Highlights Archive

ASL Video Podcast: Breakdown • On-Demand

FRONTLINE, the Portland Press Herald and Maine Public investigate the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history and the missed opportunities to prevent it.

There were 656 mass shootings in the U.S in 2023. The one in Lewiston, Maine on Oct. 25, 2023 was the year’s deadliest — and quite possibly preventable.

Over six episodes, Breakdown explores the missed opportunities to prevent the shooting, the role of guns and hunting in Maine’s politics, and the aftermath for shooting victims, some of whom were deaf and hard of hearing.

Each episode includes American Sign Language (ASL)-interpreted videos.

Click here to watch the ASL Video Podcast: Breakdown

You can also listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Call The Midwife Holiday Special 2025 • WXXI-TV

Senior members of the convent embark on a mercy mission, swapping the snowy East End of London for the sun-drenched terrain of Hong Kong.

Call The Midwife Holiday Special 2025 airs Thursday, December 25 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming live on the WXXI and PBS apps.

The rise in hospital births, and wider changes in the NHS, have clipped their wings. But their mission to the Far East is a chance to take flight and work out what really matters. For her part, Sister Julienne suddenly finds herself excited about the Order’s future. After years of battling change, she decides to embrace it and see what love can do.

Picture Shows: Joyce Highland (RENEE BAILEY) Trixie Franklin (HELEN GEORGE) Sister Julienne (JENNY AGUTTER)
Credit: © Neal Street Productions/Olly Courtney

Move to Include Podcast • On-Demand

From WXXI News “Inclusion Desk” comes a six-episode audio and video podcast exploring self advocacy for people with disabilities. Hosted by WXXI News reporter Noelle E.C. Evans, each episode delves into a core aspect of everyday life for people with disabilities — education, employment, housing, relationships, healthcare, and transportation — told through the lens of the self-advocacy movement.

Through one-on-one interviews and panel discussions, the show empowers people with disabilities, caregivers, and allies with practical knowledge, resources, and inspiration to advocate for themselves and build stronger communities.

Subscribe here.

You can also subscribe to the podcast where ever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Spotify, and Amazon.

Distribution: One episode drops each month from January to June 2026. Audio & video episodes with text recaps and transcripts will be available on all podcast platforms, YouTube, and WXXINews.org.

Accessibility: All episodes will be fully captioned. The video version of the podcast will include an on-screen ASL interpreter. Full episode transcripts and summaries will be available.

This podcast is from WXXI’s Inclusion Desk, a multi-platform reporting effort to inform and transform attitudes and behavior about inclusion. The Inclusion Desk grew from the Move to Include partnership between WXXI and the Golisano Foundation. Through programming and special events, WXXI and the Golisano Foundation look to build a more inclusive community by inspiring and motivating people to embrace different abilities and include all people in every aspect of community life.

Exited Podcast • On-Demand

Leaving the world of adolescence and entering the adult world — the real world — can be a confusing time for anyone. But for young people with disabilities, it can feel like arriving at a cliff as they leave behind the cocoon of school and sometimes struggle to find a place where they belong. Exited is a podcast that brings you the stories of eight young people, ranging in age from 17 to 26, as they navigate transitions in various settings – high school, higher education, sheltered workshops, day programs, and home life.

Click the links below to hear each of the five episodes. Or subscribe to the podcast where ever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Spotify, Amazon.

Episode 1

“Want a diploma? Go through this maze first” In the first episode of Exited, explore an early factor in transition – graduation tracks – through the experience of 17-year-old Nate, a student who doesn’t quite fit on any one track.

Episode 2

“Leaving college with lots of benefits — but no degree” Going to college can be a key experience in a young person’s life, leading to friendships, personal growth, a degree — and, of course, future employment.

Episode 3

“The uncertain future of segregated workshopsThe uncertain future of segregated workshops” Sheltered workshops, where many people with disabilities go to work, have been around for decades. But they’re controversial for a few reasons

Episode 4

“How disabled is too disabled to work?” When Akin Johnson was nearing the end of high school, he was clear about what he wanted to do next. He wanted to get a job.

Episode 5

“Imagining the future and ‘other people caring for him'” People like Jonathan Jackson tend to have an entourage. An entourage can consist of professionals and family members who support someone with disabilities in all kinds of ways.

