The Dust Bowl, a Film by Ken Burns, Premieres January 3

The Dust Bowl, a Film by Ken Burns, chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, in which the frenzied wheat boom of the "Great Plow-Up," followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s, nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation. Vivid interviews with twenty-six survivors of those hard times, combined with dramatic photographs and seldom seen movie footage, bring to life stories of incredible human suffering and equally incredible human perseverance. It is also a morality tale about our relationship to the land that sustains us—a lesson we ignore at our peril.

The Dust Bowl, a Film by Ken Burns premieres on Rhode Island PBS on Thursday, January 3 at 8 p.m., and concludes the following week, January 10 at 8 p.m. For more information about The Dust Bowl, visit the PBS Web site. 

Click here to see a dramatic photo gallery of a collection of images from the era. 

Downton Abbey, Season 3 Preview at the Park Theatre in Cranston

The long-awaited Season 3 of Downton Abbey on Masterpiece premieres Friday, January 18 at 9 p.m. on Rhode Island PBS. But fans of the international television sensation can get a sneak peek of the new season before the series makes its American television debut.

Rhode Island PBS and The Park Theatre in Cranston are partnering to present a free public screening of the first hour of the new season on Thursday, January 3, at The Park Theatre, Rhode Island Center for the Performing Arts, 848 Park Avenue in Cranston.

 David W. Piccerelli, president and CEO of Rhode Island PBS announced the pre-screening party is sold out, but that 350 tickets are available for the free public screening at 7:30 p.m. Tickets must be picked up at the Park Theatre box office in advance of the January 3 show. 

"We – as much as the fans – are eagerly awaiting the new season of Downton Abbey," said Piccerelli. "The response to the series has been amazing."

Downton Abbey, Season 3 is set in the early 1920s – around the same time The Park Theatre opened in Cranston in 1924. "The Park Theatre is a beautiful and most appropriate location to celebrate this new season of Downton Abbey," Piccerelli said.

"We are happy and honored to work with Rhode Island PBS to bring this Downton Abbey preview to the 'big screen,'" said Yusuf Gandhi, director of programming at The Park Theatre.

Guests are asked to bring non-perishable food items or canned goods on the night of the show, in a post-holiday food drive to benefit the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.

"The holidays are a time of year when we remember the needs of our neighbors and respond generously," said Gandhi. "Unfortunately, hunger does not come and go with the holiday decorations - there are local families facing hunger and food insecurity all year long."

Collection boxes for food donations will be located in the Park Theatre lobby.

Written and created by Julian Fellowes, Downton Abbey won an impressive six Primetime Emmy® Awards and a Golden Globe® in its first season. Recent honors for Season 2 include 16 Primetime Emmy® nominations, multi-category nominations from the Critics’ Choice Awards and from the Television Critics Association. Viewers were no less passionate, with 17.1 million tuning in across the seven episodes, making Downton Abbey, Season 2 the most-watched Masterpiece series on record.

Downton Abbey, Season 3 is a Carnival/Masterpiece Co-production, in association with NBCUniversal. It is written and created by Julian Fellowes. Gareth Neame and Julian Fellowes are Executive Producers. The Producer is Liz Trubridge. The first two episodes are directed by Brian Percival, who won an Emmy® Award for his direction of season one. Other episodes are directed by Andy Goddard, Jeremy Webb, and David Evans.

About The Park Theatre 
The Park Theatre is a state of the art, multi-purpose performing arts center, with plush, comfortable seating for approximately 1,000 for concerts, comedy, theatrical performances, speakers, opera, dance recitals, children’s and family shows, movies, sports, presentations and remote entertainment through the theatre’s satellite-enabled HD projector, and other special events. The Park Theatre complex also includes the Stage Door Restaurant and Lounge, as well as a restaurant and banquet hall that can double as a conference and meeting center. Free parking is available for all events behind Cranston City Hall. 

About Rhode Island PBS 
WSBE Rhode Island PBS is operated by the Rhode Island PBS Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, established in 1987 as a public charity to raise funds and provide support services for Rhode Island’s public television station. WSBE-DT is a viewer-supported member of the PBS network of public broadcasting stations, and transmits on two channels: Rhode Island PBS (digital 36.1) and Learn (digital 36.2). Committed to lifelong learning for 45 years, WSBE Rhode Island PBS uses the power of noncommercial media to educate, engage, enrich, inspire, and entertain viewers of all ages in Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts, and eastern Connecticut. For more information about the programs and education services at WSBE, visit www.ripbs.org.

World War II: Saving the Reality

Over the course of five decades, Kenneth W. Rendell amassed the largest and most comprehensive private collection of original World War II memorabilia in the world. Directed by Tim Gray and narrated by Dan Aykroyd, World War II: Saving the Reality opens the doors to this private museum in Natick, Massachusetts.

Rendell, a South Boston native who lives in Wellesley, opened the 10,000-square-foot museum in 2004 and has filled it with 7,000 military and historical artifacts of World War II he has collected. He provides a guided tour of the museum's 30 exhibits, which chronicle the end of World War I and the rise of Nazism to the start of World War II and the fight in Europe and the Pacific.

The period artifacts, both small and large, include propaganda posters, Hitler Youth uniforms, Winston Churchill's original siren suit, French Resistance clothing and radios, spy gadgets, General MacArthur’s license plate, a Japanese admiral's uniform, Field Marshall Montgomery's signature beret and even a Sherman tank. Some of the museum's more significant documents include General Patton’s copy of Mein Kampf and his personal map of Sicily, the original order to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and a revealing letter from Dwight Eisenhower to his wife.

Supplemented with archival photos and footage, the film also features interviews with more than 50 World War II veterans, civilians and Holocaust survivors who offer absorbing first-person accounts of these historical events and speak to the complexities, moral ambiguities and emotional toll of the war.

Rhode Island PBS airs World War II: Saving the Reality on Monday, January 7 at 10 p.m.

I, Claudius Returns After 36 Years

The original landmark 1976 series I, Claudius returns to Rhode Island PBS, beginning 12/12/12 at 2 p.m.

The history of the Roman Empire as experienced by one of its rulers is the BBC Television adaptation of Robert Graves's I, Claudius and Claudius the God. Written by Jack Pulman, it proved one of the BBC's most successful serial dramas of all time.

I, Claudius follows the history of Rome, narrated by the elderly Claudius, from the death of Marcellus, nephew and son-in-law of Augustus, in the first episode to Claudius' own death in the last. The series opens with Augustus, the emperor of Rome, attempting to find an heir, and his wife, Livia, plotting to elevate her own son Tiberius to this position. The plotting and double-crossing continue for many decades, through the conspiracy of Sejanus and the rule of the lunatic emperor Caligula. Underestimated as an idiot because of a stutter and a limp, Claudius cleverly survived the treachery around him by exaggerating his ailments, eventually rising to power himself.

The series, which aired in the United States on Masterpiece Theatre, stars Derek Jacobi as Claudius, with Siân Phillips (Livia), Brian Blessed (Augustus), George Baker (Tiberius), John Hurt (Caligula), and Patrick Stewart (Sejanus).

I, Claudius will make its Rhode Island PBS prime time premiere on January 3 at 10 p.m.