The BEST episodes of PBS Specials season 2016

#1 - The Committee

Season 2016 - Episode 17 - Aired 6/1/2016

Fifty years ago, Florida’s Legislative Investigative Committee, led by Senator Charley Johns sought to remove homosexuals from Florida's state universities. As a result of the “Johns Committee’s” efforts, more than 200 gay and lesbian students and teachers were expelled or fired. Featuring two of the victims and one interrogator, the film exposes the committee’s subversive activities and how its effects are still felt today. The film traces the committee's origins in the era of McCarthyism and anti-gay propaganda while detailing the personal stories of those intimately involved with its activities.

#2 - The Pursuit: 50 Years in the Fight for LGBT Rights

Season 2016 - Episode 19 - Aired 6/23/2016

The pursuit of happiness for the LGBT community continues 50 years after activists publicly protested discrimination against "homosexuals" with picket signs in front of Philadelphia's Independence Hall. LGBT elders - four surviving protestors and eleven activist peers - recall life in the 1960's, when "gays" were "hidden in plain sight," vulnerable to arrest, subjected to psychiatric treatment, fired from jobs and publicly shamed. Their poignant recollections introduce four pieces exploring the complexities of contemporary LGBT life. In Kids Today, four resilient, young LGBT adults share how they became homeless. Out at Work introduces viewers to LGBT cops and the changing face of the Philadelphia police department. In a Family Way presents two families that couldn't have existed 50 years ago: one that includes a mother who is transgender and another with two dads raising their biological children. And No Place Like Home features residents of the nation's first federally-funded housing project for low-income LGBT seniors. A thoughtful look back and an intimate look at the present, The Pursuit reminds us that while the past half-century has seen momentous changes, the fight for LGBT rights continues today.

#3 - The White House: Inside Story

Season 2016 - Episode 20 - Aired 7/12/2016

The White House is one of America’s most iconic buildings; it is a symbol of shared national history and is home to the most powerful person on Earth. Here the president charts the course for the country, and the First Family lives in the spotlight. It's home, office and a museum. It's a bunker in times of war, a backdrop for command performances or state visits, and the heart of the American body politic. It takes a staff of more than 100 to maintain it, and its collection of antiques and paintings makes it a showplace for American art and design. In this two-hour special presentation The White House: Inside Story takes viewers behind the scenes to meet those who keep the house running smoothly, supporting the president and guarding the First Family’s privacy. We’ll see how the building has evolved over 200 years changing with the currents of history and the tastes of its occupants. At the epicenter of global politics, in the heart of the nation’s capital, the story of the White House is the story of America itself.

#4 - The Human Face of Big Data

Season 2016 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/24/2016

With the rapid emergence of digital devices, an unstoppable, invisible force is changing human lives in ways from the microscopic to the gargantuan: Big Data, a word that was barely used a few years ago but now governs the day for almost all of us. This award-winning film explores how the real time visualization of data streaming in from satellites, billions of sensors and GPS enabled cameras and smart phones is beginning to enable us, as individuals and collectively as a society, to sense, measure and understand aspects of our existence in ways never possible before. Together these devices are helping create a new kind of planetary nervous system. This massive gathering and analyzing of data in real time is also allowing us to address to some of humanity biggest challenges, including pollution, world hunger, and illness. But as Edward Snowden and the release of the NSA documents have shown, the accessibility of all this data comes at a steep price.

#5 - The Houses of Adams and Pettigrew

Season 2016 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/26/2016

The Adams House in Deadwood and the Pettigrew Home and Museum in Sioux Falls were each built by prosperous pioneers. Both houses have been renovated and restored and now serve their respective communities as museums.

#6 - 9/11 Inside the Pentagon

Season 2016 - Episode 22 - Aired 9/6/2016

On the 15th anniversary of the attack, survivors tell their stories.

#7 - Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War

Season 2016 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/14/2016

Tells the story of a daring rescue mission that occurred on the precipice of World War II. The previously untold account of Waitstill and Martha Sharp, an American minister and his wife from Wellesley, Massachusetts, who left their children behind in the care of their parish and boldly committed to a life-threatening mission in Europe. Over two dangerous years they helped save scores of imperiled Jews and refugees fleeing the Nazi occupation across Europe.

#8 - USO - For the Troops

Season 2016 - Episode 23 - Aired 11/7/2016

For 75 years, abroad and on the homefront, the USO (United Service Organizations) has been by the sides of American service members at every point in their military journey. USO - For the Troops takes viewers behind the scenes and inside the organization, providing an eye-opening glimpse into how the USO has kept service personnel connected to country, home and family. The film takes the viewer behind the scenes on a 2016 around-the-world USO tour, and offers unprecedented access to the background operations that make it possible for celebrities to travel across the world purely to express their gratitude to the troops and bring echoes of home to those stationed overseas. In-depth interviews with Jon Stewart, Jay Leno, Colin Powell, Ann-Margret, former President George W. Bush, Raquel Welch, Al Franken and a host of other personalities highlight the importance of these tours to the men and women who serve in our armed forces.

