For immediate release
Chicago, IL - August 31, 2023
WTTW announces a blockbuster slate of new programming for the fall 2023 season including eight documentaries uncovering the fascinating history, rich diversity, and breadth of human experience in Chicago Stories; Ken Burns’ new two-part journey through more than 10,000 years of North American history in American Buffalo; and the premiere of Sunday Night Mysteries on WTTW with the return of audience favorites Professor T, Unforgotten, and Van der Valk.
Watch on television on WTTW (ch. 11.1), and stream on the PBS app and at wttw.com/watch.
SEPTEMBER
SUNDAY NIGHT MYSTERIES beginning September 3
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PROFESSOR T, Season 2 at 7:00 pm
As Professor Jasper Tempest (Ben Miller) untangles a series of knotty crimes, he is perplexed by the women in his life, from his mother to the love of his life to his new therapist.
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UNFORGOTTEN Season 5 on Masterpiece at 8:00 pm
DCI Jessica “Jess” James joins DI Sunny Khan and his team as the ghost of much-loved former colleague Cassie Stuart looms over everyone, and Jess knows there will be big shoes for her to fill.
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VAN DER VALK Season 3 on Masterpiece at 9:00 pm
Brilliant but cynical detective Piet van der Valk solves baffling crimes in 21st-century Amsterdam, which is more prosperous, cosmopolitan, and crime-prone than ever.
Full seasons are bingeable with a WTTW Passport membership on the night of the premieres.
FRONTLINE: Two Strikes / Tutwiler
Tuesday, September 5 at 9:00 pm
In a new two-part special, we learn how a former West Point cadet got life in prison, and what happens to the newborn babies of incarcerated pregnant women.
FRONTLINE: Putin vs. the Press
Tuesday, September 26 at 9:00 pm
Follow Nobel prize-winning journalist Dmitry Muratov’s battle to defend free speech in Putin’s Russia.
AMERICA OUTDOORS WITH BARATUNDE THURSTON, Season 2
Wednesdays beginning September 6 at 7:00 pm
The bestselling writer, podcaster, and comedian returns to uncover more fascinating stories about how we work, play, and interact with the outdoors.
EVOLUTION EARTH
Wednesdays beginning September 6 at 9:00 pm
This new five-part natural history series reveals astounding ways wildlife at the front lines of climate change are adapting to bigger storms, longer droughts, and warming oceans.
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: THE BUSING BATTLEGROUND
Monday, September 11 at 8:00 pm
On September 12, 1974, police were stationed outside schools across Boston as Black and white students were bused for the first time between neighborhoods to comply with a federal court desegregation order. This film illuminates the volatile effort to end school segregation, and the decades-long struggle for educational equity.
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: THE HARVEST – Integrating Mississippi's Schools
Tuesday, September 12 at 8:00 pm
Set against vast historic and demographic changes unfolding across America, The Harvest follows a coalition of Black and White residents working to create racially integrated public schools in a cotton town in the middle of the Mississippi Delta, the most rigidly segregated area in America.
DOC MARTIN, Season 9
Saturdays beginning September 16 at 7:00 pm
As season 9 begins, Doc Martin, aka Dr. Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes), is grappling with a career crisis as the General Medical Council receives complaints about his unconventional approach to patients.
Season 10 will be bingeable with a WTTW Passport membership beginning November 1.
CHICAGO STORIES – New Season
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Angels Too Soon: The School Fire of ’58
Friday, September 22 at 8:00 pm
On December 1, 1958, a devastating fire swept through Our Lady of the Angels school in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood, killing 92 children and three nuns. Survivors and community members share their harrowing memories of that day and the heartbreaking aftermath.
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The Race to Reverse the River
Friday, September 29 at 8:00 pm
From its earliest days, Chicago residents and businesses alike dumped their waste directly into the Chicago River, which flowed into Lake Michigan and contaminated the city’s drinking water. Chicago Stories explores the various methods tried to combat the problem that was causing disease and death, and one engineer’s bold solution: reversing the flow of the river away from the lake.
OCTOBER
FRONTLINE: The Astros Edge – Triumph and Scandal in the Major League
Tuesday, October 3 at 9:00 pm
Frontline delves into the Houston Astros cheating scandal, what it says about baseball today, and how it has changed the sport.
NOVA: Ancient Earth
Wednesdays beginning October 4 at 8:00 pm
This five-part series presents an epic biography of the Earth and the deep history to uncover the most dramatic events in our planet’s past, from its birth to the emergence of humanity.
CHICAGO STORIES – New Season
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Pullman and the Railroad Rebellion
Friday, October 6 at 8:00 pm
Powerful industrialist and engineer George Pullman established a company town for his employees that gave him complete autonomy over every aspect of their lives. This film recounts the bloody rebellion that followed as the workers fought for their independence.
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The Boss and the Bulldozer
Friday, October 13 at 8:00 pm
The urban renewal initiatives of Chicago mayor Richard J. “Boss” Daley were the foundation of the city’s infrastructure but also displaced the poor and people of color. This film chronicles Daley’s rise to power, his achievements, and his stubbornness in the face of cultural change.
