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Program Highlights | May 2025

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The month of May is full of exciting shows and events! Explore the natural world, find out what happens with Miss Austen’s letters, enjoy music with the pops orchestra and Austin City Limits, celebrate excellent young leaders from right here in central Illinois, and so much more!

Rick Steves’ Europe:
A Symphonic Journey
Friday, May 2, 2025 - 9pm

Join Rick Steves and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra on a spectacular musical journey through Europe in RICK STEVES' EUROPE: A SYMPHONIC JOURNEY. This unique, hour-long special shot by CET Cincinnati blends powerful Romantic-era anthems from composers like Strauss, Grieg and Verdi with breathtaking visuals and Rick's cultural insights. Experience Europe's history, the passion for freedom and the spirit of unity across borders. Perfect for lovers of music, history, and travel.

  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Fri, 05/02/2025 @ 9:00 PM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Sat, 05/03/2025 @ 1:00 AM
  • WTVP-REMOTE 47.5 - Wed, 05/28/2025 @ 7:30 PM
  • WTVP-REMOTE 47.5 - Thu, 05/29/2025 @ 12:00 AM
  • WTVP-REMOTE 47.5 - Sun, 06/01/2025 @ 7:30 PM
  • WTVP-REMOTE 47.5 - Mon, 06/02/2025 @ 12:00 AM
Garth Brooks on the Austin City Limits Stage

Austin City Limits 
10th Annual Hall of Fame
Saturday, May 3, 2025 - 10:30pm

Austin City Limits Hall of Fame honoree Garth Brooks shares classics and the stories behind the songs in an epic, singalong hour for the series' 50th. The country superstar performs career highlights including "The Dance" and "Friends in Low Places."

  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Sat, 05/03/2025 @ 10:30 PM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Sun, 05/04/2025 @ 3:00 AM

40 Leaders Under Forty 
Class of 2024 Awards
Sunday, May 4, 2025 - 5:30pm        

On March 18, 2025, WTVP and leaders from across central Illinois gathered to recognize and celebrate the 2024 class of 40 Leaders Under Forty! The event included remarks from WTVP's President and CEO Jenn Gordon and past 40 Leaders alumni, and looked ahead to the ripple effects on the community from the 40 leaders' success and service.

  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Sun, 05/04/2025 @ 5:30 PM
  • WTVP-REMOTE 47.5 - Mon, 05/05/2025 @ 6:00 PM
  • WTVP-REMOTE 47.5 - Mon, 05/05/2025 @ 10:30 PM
40 Leaders Under Forty Class of 2024 photo
Miss Austen
Preview
0:31
Published:

Miss Austen, based on the novel by Gill Hornby, premieres on Sunday, May 4 at 9/8c.

Miss Austen On Masterpiece #5520
Episode 1 of 4 – New Series
Sunday, May 4, 2025 - 8pm

Notoriously known for burning Jane’s letters, did Cassandra Austen truly protect her famous sister’s reputation? Immerse in this literary mystery, reimagined as a fascinating, witty, and heart-breaking tale of sisterly love.

  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Sun, 05/04/2025 @ 8:00 PM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Mon, 05/05/2025 @ 12:00 AM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Tue, 05/06/2025 @ 3:00 AM

Independent Lens #2617
Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer’s
Monday, May 5, 2025 - 9pm

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's is an intimate portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer's and how this progressive neurodegenerative disease transforms roles and relationships. Whether it's a partner becoming a caregiver or an adult child shifting into being their parent's caretaker, these stories show how families evolve when a loved one is diagnosed.

  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Mon, 05/05/2025 @ 9:00 PM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Tue, 05/06/2025 @ 1:00 AM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Wed, 05/07/2025 @ 2:00 AM
  • WTVP-WORLD 47.3 - Wed, 05/07/2025 @ 7:00 PM
  • WTVP-WORLD 47.3 - Thu, 05/08/2025 @ 12:00 AM
  • WTVP-WORLD 47.3 - Thu, 05/08/2025 @ 8:00 AM
  • WTVP-WORLD 47.3 - Sat, 05/10/2025 @ 11:00 AM
Independent Lens
Trailer | Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's
0:30
Published:

An intimate portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer’s.

Trailer | Antiques Roadshow #2922 | Never Seen That Before!
0:30
Published:
Expires: 2029-05-12

Antiques Roadshow #2922
Never Seen That Before!
Monday, May 12, 2025 -7pm

Discover amazing items even our ROADSHOW experts had never seen, in person or possibly ever, prior to that magical moment at ROADSHOW. Finds include a Michelin Bibendum ad figure, a WWI surgical kit and a 19th c. southern basket.

  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Mon, 05/12/2025 @ 7:00 PM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Tue, 05/13/2025 @ 12:00 AM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Tue, 05/13/2025 @ 12:00 PM

American Experience #3703
Mr. Polaroid
Monday, May 19, 2025 - 8pm

On the day after Thanksgiving 1948, a sales team from the Polaroid Corporation arrived at the Jordan Marsh department store in Boston to kick off the holiday shopping season. They carried with them their company's latest innovation, a ground-breaking camera that provided "pictures in a minute." In the coming decades, as demand for the camera exploded, instant photography would become one of the most singular, iconic, and popular artistic mediums of the 20th century. The products' popularity revolutionized traditional photography and changed the way in which Americans recorded their lives, empowering people from all backgrounds to control and define the way the outside world saw them; it also helped its creator Edwin Land earn a reputation as one of the most visionary and prolific inventors of the 20th century. At the time of his death in 1991, Land held 535 patents (a number only surpassed by Thomas Edison and Elihu Thomson). He had also created a new kind of corporate culture that would come to be adopted by a veritable army of dot-com and technology companies who saw Land as their godfather -- most notably Apple's Steve Jobs, who sought Land's counsel and spoke frequently of his influence. This one-hour biography will chronicle Land's life and legacy, from global success to the financial disaster that led to his resignation and the epic legal battle with Kodak, the former partner he felt had betrayed him. Directed by Gene Tempest.

  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Mon, 05/19/2025 @ 8:00 PM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Tue, 05/20/2025 @ 12:00 AM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Wed, 05/21/2025 @ 3:00 AM
Filer image
Edwin Land holding Polavision camera with Bill McCune.
Library of Congress

Defying Death on the Atlantic
Thursday, May 29, 2025 – 9pm

"The World's Toughest Row" is an extreme race featuring unassisted rowing boats that cross the Atlantic Ocean from the Canary Islands to Antigua. For a team of four Air Force veterans, this challenge was the ultimate test of body and mind, as well as an opportunity to raise funds and awareness for other vets experiencing mental illness. The journey was incredible. The team trained hard and felt prepared for the grueling physical and mental beating the race would offer. But nothing could have prepared them for the sudden, unrelenting, and raging storm that sent a 30-foot swell with a 50-knot wind gust that violently capsized their boat. The team raced against all odds to get back to shore, but a damaged raft and failing technological support limited their capacity to fight the current. Fortunately, an atmospheric miracle enabled their mayday signal to reach a giant freighter, which eventually tracked them down and came to their rescue. Narrated by actor William Fichtner, DEFYING DEATH ON THE ATLANTIC is an hour-long documentary that tells their story. It features the four veterans who refused to give up and, despite incredible odds, continued to support each other until they were rescued. They began this journey to encourage other veterans to share their stories in the hope of healing. Now, they have the ultimate story to share.

  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Thu, 05/29/2025 @ 9:00 PM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 - Fri, 05/30/2025 @ 12:30 AM