TV Highlights

Premieres Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV / On Demand. Revisit the complex life and legacy of the author, advocate and human rights pioneer. Helen Keller, who was deaf and blind, used her celebrity and wit to champion rights for women, people with disabilities and people living in poverty.

Premieres Monday, Oct. 18, 2021 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV / On Demand. Decades ago, Mama Icha moved to the United States to help her daughter, but she never lost sight of her hometown of Mompox, spending years sending money to build her dream house there. Now, at the end of her life, Mama Icha returns to Colombia.

Premieres Monday, Oct. 18, 2021 at 8 p.m. on KPBS TV + Wednesday, Oct. 8 p.m. on KPBS 2 / On Demand. Steals and deals abound as ROADSHOW features great bargains including a Chiparus sculpture, an 1811 North Carolina fraktur, and "New Republic Portfolio" prints.

Premieres Friday, Oct. 15, 2021 at 10 p.m. on KPBS 2 + Tuesday, Oct. 19 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV / On Demand. A haunting portrait of a writer’s life and struggle for artistic freedom, meet Cuba’s José Lezama Lima, an all but forgotten figure of the Latin American literary boom that included Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Octavio Paz and Mario Vargas Llosa.

Premieres Fridays, Oct. 15 and 22, 2021 at 9 p.m. on KPBS 2 + Mondays, Oct. 18 and 25 at 10 p.m. on KPBS TV / On Demand. Savor the sights, sounds and flavors of the U.S.-Mexico border alongside acclaimed James Beard Award-winning chef Pati Jinich, host of PBS’s PATI’S MEXICAN TABLE, as she experiences the region’s rich culture, people and cuisine.

Premieres Sundays, Oct. 17 - Nov. 21, 2021 at 10 p.m. on KPBS TV / On Demand. The acclaimed series follows retired detective Julien Baptiste (Tchéky Karyo) as he delves into Budapest’s corrupt underworld to find a British Ambassador’s family who go missing on a skiing holiday in the Hungarian mountains.

Premieres Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021 at 9 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 17 at 2 p.m. on KPBS TV + Oct. 17 at 9 p.m. on KPBS 2 / On Demand. Join scientists on the most ambitious Arctic research expedition of all time. Facing hungry polar bears, perilous sea ice cracks, and brutal cold, the team strives to understand the forces that are changing the region — and the world — forever.

Premieres Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021 at 10 p.m. on KPBS TV + Thursday, Oct. 14 at 10 p.m. on KPBS 2 / On Demand. The Taliban take over Afghanistan, and the threat of ISIS and Al Qaeda intensifies. On the ground, reporter Najibullah Quraishi investigates uncertainty and fear among the Afghan people and revisits the lead up to the U.S. defeat and Taliban's return.

Monday, Oct. 11, 2021 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV / On Demand. When homosexuality was considered a mental illness to be "cured," renegade LGBTQ+ activists fought a powerful psychiatry establishment that had things dangerously backwards.

Sundays, Oct. 3 - Nov. 14, 2021 at 8 p.m. + encores at 7 p.m. on KPBS TV and KPBS 2 / On Demand. It's 1966, and it’s a testing time for the midwives. But there’s excitement, too, as the women's rights movement intensifies. Interesting challenges lie ahead for Nonnatus House, as well as great celebrations when England wins the World Cup.