PBS’s Strongest Season Ever
PBS is calling the upcoming season the strongest fall schedule in years. No wonder, several shows are inspired by books.
CALL THE MIDWIFE
Sundays, September 30 to November 4, 2012, 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET
Topping the ratings of Downton Abbey, this series about a midwife in the slums of East London in the 1950s, was a surprise hit when it ran in the UK earlier this year. Based on a best-selling series of memoirs by Jennifer Worth, it brought the books back to the top of UK lists. Many libraries have copies of the 2009 US edition of the first title on the shelves (the others were not published here).
Trailer:
In addition to a tie-in edition of the original title (below), a behind-the-scenes companion volume will be released Oct. 9.
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WALLANDER III – Masterpiece Mystery!
Sundays, September 9, 16 & 23, 2012, 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET
Tuesday, September 18, 2012, 8:00-10:00 p.m. ETA Ric Burns documentary based on This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust.
HALF THE SKY
Monday, October 1 and Tuesday, October 2, 2012, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET
George Clooney introduces this series in which New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, authors of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, travel to ten countries to report on how women are overcoming oppression.
UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS, Season 2
Begins Sunday, October 7
The second and final season of the followup to the 1970’s hit begins in October. It is getting much less fanfare than Downton Abbey, which begins season 3 in January. Margaret Powell’s real-life memoir of her time as a maid, Below Stairs, is a source for both series. In January, the second of Powell’s memoirs will be released, Servants’ Hall: A Real Life Upstairs, Downstairs Romance.