CAPITOL FOUTH 2009

8 p.m. & 9:30 p.m., Saturday, July 4th

Jimmy Smits returns to host the biggest and brightest birthday party in the country, featuring for the first time ever, Barry Manilow, who will both open and close the concert broadcast with a stirring medley of hits and patriotic classics along with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Choral Arts Society of Washington. Smits and Manilow will be joined by the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, international pop sensation Natasha Bedingfield, the cast of Jersey Boys, Michael Feinstein and acclaimed classical pianist Andrew von Oeyen. This star-studded cast will light up the stage on the West Lawn of the United States Capitol for the 29th annual celebration featuring unrivaled musical performances with the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of America's prince of pops Erich Kunzel.

AMERICAN MASTERS Garrison Keillor

2 p.m., Sunday, July 5th

With his "Prairie Home Companion," 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.

AMERICAN MASTERS Bob Newhart

3:30 p.m., Sunday, July 5th

In the late 1950s, a shy Chicago accountant who was trying to pick up some extra cash began doing local radio sketches. By 1960, The Button-Down Mind hit gold as Album of the Year and won a Grammy for Best New Artist. Engaging the average guy in all of us, Bland Bob's deadpan and mildly nervous humor helped spearhead the explosion in American comedy and permanently pushed the boundaries of the sitcom genre.

NATURE The Vanishing Lions

8 p.m., Sunday, July 5th

As the largest predator in Africa, the lion should have nothing to fear. But the king of the savannah is facing an uncertain future. While concentrating on the dwindling number of elephants and rhinos, nobody suspected the biggest of big cats was in trouble. We hear from lion experts, farmers and Masai herdsmen as they explore solutions to the problems of saving lions and living with them.

MASTERPIECE MYSTERY! Miss Marple: A Pocket Full Of Rye

9 p.m., Sunday, July 5th

When Miss Marple learns of the deaths of businessman Rex Fortescue, his young wife, Adele, and their housemaid, Gladys, the circumstances vividly recall the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence." Since Miss Marple had trained Gladys herself, she has a personal reason to investigate. Will her reasoning and deduction make sense of the rhyme and at last reveal the culprit?

HISTORY DETECTIVES

9 p.m., Monday, July 6th

St. Valentine's Day Massacre - Host Elyse Luray tests a sawed-off shotgun's firepower, consults with ballistics experts and combs through physical evidence to see if she can place this gun at the scene of the infamous crime.

threatened to kill President Andrew Jackson. Host Tukufu Zuberi travels to Nashville to consult historians at The Hermitage, the ancestral home of President Andrew Jackson, and to Washington, DC, to talk with a Booth biographer. Was the letter a hoax? Or did assassination run in the Booth blood?

Cemetery Alarm - A Midland, Michigan, man who collects war munitions snapped up an item he decided was a grave alarm: an explosive device meant to guard against grave robbers. Host Wes Cowan's investigation winds through tales of body snatching and cadaver dissecting, unusual crimes and the most unlikely suspects.

MAKE 'EM LAUGH The Funny Business Of America Part 3

10 p.m., Monday, July 6th

A six-part documentary exploring more than a century of American comedy through social and political change. Hosted by Billy Crystal, with narration by Amy Sedaris, each episode highlights a different comic genre. The series combines performance, biography and history, and includes more than 90 interviews with comedy writers, producers and performers.