#9 - The Royal Tour: Ecuador

Season 2016 - Episode 8 - Aired 3/8/2016

Host Peter Greenberg received a Royal Tour from the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa. For an entire week, Mr. Correa became the ultimate guide, showcasing the visual gems that his country has to offer.

#10 - Egypt's Treasure Guardians

Season 2016 - Episode 27 - Aired 12/28/2016

Egypt is home to many of the most famous archaeological treasures on Earth, but the country’s history does more than just inspire awe. It has also given rise to an entire industry. Thousands of international archaeologists descend on Egypt every year to search for new discoveries; tens of thousands of Egyptians are enlisted to uncover, preserve and protect the land’s ancient artifacts and monuments; and millions of visitors journey from all over the world to look in wonder at the country’s iconic pyramids, tombs and temples. But over the last five years, Egypt has suffered a tumultuous revolution and tourist numbers have plummeted. This show follows a select cast of individuals determined to bring Egypt back from the brink, to discover more of Egypt’s history, to keep its heritage safe and to get tourists to visit the country again.

#11 - Pearl Harbor: USS Oklahoma - The Final Story

Season 2016 - Episode 26 - Aired 11/23/2016

The attack on the strategically important naval base at Pearl Harbor was designed to cripple the U.S. Navy allowing Japan unencumbered access to American-protected resources in the Pacific. In Japan top military strategists planned everything down to the last detail. They developed new ways to detonate torpedoes in shallow water and maximize damage to U.S. ships. Their best pilots trained for months over topography that resembled the Hawaiian island. They assembled the largest mobile air fleet to date, brought it to within a few hundred miles from U.S. shores and launched their attack, surprising the Americans on an otherwise peaceful Sunday morning. While the presence of Japan’s overwhelming air power is an indelible part of history, the attack also included a secret underwater phase. Five midget submarines were tasked with attacking Pearl Harbor from below. Exactly what they did on Dec. 7 has been debated on both sides. New analysis reveals that the midget subs were not only a key component of the attack, but they may have delivered the killing blow to the USS Oklahoma. It’s a revelation that stands in stark contrast to the official history. Four hundred and twenty-nine men perished when the USS Oklahoma went down. Some died instantly while others languished for days trapped under the overturned hull waiting for a rescue that would come too late. To this day, many are still buried on the island of Oahu as "Unknowns." Their bodies were never returned to their families to be buried in the family plot. They did not have a grave marker detailing their name, service and sacrifice. Their families never had closure. Now, after years of trying to bring their loved ones home, the families and the decedents of the USS Oklahoma are finally getting closure. Two families share their final chapters, an emotional journey 75 years in the making.

#12 - Pearl Harbor: Into the Arizona

Season 2016 - Episode 25 - Aired 11/23/2016

Today, the remains of the USS Arizona serve as a memorial to the American people, and are a stark reminder about the consequences of war. Each year, thousands upon thousands of tourists visit the USS Arizona to see a glimpse of our nation’s past. But to the survivors of the attack, the USS Arizona represents something much deeper. It’s a symbol for all those who paid the ultimate price for their country, an event which should never be forgotten. Survivor Donald Stratton was one of the few men stationed on the Arizona to survive the attack. For the past 75 years, he’s been waiting for the opportunity to see inside the ship he was once stationed on. Its current state remains a mystery to him, and to the world. There isn’t a day that goes by where Don doesn’t think about what happened on December 7, 1941. While the USS Arizona has changed drastically over the years, Don relives key moments of his life as he explores inside the sunken wreckage, a sight he never thought he would see again. Don gets one last chance to see items from his past. A desk stationed in the admiral’s quarters. A well-preserved suit hanging in a closet of a sailor’s room, and even glimpses of the ship’s teak deck, which Don walked on during the attack. The discoveries made during the expedition are moments that make Don’s journey complete. Along the way, the expedition team documents the condition of the ship, and wonders just how long the wreckage can sustain itself while submerged underwater. But the expedition isn’t just for survivors of the attack, it’s for the families who lost loved ones as well. A woman whose uncle died aboard the ship on December 7, 1941 gets a chance to see the final resting place of her beloved family member -- a moment of recognition that her family won’t soon forget.

#13 - Military Medicine: Beyond the Battlefield

Season 2016 - Episode 24 - Aired 11/11/2016

Military Medicine: Beyond the Battlefield, hosted and reported by ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff, covers military medical advances and technology from the battlefield to the return home. The personal stories of physicians, scientists, active duty troops, veterans, and military families come together in this one hour documentary to show how these advances are both saving and changing the lives of America’s service members.

#14 - Heroes on Deck: World War II on Lake Michigan

Season 2016 - Episode 16 - Aired 5/25/2016

More than 100 WWII aircraft rest on the bottom of Lake Michigan just off the Chicago shoreline. This is the story of how they got there.