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Jane Addams: Together We Rise
Friday, October 20 at 8:00 pm
Jane Addams, inspired by a settlement house in London’s East End, created Hull House. Chicago Stories profiles this Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist and her cadre of women who enriched the lives of thousands of immigrant families.
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Candy Capital
Friday, October 27 at 8:00 pm
This documentary explores how Chicago became known as “the candy capital of the world,” and tells the stories of some of the intrepid immigrant confectioners behind the many iconic brands we still love today.
FRONTLINE: Elon Musk's Twitter Takeover
Tuesday, October 10 at 8:00 pm
Explore Elon Musk's long and often troubled relationship with Twitter and his journey from one of the platform's most provocative users to its sole proprietor - an examination of the acquisition, free speech, and the company's uncertain future.
SUNDAY NIGHT DRAMAS beginning October 15 at 7:00 pm
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HOTEL PORTOFINO, Season 2
Bella Ainsworth is still devoting her energies to the Hotel Portofino, which is starting to prosper. But she will be forced to confront the reality of her relationship with her no-good husband. Catch up with a marathon of season 1 that afternoon.
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WORLD ON FIRE Season 2 on Masterpiece
Season 2 moves from the war-torn streets of Britain deep into Nazi Germany, the resistance within occupied France, and the North African desert – where troops struggle to adapt to a very different kind of combat.
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ANNIKA Season 2 on Masterpiece
Annika and the team return to solve more murders that wash up from Scotland’s waters, as she shares her wry insights on the crimes while raising her teen daughter.
Full seasons are bingeable with a WTTW Passport membership on the night of the premieres.
THE AMERICAN BUFFALO from Ken Burns
Monday and Tuesday, October 16 and 17 at 7:00 and 9:00 pm
This new two-part four-hour series takes viewers on a journey through more than 10,000 years of North American history and across some of the continent’s most iconic landscapes, tracing the buffalo’s evolution, its significance to the Indigenous people and landscape of the Great Plains, its near extinction, and the efforts to bring the magnificent mammals back from the brink. Visit WTTW’s companion website at wttw.com/americanbuffalo.
LITTLE BIRD
Sundays beginning October 22 at 6:00 pm
Inspired by true events, this compelling six-part series follows the story of Indigenous woman Bezhig Little Bird on a journey to find her birth family and uncover the hidden truth of her past.
COMING HOME
Sunday, October 29 at 10:00 pm
This special goes behind the scenes of the production of Little Bird and the groundbreaking movement for Indigenous narrative sovereignty.
NATIVE AMERICA, Season 2
Tuesdays beginning October 24 at 8:00 pm
Building on the foundation of the acclaimed original series that premiered in 2018, this new season presents stories of Native Americans who are carrying forward Indigenous values to transform our 21st century world.
SPY IN THE OCEAN: A NATURE MINISERIES
Wednesdays beginning October 25 at 7:00 pm
This four-part miniseries employs animatronic spy cameras disguised as marine animals to secretly record behavior in the wild, revealing how ocean animals possess emotions and behavior similar to humans.
THE WAR ON DISCO: AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
Monday, October 30 at 8:00 pm
This new documentary explores the cultural movement that gave rise to disco music and the backlash that followed, beginning with the first of many anti-disco events: the violent “Disco Demolition” at Chicago’s Comiskey Park in July 1979.
NOVEMBER
CHICAGO STORIES – New Season
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The Outrage of Danny Sotomayor
Friday, November 3 at 8:00 pm
The fiery openly gay AIDS activist, and cartoonist Danny Sotomayor used civil disobedience to wage war on city officials who turned a blind eye to the AIDS crisis – all while fighting a losing battle with the disease himself.
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The Rise and Fall of the Mail Order Giants
Friday, November 10 at 8:00 pm
Chicago Stories traces the histories of Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward, the fierce rivalry between the two bold innovators who brought us the catalog, and how they forever changed the way we shop.
NOVA: Inside China's Tech Boom
Wednesday, November 8 at 8:00 pm
NOVA takes viewers on an insider’s tour of high-profile tech companies and labs that are driving China’s meteoric rise to the forefront of global innovation.
NOVA: Malaria
Wednesday, November 15 at 8:00 pm
In many parts of the world, malaria remains an ever-present scourge. Now, scientists may be on the verge of a breakthrough with a promising vaccine.
A TOWN CALLED VICTORIA
Monday, November 13 at 8:00 pm and Tuesday, November 14 at 9:00 pm
This three-part docuseries from Independent Lens chronicles the 2017 arson of a Texas Mosque as a quiet but resilient community reckons with what drove a man to hate.
GREAT PERFORMANCES: Making Shakespeare – The First Folio
Friday, November 17 at 8:00 pm
Celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio, which saved 18 plays from being lost. The film also spotlights how New York City’s Public Theater presents Shakespeare’s work for today’s audiences.
GROUNDBREAKERS
Tuesday, November 21 at 7:00 pm
This documentary pairs trailblazing female athletes from different generations as they interview each other.
