PBS Announces Winter/Spring Season with Strong Roster of Returning Series and New Entries in Variety of Genres

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Lady Mary, Lady Cora and Lady Edith; Alexandra Shackleton sailing near Glaciers.

Credit: Nick Briggs/Carnival Film and Television Limited 2013 for MASTERPIECE; Joe French/RAW TV for CHASING SHACKLETON

PBS Announces Winter/Spring Season With Strong Roster of Returning Series and New Entries in Variety of Genres

Sherlock Returns January 19, Following Downton Abbey, Setting Stage

for Stellar Line-up of British Drama on Sundays

Major Drama, Science and Adventure Titles Reinforce Primetime

in Strategic 10 pm Slot

ARLINGTON, VA; October 23, 2013 -- PBS announced today its slate of Winter/Spring 2014 programs, including the long-awaited return of MASTERPIECE Sherlock, Season 3 starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the legendary British sleuth, on Sunday, January 19 at 10 p.m. ET. The highly acclaimed Sherlock follows Season 4 of Downton Abbey, which debuts with eight new episodes January 5 on MASTERPIECE. The two shows bolster Sunday night as a hallmark of British drama on PBS, whose ratings that night have grown 26 percent (8-11 pm, 2011-12 season: 9/19/2011-9/23/2012 to 2012-13 season: 9/24/2012-9/22/2013) season over season. The schedule also reinforces PBS' move into 10 p.m. programming on several key nights.

PBS also announced a number of new programs, including the real-life adventure series CHASING SHACKLETON, the broadcast premieres of biopics Salinger on AMERICAN MASTERS (about the reclusive Catcher in the Rye author) and HAWKING, an intimate portrait of physicist Stephen Hawking's extraordinary life and career, along with a roster of other new shows aimed to strengthen Wednesday night as a destination for TV's best science and nature programs.

According to Nielsen, PBS' 2012-2013 primetime programming saw an overall average ratings increase of seven percent over season over season (8-11 pm, 2011-12 season: 9/19/2011-9/23/2012 to 2012-13 season: 9/24/2012-9/22/2013). PBS now ranks eighth among all broadcast and cable networks in overall general audience content, surpassed only by the four major broadcast networks as well as USA, Univision and Disney, and overtaking cable's ESPN, History and TNT in the rankings. Previously, PBS ranked 11th.

It's clear that our 2012-2013 season was a real turning point for PBS, with Downton Abbey' on MASTERPIECE growing in popularity and a rise in overall general viewership ranking PBS among the top 10 U.S. networks, says Beth Hoppe, Chief Programming Executive and General Manager for General Audience Programming, PBS. With our winter and spring schedule, we continue to enhance our already popular drama and non-fiction nights, and offer potential new viewers a wide range of exciting, timely and topical programs.

With British drama on Sundays, science and nature on Wednesdays, and arts and performance on Fridays, PBS is committing further to its proven formula of affinity night programming. The pairing of hits Downton Abbey and Sherlock on MASTERPIECE sets the stage for the March 30 return of acclaimed dramas CALL THE MIDWIFE and MASTERPIECE's Mr. Selfridge. Wednesday's popular line-up offers the January 8 debut of the three-part CHASING SHACKLETON, in which five intrepid adventurers retrace the death-defying 1914 Antarctic sea-and-land journey by a shipwrecked crew led by Sir Ernest Shackleton. Soon after, is the four-part SUPER SKYSCRAPERS (February 5), which displays the dizzying heights of modern buildings, and the April 9th premieres of three-part miniseries NOVA Inside Animal Minds and YOUR INNER FISH, based on paleontologist Neil Shubin's best-selling book that traces the human body's development over millions of years.

Mondays on PBS feature the broadcast premieres of 17 new and diverse films from INDEPENDENT LENS and POV, including legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman's At Berkeley, which takes a deep look into the public higher education system (January 13), and the rollicking story of an off-beat American music mecca in the Alabama town of Muscle Shoals (April 21). Performing arts take the spotlight on Friday nights, with superstar Christopher Plummer onstage as the immortal John Barrymore in GREAT PERFORMANCES Barrymore (January 31), and music and dance programs scheduled throughout the season.

News, history and public affairs remain a cornerstone for PBS with PBS NEWSHOUR, CHARLIE ROSE THE WEEK and new thought-provoking programs such as AMERICAN EXPERIENCE The Amish: Shunned (February 4) and the five-part epic THE STORY OF THE JEWS (March 25-April 1).

JANUARY HIGHLIGHTS

MASTERPIECE CLASSIC Downton Abbey, Season 4 -- Sundays, January 5-February 23, 2014, 9:00 p.m. ET -- Season 4 of the international hit finds aristocrats coping with last season's shocking finale. Change is in the air as three generations of the Crawley family have conflicting interests in the estate. Paul Giamatti appears alongside the beloved returning ensemble that includes Dame Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter, Joanne Froggatt, guest star Shirley MacLaine and many others. A Carnival/MASTERPIECE co-production.

MASTERPIECE Sherlock, Season 3 -- Sundays, January 19-February 2, 2014, 10:00 p.m. ET -- Benedict Cumberbatch (The Fifth Estate, Star Trek Into Darkness) and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, The Office UK) return as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in three new 90-minute episodes The Empty Hearse (January 19), The Sign of Three (January 26) and His Last Vow (February 2) of the contemporary reinvention of the Arthur Conan Doyle classic, written and created by Steven Moffat (Dr. Who) and Mark Gatiss (Game of Thrones). The Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated Sherlock has been a television sensation since the first season aired in 2010.

CHASING SHACKLETON -- Wednesdays, January 8-22, 2014, 10:00-11:00 p.m.

LINK:	http://www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2013/winter-spring-season-progra...
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