WXXI
Go Public
Experience the world-renowned Italian tenor’s 30th anniversary concert from Tuscany
Andrea Bocelli 30th – The Celebration airs Friday, February 28 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streams live on the WXXI app.
Featuring global superstars Ed Sheeran, David Foster, Katharine McPhee, Sofia Carson, Brian May, Jon Batiste and more. Directed by Grammy nominee and Emmy winner Sam Wrench.
Sir David Attenborough explores London’s Natural History Museum and meets some of the most extraordinary creatures from the past.
Nature “Museum Alive with David Attenborough” airs Sunday, February 23 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV
A landmark documentary fulfills the long-held dreams of David Attenborough by bringing the incredible pantheon of the London Natural History Museum’s long-extinct creatures to life. Using a groundbreaking collaboration of cutting-edge science and astounding CGI, Attenborough takes us on a magical after-hours journey through the museum to see the now-living exhibits as they looked when they roamed the planet.
One evening, David Attenborough slips past the security guards deep into London’s Natural History Museum. Now locked in, he witnesses something extraordinary: long-extinct creatures burst to life, turning from fossils to living, breathing and walking beasts. The historic museum building, with its romanesque columns, great arches and spiral towers, becomes the playground of these fascinating creatures. This adventure takes Attenborough on an enchanting journey through time where he comes face-to-face with a saber-toothed tiger, witnesses the terrifying descent of a giant predatory bird, escapes the coils of a colossal snake, and befriends a giant dinosaur, the Diplodocus. Along the way he reveals the very latest scientific insights into these extinct creatures and how our understanding of them has changed over time.
Enjoy an evening of two iconic Ken Burns’ films.
The Statue of Liberty airs Friday, February 14 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streams live on the WXXI app. The Congress follows at 10:30 p.m.
Burns’ 1985 film The Statue of Liberty presents a lyrical, compelling and provocative portrait of the statue. He explores both the history of America’s premier symbol and the meaning of liberty itself. Featuring rare archival photographs, paintings and drawings, readings from actual diaries, letters and newspapers of the day, the fascinating story of this universally admired monument is told. In interviews with Americans from all walks of life, including former New York governor Mario Cuomo, the late congresswoman Barbara Jordan and the late writers James Baldwin and Jerzy Kosinski, The Statue of Liberty examines the nature of liberty and the significance of the statue to American life.
Burns’ 1989 film The Congress. For 200 years, the United States Congress has been one of the country’s most important and least understood institutions. Using historical photographs and newsreels, evocative live footage and interviews, Burns chronicles the events that have shaped the first 200 years of congress and, in turn, our country.
Photo: The Statue of Liberty
Credit: Provided by PBS
Willie Nelson returns to the Austin City Limits stage alongside family and friends, for a Texas-sized concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his pilot taping.
ACL Presents: Willie Nelson & Family airs at Midnight on Saturday, February 15 on WXXI-TV and streams live on the WXXI app. It repeats Sunday, February 16 at 7 p.m.
Iconic live music television series Austin City Limits (ACL) was born on October 17, 1974, when Willie Nelson taped the pilot episode. That now legendary debut became the cornerstone for 50 years of groundbreaking, award-winning music television. Now Willie returns on the 50th anniversary of that taping to commemorate Austin City Limits’ remarkable half-century milestone with a Texas-sized outdoor concert on October 17, 2024, at Austin’s Long Center for the Performing Arts.
Photo: Willie Nelson on ACL in 1974
Credit: Austin City Limits
Kelly sits down with Dr. Leanne Williams, founding director of the Stanford Center for Precision Mental Health and Wellness, to discuss mental health disorders and therapies.
Tell Me More with Kelly Corrigan “Bad Days, Tough Seasons or Clinical Depression?” airs Friday, February 28 at 8:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming on the WXXI app.
They are joined by hospice and palliative care physician Dr. BJ Miller, and comedian W. Kamau Bell to elaborate on depression, stigmas and misconceptions associated with mental illness, and how we can move forward.
Retraces the life and legacy of an American civil rights pioneer who set more than 20 world records in speed cycling during the heart of Jim Crow America.
Major Taylor: Champion of the Race airs Monday, February 24, 2025 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming on the WXXI app.
In a word, I was a pioneer, and therefore had to blaze my own trail.” – Marshall “Major” Taylor. He earned nicknames that often equated to the most powerful forces in heaven and earth: The Cyclone. The Whirlwind. The Comet. He earned the respect of civil rights pioneer Booker T. Washington and shook the hand of President Theodore Roosevelt, who sought out the great champion to congratulate him. Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor was the world’s first Black sports superstar. Reporters simply called him “The Fastest Man in the World.”
By the time he was in his early 20s, Major Taylor had claimed victory in the world cycling championship, the American cycling crown, and had set dozens of world speed cycling records all while having to endure withering racial pressures.
Photo: Hazel Scott/ Credit: Everett
The story of Walter White and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
American Experience “Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAACP,” premiering Tuesday, February 25, 2025 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming on the WXXI app
As the story is usually told, the civil rights movement began in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus. In fact, the stage had been set decades before, by activists of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, who braved the appalling violence and oppression of the Jim Crow era. Some of their names are familiar: W.E.B. Du Bois and Thurgood Marshall. They all played prominent roles in the NAACP, the preeminent civil rights organization of the era. But Walter White — arguably the most influential Black man in mid-century America and the leader of the NAACP from 1929 to 1955 — has been all but forgotten. American Experience traces the life of this neglected civil rights hero and seeks to explain his disappearance from our history.
Photo:Dr. Ralph Bunche (right) is greeted at the Dallas airport as he arrives to give address at the closing session of the 45th annual convention of the NAACP. At left is the Rev. Ernest C. Estell, Jr., pastor of the St. John Baptist Church in Dallas and chairman of the Dallas convention committee, and (center) Walter White, NAACP executive secretary, 1954. /Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Visual Materials from the NAACP Records
Hazel Scott was one of the most revered stars of the early 20th century.
American Masters – The Disappearance of Miss Scott, premieres Friday, February 21, 2025 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming on the WXXI app.
Not only was Scott a beloved musical sensation, but she also channeled her talents into Hollywood stardom, becoming the first Black American to host their own television show. Discover her storied life, from her childhood as a musical prodigy in Trinidad to her prolific career on stage and the silver screen in this new documentary.
Featuring archival footage and stills, performance clips, animation, and interviews, The Disappearance of Miss Scott is the first known documentary centering on the jazz virtuoso’s life, detailing her awe-inspiring talents on the piano, how she used her star power to be an influential voice of the nascent Civil Rights Movement, and her life in Paris after being blacklisted from Hollywood during the 1950s Red Scare. Her career in the US ultimately ended after she defended herself and her colleagues in front of the House Un-American Committee, and her story has been mostly silenced until this film. Excerpts of Scott’s unpublished autobiography are voiced by Emmy Award-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, revealing Scott as a woman who would not compromise on her beliefs, and are complemented by interviews with country star Mickey Guyton, actresses Amanda Seales and Tracie Thoms, jazz musicians Camille Thurman and Jason Moran, and Adam Clayton Powell III, Hazel Scott’s only son.
Photo: Hazel Scott/ Credit: Everett
Keep informed about what’s happening in your community and WXXI by signing up for our newsletters.