This podcast, produced in 2017, is from WXXI’s Inclusion Desk, a multi-platform reporting effort to inform and transform attitudes and behavior about inclusion. The Inclusion Desk grew from the Move to Include partnership between WXXI and the Golisano Foundation. Through programming and special events, WXXI and the Golisano Foundation look to build a more inclusive community by inspiring and motivating people to embrace different abilities and include all people in every aspect of community life.

SOLD OUT Special Screening: Season 6 Premiere of “All Creatures Great and Small” • The Little Theatre

This event is SOLD-OUT!

Join us for a free in-person screening of the first episode of the all new season of your favorite PBS series!

Enjoy watching the premiere episode of Season 6 of “All Creatures Great and Small” on the big screen. We return to Darrowby in May 1945 to find Skeldale House at sixes and sevens. As victory in Europe is declared, there is the promise of peace at last, but James is wishing for a greater sense of peace at the surgery as he juggles vet work with a busy family life and an exceptionally challenging Siegfried. Helen’s enjoying time with young Jimmy and Rosie but has big changes afoot at Heston Grange to contend with. Tristan returns from several years at war and will have to re-adjust to life back home in Darrowby. Meanwhile, Mrs. Hall works hard to bring everybody back together and restore harmony at the surgery!

In addition to the screening, you’ll enjoy special prices and giveaways!

DETAILS:
All Creatures Great and Small screening
Sunday, January 11 at 1 p.m. (Door open at 12:30 pm)
The Little Theatre, 240 East Avenue

Photo: James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph), Helen Herriot (Rachel Shenton) Credit: Playground Entertainment and MASTERPIECE / Photographer: Helen Williams

Rick Steves’ European Christmas • WXXI-TV

Rick Steves visits seven European cultures at Christmastime, including Wales, France, Norway, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy.

Rick Steves’ European Christmas airs Sunday, December 20 at 3 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

From manger scenes and mistletoe to wintry wonderlands, Rick Steves’ European Christmas celebrates the Christmas season throughout the European continent. In the special, Rick visits friends and families in England, France, Norway, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy to reveal their customs and practices of the holiday season. He begins his travels in England, where the Christmas pudding is the real centerpiece of a traditional English holiday meal. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower heralds the season with its red, twinkling lights. And in the countryside of Tuscany, villagers stack neat pyramids of wood for great bonfires. The lighting of the fires is a signal to villagers – dressed as shepherds – to come and sing old carols. Rick Steves’ European Christmas offers a colorful, musical celebration of Christmas across Europe where viewers will learn about customs from “the old countries,” hear local choirs, and discover holiday family traditions.

Hope of the Season: Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir • WXXI-TV

Packed with classic carols, holiday favorites and an inspirational portrait of real life, this 90-minute concert features songs and stories of hope.

Hope of the Season: Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir airs Monday, December 15 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming live on the WXXI and PBS apps

This Christmas, the world-renowned Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square joins with Tony Award®-winner Ruthie Ann Miles and Hollywood veteran Dennis Haysbert in the unforgettable holiday spectacular, “Hope of the Season.” Packed with classic carols, holiday favorites and an inspirational portrait of real life, this 90-minute concert features songs and stories of hope for audiences of all ages.

Happiness • WXXI-TV

Happiness airs Sunday, December 14 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming live on the WXXI and PBS apps

After 20 years away, Broadway director Charlie Summers finds himself back in his childhood room, helping his mother at the local theater. The eclectic cast and crew there may lack professional skills, but certainly don’t lack passion.

Happiness, a new six-episode series from PBS, is a feel-good musical comedy-drama that is fun for the entire family—just in time for the holiday season. Centered on the highs and lows of an amateur theater group in New Zealand, the story follows Charlie Summers after he reluctantly returns home from a Broadway stint, helping his mother run the local community theater group Pizazz. Warm, funny and heartfelt, the opening scene features an airport flash mob, choreographed to the tune of Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody,” featuring original lyrics and choreography and continues to dazzle with original musical numbers from the fictional Pizazz production of “The Trojan Horse,”including “Troy Boy” and “Greeks Bearing Gifts.”