SCOOP: Smithsonian Channel February 2019 Premieres
By: Kaitlin Milligan Jan. 24, 2019
Smithsonian Channel has announced its February programming, which includes debut of Black History Month special "The Green Book: Guide to Freedom"
Lineup also brings back Wild Wednesdays with "Amazing pigs," "Incredible Animal Moments" and "Naked Mole Rat," and features all new episodes of "Eight Days That Made Rome," "Humongous Moves," "Air Disasters" and "Disasters at Sea."
Full lineup:
Monday, 2/4
EIGHT DAYS THAT MADE ROME: THE DOWNFALL OF NERO (new episode) - 8 p.m. ET/PT
On June 9, 68 AD, Nero, Emperor of Rome, took his own life as troops came to arrest him for crimes against the state. Nero's was the most notorious reign in Rome's history and the last of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Using evidence from across the Roman world, Hughes reveals how Nero's early reign was dominated by one of the most remarkable Roman women - his mother, Agrippina. Brand new conservation work at the Domus Aurea, Nero's Golden House, allows us to appreciate the emperor's extravagance like never before, while clues from Nero's image on coins has led to a radical new theory that his mood was being constantly undermined by a serious illness.
Tuesday, 2/5
HUMONGOUS MOVES: TITANIC TRAINS (new episode) - 9 p.m. ET/PT
An intrepid team race to rescue two rare Churchill steam Locomotives, hauling them 850 miles across Turkey before shipping them back to the UK. Saved from the scrapmans blowtorch, these ancient engines were originally sent to Turkey by Winston Churchill. The locomotives are no longer able to run under their own steam, and too heavy to truck across Turkey's mountainous roads. So the British team of steam enthusiasts have to hitch their way across Turkey on a series of freight trains. Navigating the single-track lines proves challenging and there's the constant risk that these massive but fragile beasts could disintegrate beneath their feet. Will the team reach the docks in Turkey in time to load the lumbering locomotives onto the cargo ship for their sea journey back to Britain?
Wednesday, 2/6
INCREDIBLE ANIMAL MOMENTS - 8 p.m. ET/PT
Delving into Smithsonian Channel's vast library of Natural History programming, INCREDIBLE ANIMAL MOMENTS counts down some of the most amazing wildlife moments captured on high-speed cameras using stunning macro-photography. The film showcases riveting animal interactions, giving viewers an intimate glimpse into the animal kingdom. From the arid deserts to the deepest oceans, audiences will have a front row seat to witness some of the greatest wildlife footage ever captured in five jaw-dropping categories: Deadly Showdowns, Freaks of Nature, Gang Wars, Rough Romance and Extreme Parenting.
Sunday, 2/10
AIR DISASTERS: BLOWN AWAY (new episode) - 8 p.m. ET/PT
After circling above the Taiwan Strait to wait out a passing cyclone, TransAsia Flight 222 crashes on the Taiwanese resort island of Penghu. The media claims the storm is to blame, but the evidence soon points investigators in a different direction. Six months into the investigation, the airline is hit with a second accident. And that's when investigators uncover a systemic problem with fatal consequences.
Sunday, 2/10
DISASTERS AT SEA: THE ICE SHIP (new episode) - 9 p.m. ET/PT
A February 2007 adventure cruise ends in disaster when MV Explorer sinks in Antarctica, stranding 144 passengers and crew in inflatable rafts to face the sub-arctic temperatures of the South Pole. With the ship at the bottom of the ocean, investigators must turn to a surprising source for evidence about what went wrong - the photos and videos taken by the passengers who survived the ordeal.
Monday, 2/11
EIGHT DAYS THAT MADE ROME: THE COLOSSEUM'S GRAND OPENING (new episode) - 8 p.m. ET/PT
Hughes relives OPENING DAY at Rome's Colosseum in 80 AD - the first day of the inaugural games held by Emperor Titus. With the EMPIRE near the height of its power, it was a celebration of the completion of the lavish arena, a giant new landmark for the world's greatest city where the people could revel in bloodthirsty entertainments. But why did Romans love to see so much blood? Hughes tackles this question head on, traveling across the Roman world to discover how the ritualized violence of the games played a crucial role in affirming the Romans' sense of who they were and what they had achieved.
Tuesday, 2/12
HUMONGOUS MOVES: MAMMOTH MACHINES (new episode) - 9 p.m. ET/PT
Two teams of movers race against the clock to relocate a submarine attack aircraft from Canada to America inside the world's biggest cargo plane, and a huge snow plough locomotive up a mountain. British Pilot HARRY Odone returns to Goose Bay air base, Canada to rescue a Fairey Gannet Submarine Attack he had to abandon here five years ago when its engines failed. HARRY needs to transport the vintage British Royal Navy plane 2,500km on a jumbo journey to New Richmond Airport, Wisconsin where it will be RESTORED to working condition. This edition follows the team race against time to lift and load the aircraft into the world's largest operating cargo aircraft on earth, the Antonov-124, to fly it to America. In Oregon, we also follow leading heavy hauler Chris Arsenault attempt to transport a 70-year old snow plough locomotive up 'Train Mountain' to a hillside throne. Moving the 120-ton historic hulk up the super-steep terrain and along narrow roads is a huge challenge. Will both mammoth machines survive the perilous journeys to their new homes?
Wednesday, 2/13
AMAZING PIGS (new film) - 8 p.m. ET/PT
Filthy? Greedy? Lazy? Think again. Pigs are highly intelligent, possess acute senses and thrive in almost every habitat on Earth. With some two billion of them now sharing our planet, AMAZING PIGS embarks on a surprising, funny and fascinating journey around the world to reveal the extraordinary SECRETS behind the success of these much-overlooked ANIMALS. The one-hour special reveals how pig's incredible senses, intelligence and adaptability help them thrive from frozen SIBERIA to the turquoise waters of the Bahamas. After discovering the parasite-extinguishing techniques of Ugandan warthogs and the fearsome tusks of Indonesian babirusas, viewers will never look at pigs the same way again.
