TV Party for Thursday, August 11th

Tonight’s selections come from two channels, so you won’t have much surfing to do and you can give your thumb a rest. We start out with the local favorite, KCTS. At 8 it’s another episode of Battlefield Britain, the show that chronicles key battles in the history of the British Isles and explores their effect on the history of the country. Tonight it’s the 1690 Battle of The Boyne, where the Protestant King William of Orange fought the Catholic King James II for the throne. One of the consequences of this battle was the eventual division of Ireland, a situation which still haunts the rulers of Britain today.

At 9 it’s time for “Spy”, a British reality show wherein normal, non-spy people like you and me see if they have what it takes to be a secret agent. Tonight’s episode, Safe as Houses, finds the recruits faced with their first 36-hour mission. They have to mount a surveillance operation on the occupants of two target houses, and do all those things that look so easy in the movies: break into target properties, plant secret cameras and bugs and fix tracking devices to cars. Split into teams, the recruits’ relationships are put to the test as they share cramped and claustrophobic living conditions for the duration of their stake-out.

Finally, at 10 the show P.O.V. presents 'Wattstax,' a 1973 film documenting the 'Black Woodstock,' a benefit concert in Los Angeles attended by more than 100,000. Hosted by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and with performances by the Staples Singers, the Emotions, the Bar-Kays, Isaac Hayes and a young Richard Pryor, the concert film is a snapshot of the height of the Black Power movement.

Your other option is 3 hours of World War 2 history on the Discovery Channel. At 8 it’s Unsolved History: Pearl Harbor: Death of the Arizona The destruction of the U.S.S. Arizona by the Japanese on December 7, 1941 was the defining moment for America's entry into World War II. Rarely-seen footage shows the entire sequence of events, and a National Park Service dive team explores the wreck. And don't worry...there's no sign of Ben Aflek or Cuba Gooding Jr. in this one.

At 9, take a look at Ghosts of Bataan. Eight hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, American forces in the Philippine islands came under attack from the Imperial Army of Japan. After months of intense fighting without reinforcements, American and Filipino forces surrendered on the Bataan Peninsula and the prisoners were sent on the now famouse "Bataan Death March".

Finally, at 10 we look at Hirohito: Emperor of War. Was Japan's Emperor Hirohito a ruler afraid of his generals, or the despot who started WWII? The world has long blamed him for Pearl Harbor and the horrors of the second World War. Now, based on recently discovered documents his culpability is revealed.

That’s your TV Party for Thursday, August 11th, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken