pm

Join WETA for Central Park Five, the latest production by Ken Burns, co-directed with his daughter Sarah Burns. In 1989, five black and Hispanic teenagers were wrongly convicted of raping a white woman jogging through Central Park at night. In 2002, after the five had served their sentences, a man named Mathias Reyes, who was already serving life in prison for an unrelated crime, confessed to the attack. The courts cleared the five’s records, yet the damage was already done, with injured reputations and years of their lives lost. This new documentary highlights the media frenzy and injustice against the accused by presenting a different side to the case that rocked New York City with its racial and social implications. 

Watch a preview of the film!

We’re taking summer vacation a little early with a trip to the ocean deep, the red hills, and the hot sun of Australia! We invite you to join us on this educational and breathtaking journey to the land where the formation of Earth itself began in the four part mini-series from NOVA: Australia: First 4 Billion Years. Scientists share some of the earliest life that inhabited the planet from giant kangaroos to deadly reptiles, and prehistoric crustaceans. See you Wednesdays at 9:00pm on WETA!    

Read the full article to watch trailers of the series!

Australia is most recognized for its unusual creatures and outback terrain but it is also home to some of the oldest remains of early life known to Earth. Awakening, part one, starts in Western Australia where scientists take a look at how the planet was transformed.  NOVA and host Richard Smith take us on a journey through the Land Down Under where we get acquainted with a bacterial slime that inhabited the continent and could be one of the earliest life forms known to the planet.

In this episode of Australia’s First 4 Billion Years, host Richard Smith uncovers how creatures traveled from the ocean floor to dry land. Ancient fossils unveil how these prehistoric animals took over a once lifeless land and brought it alive. Armor-plated fish and invading arthropods were just a few of the unusual ocean dwellers that journeyed to the shorelines in order to help change the face of the Earth.  But not all creatures can live peacefully together.  Watch NOVA: Australia’s First 4 Billion Years: Life Explodes airs April 17 at 9:00pm & April 18 at 3:00pm.

Over 250 million years ago, Australia was a host for some of the largest and most perilous creatures to roam the planet.  In episode three, Monsters, Richard Smith brings viewers up-close and personal with some of these prehistoric creatures in order to reveal why they were considered the monsters of their time. Kronosaurus was an aquatic creature that received its name from the greek god Kronos and had a skull twice as long as the Tyrannosaurus Rex, making it a top predator.  Scientists also reveal that these ancient reptiles were in fact not alone; mammals such as the duckbilled platypus shared the land as well. 

In the final episode of this series, NOVA and host Richard Smith uncover the true ancestors of Australia.  Smith reveals the last 65 million years that formed the Land Down Under into the lone but wildlife filled continent it is today.  Before humans and the formation of the Great Barrier Reef, strange creatures such as giant kangaroos, massive koalas and oversized wombats once roamed the land.  With their dominant size, these large marsupials truly exemplify the origin of Australia.  Watch NOVA: Australia’s First 4 Billion Years: Strange Creatures May 1 at 9:00pm & May 2 at 3:00pm.

Read this article for highlights in this week's WETA UK schedule! WETA UK is the Washington, DC area's 24-hour a day, 7-days a week all British public broadcast channel. In this blog post, find more information on new episodes, new series, and reminders of WETA UK favorites.

Read the full article to watch video previews of these programs!

Monday at 8:00pm, Foyle’s War begins the new two part mystery Eagle Day with a bang, as a German bomb raid destroys a Hastings house. When man is found dead in the rubble with a knife in his chest, Foyle is called in to investigate the peculiar circumstances. 

Tuesday at 8:00pm, join us for the WETA UK Premiere of Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, a drama about the adventures of a housewife-turned-investigator. In season 3, Hetty's strong sense of justice, kind disposition and skill at blending into her surroundings bring her into contact with people from all walks of life. No measure is too extreme when she’s on a case- from to posing as an Australian to prevent a crisis or working in the hospital after she’s had an operation.

Wednesday at 8:00pm, take on the Inspector Morse case, Deadly Slumber. In part one of the two part mystery, Chief Inspector Morse and Sgt. investigate the apparent suicide of a business man who ran a medical clinic with his wife.

Thursday at 9:00pm, Agatha Christie’s Poirot ponders, How Does Your Garden Grow? Poirot becomes the center of attention at the Chelsea Flower Show, when a new rose on display is named after him. But after Miss Barrowby gives him a packet of seeds and dies the very same evening, Poirot investigates the shocking poisoning. Could the culprit really be the young Russian nurse? 

Friday at 8:00pm, in the new British comedy, Ladies of Letters, starring Patricia Routledge and Prunella Scales, distance makes the heart grow fonder. Follow the friendship between two elderly ladies, who share a sometimes rocky relationship through letters and e-mail. 

Saturday beginning at 8:00pm, continue watching the WETA UK Event: The Complete Vera with episodes 3 and 4. Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope is an experienced and brilliant murder investigator in North East England. Kind-hearted but an inherent loner, Vera freely admits she can become obsessed with work. Driven by her own demons, the detective faces the world with sarcastic wit, guile, and courage.

Sunday at 11:00pm, have you seen Red Dwarf? This sitcom follows the last human being alive, stranded in space with his friends on the ship, the Red Dwarf. Watch two back-to-back episodes every Sunday from 11:00pm – 12:00pm!