Sunday, 2/17
AIR DISASTERS: DEADLY DISTRACTION (new episode) - 8 p.m. ET/PT
En route to Salt Lake City, Delta Airlines Flight 1141 crashes just moments after lifting off from Dallas-Fort Worth airport and erupts into flames. Of the 108 people on board, 94 make it off the plane alive while 14 DIE TRYING to escape the smoke and flames. It's clear that neither the runway nor the weather is to blame, so investigators know there's a problem with either the plane itself or its configuration.
Sunday, 2/17
DISASTERS AT SEA: SHIPWRECKED IN ALASKA (new episode) - 9 p.m. ET/PT
Deadly flooding sinks the Alaska Ranger in March 2008, forcing the crew to abandon ship into the frigid waters off the coast of Alaska. Their retrieval marks the largest cold water rescue in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard. Without the ship's remains to look into, investigators have little to go on until a visit to the sister ship of The Ranger reveals a shocking secret that's putting other lives at risk.
Monday, 2/18
EIGHT DAYS THAT MADE ROME: THE REBIRTH OF ROME (new episode) - 8 p.m. ET/PT
Hughes looks at the day which marked Rome's symbolic break with its thousand-year pagan past - the moment in 337 AD when Emperor CONSTANTINE the Great was baptized as a Christian. Hughes travels to both the old and the "New Rome," as Constantinople was known, to study the complex and contradictory life of this brilliant emperor. Hughes shows how many of Constantine's greatest monuments combine Christian and pagan imagery - almost certainly reflecting the emperor's own religious outlook. She also gets to explore recently discovered traces of Constantine's original palace at his new capital, its entrance now hidden below the shops and cafés of modern Istanbul.
Tuesday, 2/19
HUMONGOUS MOVES: OCEAN ODYSSEY (new episode) - 9 p.m. ET/PT
A team of movers must transport a fleet of bespoke racing yachts worth £8 million 6,500 km from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe to France. The huge yachts race across the rough Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean, in one of the most extreme sailing challenges in the world, the Route Du Rhum. Having crossed the finish line in one piece, some skippers decide it's too risky to sail their yachts back. So they recruit a team of marine engineers to transport the fleet back to France. It's a huge challenge. The move crew decide to charter a colossal 30,000 ton cargo ship for the job. But loading the delicate 50 ft trimarans and monohull yachts onto the ships deck is fraught with danger. It's an incredibly tight squeeze to fit all the yachts on board without damaging them. Storms delay the ships journey and tempers flare when the loading runs behind schedule. Will the team get everything on board before the ship raises anchor?
Wednesday, 2/20
NAKED MOLE RATS (new film) - 8 p.m. ET/PT
Despite its appearance, the naked mole rat is among the most enviable creatures: Researchers around the world are puzzled by their incredibly long life spans, inability to get sick and almost total imperviousness to pain. NAKED MOLE RATS examines these elusive rodents with an average longevity of over 30 years and unusual physiology that brings to mind traits of the legendary fountain of youth. In a quest to combat age-related health issues and illness, researchers explore the Methuselah gene carried by this remarkable rodent as they search for the naked mole rats' "elixir of life." Using transponder technologies, computer tomography and ultrasound, NAKED MOLE RATS provides a deeper look into the chemistry of this zoological outsider in hopes of finding the keys to their SECRETS - what do naked mole rats have that we don't?
Sunday, 2/24
AIR DISASTERS: DEADLY AIRSPACE (new episode) - 8 p.m. ET/PT
A commercial airliner goes down over a warzone in eastern Ukraine. The evidence indicates the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. Amid speculation in the media and against the backdrop of war, investigators are determined to get answers for the families of the 298 victims, but they face political roadblocks at every turn.
Sunday, 2/24
DISASTERS AT SEA: TORN APART (new episode) - 9 p.m. ET/PT
When a violent crack tears the MSC Napoli apart in January 2017, the crew is left stranded in the English Channel. Rescuers' first priority is retrieving the crew and moving the ship away from busy shipping lanes. But as the investigators dig into the cause of the wreck, they discover an alarming design flaw.
Monday, 2/25
THE GREEN BOOK: GUIDE TO FREEDOM (new film) - 8 p.m. ET/PT
THE GREEN BOOK: GUIDE TO FREEDOM tells the story of The Negro Motorist Green Book - a travel guide that helped African Americans navigate safe passage across America during the era of segregation. Directed by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Yoruba Richen, the film looks at the day-to-day realities that African-Americans faces on the road during Jim Crow: the struggles and indignities, but also the opportunities and triumphs that were won through adversity.
Tuesday, 2/26
HUMONGOUS MOVES: MOUNTAIN MISSION (new episode) - 9 p.m. ET/PT
A team of engineers race against the clock to move a colossal telescope, weighing over 100 tons, up 5000-metres to a mountain plateau in Chile. The telescope is part of an ambitious multi-million pound construction project in the heart of the mountainous Atacama Desert where 600 engineers and scientists are working round the clock to build the world's biggest telescope. With parts arriving from all over the world at the 3,000-meter base camp, they must assemble the telescopes to millimeter accuracy to be able to hunt down planets that might harbor life. With no vehicle big and sophisticated enough to transport the awkward and delicate freight up 5,000 meters to the mountain plateau, the team has to design a huge, 28-wheeled transporter like no other. THE JOURNEY up to the plateau through the driest desert on earth is fraught with dangers. Will the movers and machines cope with the extreme heat and lack of oxygen on their long climb up the mountain?
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