PBS

Any documentary that includes Grandpa Al Lewis has to be worth watching. For someone who didn't grow up in New York, Coney Island didn't have too much reality until watching this program. Looking at the wonders of Luna Park, Dreamland, and Steeplechase Park, this is clearly the origin for the super amusement parks of today--Disney (including Epcot) and Universal Studios. The structures were massive and impressive, probably even more so than the great Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1892, show more but they were flimsy and not built to last, as a series of fires demonstrated. Their developers were visionaries, however.

The crowds at the parks and on the beaches of Coney Island are staggering. Like the busiest day at Disney--only worse. But the parks started closing. Dreamland never recovered from a fire. Luna Park shut down around 1947, and Steeplechase in the 1960s. Wars, the Depression, television, and the increasing lure of Manhattan all took their toll. But it was marvelous while it lasted, and you can at least get a hint of what it was all about by watching this. show less

Julia Child teaches us how to cook for 1960's/70's dinner parties.

My wife got a kick out of these, but I don't really see the fun in cooking shows. And apparently traditional French cooking makes me nauseous ("If you don't leave the [fish] heads on, you won't be able to tell what it is!"). Child is charismatic, though (much to my surprise). And the show's never boring.

Patty Hearst called herself an "urban guerrilla" — hardly the occupation her parents and billionaire grandfather, media mogul William Randolph Hearst, envisioned for her. But Hearst's story was more sensational than anything her grandpa's editors could have dreamed up. Kidnapped in 1974 by radical militants, held in captivity for months and then converted to the cause, Hearst became an emblem for a country mired in severe political turmoil. Robert Stone's vivid, stylish and painstakingly show more researched document examines the Hearst kidnapping from a variety of angles, documenting the militant group's success in using the mass media as a mouthpiece and the unruly feed-the-hungry programs it forced the Hearst family to create. It even includes surveillance footage of Patty wielding a gun in a bank robbery. Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst isn't just the tale of a freakish crime; it's the story of a country forced to watch dissent, radicalism and class warfare on the nightly news. Death to the fascist insect! show less

This is a thoroughly enjoyable, but greatly simplified overview of Greene's book on string theory. The book includes a great introduction to both Einstein's theories and to Quantum Mechanics before launching into its history and future forecast for string theory, whereas the TV series spends more time on the preliminaries and only touches on string theory, which makes sense. Greene is a great host--his abilities clearly extend beyond writing and teaching. The graphics used to illustrate show more things are very good--although a bit over the top at times. Highly, highly recommended, as is the follow-up PBS series. show less