#15 - The Secrets of Saint John Paul

Season 2016 - Episode 15 - Aired 5/10/2016

Pope John Paul II, born Karol Józef Wojtyla, was ordained in 1946, and in 1978, became the first Polish pope and first non-Italian Pope in more than 400 years. He served as head of the Catholic Church until his passing in 2005. Beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011, he was canonized by Pope Francis in 2014. That same year, BBC broadcaster Edward Stourton was ushered into a room in one of Europe’s most celebrated libraries. Watched over by its director, he was shown a pile of papers so sensitive that only a handful of staff knew of their existence. He was looking at a collection of hundreds of personal letters between one of the 20th century’s great public figures—Pope John Paull II—and a Polish American woman, Anna-Theresa Tymieniecka. The letters reveal a deeply intimate friendship that lasted for decades and show the private side of a man who was known and beloved around the world.

#16 - The Nazi Games: Berlin 1936

Season 2016 - Episode 21 - Aired 8/2/2016

How the Nazis and International Olympic Committee turned the 1936 Olympics, which historically had been a relatively minor event, into a global spectacle.

#17 - The Great Polar Bear Feast

Season 2016 - Episode 18 - Aired 6/23/2016

The Great Polar Bear Feast is the astonishing story of an annual natural phenomenon that occurs in early September on the north slope of the Arctic. Every year, up to 80 polar bears gather on the frozen shores of Barter Island, near the village of Kaktovik, to feast on the hunter-harvested bowhead whale remains. This extraordinary gathering is highly unusual because polar bears are known as solitary predators, rarely if ever moving in a group. Kaktovik is a small Inupiat hunting community. Perched on the edge of the world, it’s inaccessible by road and locked in by frozen sea ice for 9 months of the year. But for the month of September, it becomes the center of polar bear studies as scientists and wildlife photographers flock to the tiny town to observe the bears’ unusual behaviour. And with more and more polar bears turning up year on year, scientists are determined to find out why this is happening. How do the bears know to come to this remote island and at exactly this time of year? And what is happening to the polar bears of the South Beaufort Sea that is seeing so many of them desert the ice for land? We also witness what happens to the inhabitants of Kaktovik when the whale bones are picked bare, and the huge group of polar bears heads for the town. The film has extraordinary access to the work of scientist Todd Atwood, the lead polar bear scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey. He has estimated that there has been a 40 percent decline in the polar bears around the South Beaufort Sea since 2006. It is an extraordinary decline, and he is determined to find out why.

#18 - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Friends- 50 Years and Circlin' Back

Season 2016 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/5/2016

#19 - Seized: Inside the Mystery of Epilepsy

Season 2016 - Episode 14 - Aired 5/2/2016

#20 - The Real Adam Smith: Ideas That Changed the World (2)

Season 2016 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/26/2016

Ideas That Changed the World explores contemporary life and Smith’s influences on the very things we see going on today. Why is Smith widely studied now in China? Ethical businesses, like Whole Foods, showcase the morality Smith insisted was critical to thriving markets. Uber and eBay demonstrate that markets can thrive through the organization and “self-policing” of the participants themselves.

#21 - The Real Adam Smith: Morality and Markets (1)

Season 2016 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/26/2016

Morality & Markets explores Smith’s life and role in the Scottish Enlightenment, his thoughts on empathy and how we distinguish right from wrong. French wine, Scottish whiskey, and freshly-baked scones all illustrate Smith’s economic principles. True wealth is defined. We discover Smith’s thoughts on the government’s role in markets, his distaste for monopolies/crony capitalism in the form of the East India Company, and his thoughts on the American colonies.

#22 - The National Parks of Texas

Season 2016 - Episode 13 - Aired 4/26/2016

In time to celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of the National Park Service, looking at the diverse parks in Texas, and how the stories of the parks tie into the history of the state and the experiences they offer to visitors.

#23 - Shakespeare's Tomb

Season 2016 - Episode 12 - Aired 4/19/2016

Historian Dr. Helen Castor explores the mysteries surrounding Shakespeare’s burial place. Will the first- ever scientific investigation discover why his tombstone's only inscription is a curse against any man who ‘moves my bones’?

#24 - Memory Hackers

Season 2016 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/10/2016

Memory is the glue that binds our mental lives. Without it, we’d be prisoners of the present, unable to use the lessons of the past to change our future. From our first kiss to where we put our keys, memory represents who we are and how we learn and navigate the world. But how does it work? Neuroscientists using cutting-edge techniques are exploring the precise molecular mechanisms of memory. By studying a range of individuals ranging—from an 11-year-old whiz-kid who remembers every detail of his life to a woman who had memories implanted—scientists have uncovered a provocative idea. For much of human history, memory has been seen as a tape recorder that faithfully registers information and replays intact. But now, researchers are discovering that memory is far more malleable, always being written and rewritten, not just by us but by others. We are discovering the precise mechanisms that can explain and even control our memories. The question is—are we ready?

#25 - Ride the Tiger: A Guide Through the Bipolar Brain

Season 2016 - Episode 11 - Aired 3/30/2016

A one-hour documentary that tells the stories of individuals with bipolar disorder.