TVO heads into the fall season with an exciting lineup of current affairs, documentaries and dramas.

Highlights include:

• Stephen Hawking at the Perimeter Institute 90-minute special September 18 at 8 pm 
• The Agenda with Steve Paikin looks back at 9/11 and Allan Gregg talks to Irshad Manji
• Unheralded and Deadman - TVO NFB Calling Card documentaries showcase emerging filmmakers
• The Joy of Stats and How Long is a Piece of String - Math is made fun with documentaries that make stats exciting and measuring a piece of string a journey of discovery
• Steam of Life / Herb and Dorothy / ANPO Art X War - Point of view documentaries where men bare their souls and much more, profile an exceptional pair of art patrons, and reveal a painful period of Japan’s history through art
• Silk and Accused - Two new courtroom dramas featuring all-star casts

Stephen Hawking at Perimeter Institute
Sunday September 18, 2011 at 8 pm
90 minutes
Produced by TVO

Professor Stephen Hawking returns to Canada’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario this September. He’s here for the official Grand Opening of the Stephen Hawking Centre at Perimeter Institute where the world’s most famous scientist holds a Distinguished Research Chair. As the presenting media partner of the Grand Opening, TVO will air a 90-minute special of Hawking’s appearance at Perimeter Institute to be broadcast on September 18 at 8 pm.

Last year, TVO beamed the world’s most famous living scientist’s first public speech in Canada into homes across the country. TVO’s special relationship with PI has promoted an enthusiasm for science, and raised awareness of its role in understanding our past, present and future. Moreover, it has given Canadians unprecedented, exclusive access to the world’s greatest scientific minds.

The Agenda with Steve Paikin – 9/11 week
Monday to Friday, September 12 to 16, 2011 at 8 pm
Produced by TVO

TVO’s flagship current affairs program kicks off its sixth season with a week-long focus on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Guests will examine how the shocking events of that day changed our lives forever – from how we live day-to-day, to geo-politics.

The Agenda with Steve Paikin focuses on in-depth current affairs analysis, exploring multiple perspectives through one-on-one interviews and extended debate. The Agenda Online and The Agenda on the Road:Your Vote 2011 offer more opportunities for Ontarians to engage in the critical issues that impact the province.

Allan Gregg in Conversation
Fridays at 10 pm ET
New season begins Friday September 9, 2011
Produced by TVO

Allan Gregg in Conversation features host Allan Gregg in engaging discussions with some of the world's foremost thinkers on social, cultural, political and economic issues.

Irshad Manji (Friday September 9) - A decade after the September 11th attacks, Irshad Manji, Muslim reformer and author of the book, Allah, Liberty and Love: The Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom, examines how relations between Muslims and non-Muslims have changed. 

Neil Seeman (Friday September 23) - Almost half the adults in Canada are either overweight or obese, and our kids aren’t far behind. So what can be done about it? Neil Seeman, author of the controversial new book XXL: Obesity and the Limits of Shame, argues that public health campaigns haven’t worked and it’s time to try a radically different approach.

DOCUMENTARIES

With half of our primetime schedule devoted to documentary programming, TVO is the destination in Ontario for powerful, provocative documentaries from Canada and around the world. As a proud supporter of independent and emerging filmmakers, TVO presents big, bold ideas and new perspectives on our global village through point-of-view films, as well as non-fiction programs covering topics ranging from science, nature and the environment, to people, places, and history.

NFB-TVO Calling Card Documentaries

Aaron Hancox’s Unheralded and Chelsea McMullan’s Deadman are prime examples of how TVO supports Canada’s emerging documentary filmmakers. The films were made possible by the Calling Card Program, an initiative produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and TVO with the participation of the Documentary Organization of Canada. Each filmmaking team is awarded $45,000 and receive mentorship from members of the film and new-media community to take their docs from concept to television premiere or online launch. The winning 30-minute TV documentary has its premiere broadcast on TVO.

Unheralded - World Broadcast Premiere
Wednesday September 7, 2011 at 9 pm ET
30 minutes
Directed by Aaron Hancox
Produced by CH Films and NFB in association with TVO as part of the Calling Card Program

Unheralded shows what it takes to make an honest living in today’s newspaper business within a close-knit community. Set against the backdrop of the death of print media, Aaron Hancox’s film profiles the hard-working team that brings you The Lakefield Herald, a feel-good, small town newspaper in Lakefield, Ontario. For the last 10 years, The Herald has been owned and operated by a tireless jack-of-all-trades named Terry McQuitty who, in addition to writing the news and selling ads, is the paper’s delivery boy. The film follows Terry and his staff as they report on the stories that matter to folks in Lakefield - soapbox derbies, town hall meetings and 65th wedding anniversaries. It’s not exactly hard-hitting news, and that’s just the way they like it.

Deadman - World Broadcast Premiere
Wednesday September 7 at 9:30pm ET
30 minutes
Directed by Chelsea McMullan
Produced by Vision Entertainment Inc. and NFB in association with TVO as part of the Calling Card Program

Chelsea McMullan’s film juxtaposes one man’s dream of a mythological and violent Old West with another man’s view of a traditional, tranquil way of life. In Deadman Creek, British Columbia, Matt Sandvoss is the sheriff in town – or at least he dresses the part. The Wild West aficionado straddles the line between big dreamer and boy at heart. He doggedly pursues his plan to construct a replica of an Old-West town in a remote part of the province, complete with a saloon and a gaggle of villainous gunfighters. For Gerald Carter, a Cree resident of Deadman Creek, Matt is an urban cowboy whose mission raises questions about the age-old stereotypes of cowboys and Indians, the easy commoditization of sacred land, and the troubling disparity between fantasy and history.

Science Documentaries

The Joy of Stats
Sunday September 18, 2011 at 9 pm ET
60 minutes
Produced by Wingspan Productions

YouTube superstar Hans Rosling, whose eye-opening, mind-expanding, and very funny online lectures have made him an international internet legend, is your guide on a roller coaster ride through the wonderful world of statistics. Rosling entertainingly explores the history of statistics, how statistics works mathematically, and how with statistics we can take the massive deluge of data of today’s computer age and use it to see the world as it really is.

How Long is a Piece of String
Sunday September 18, 2011 at 10 pm ET
50 minutes
Produced by BBC

Measurement is something we take for granted. But imagine a world without measurement. No distance, no time, no weight, no mass. It would be impossible to describe what something looks like, where it is or how it relates to anything. Creating a system of measurement has allowed us to understand how the Earth revolves around the Sun and how time advances. 'How long is a piece of string?' might sound like an easy question, but as comedian Alan Davies discovers in this mind-bending program, finding the answer involves a journey through math, physics and quantum mechanics, via the fundamental nature of the universe.

Point Of View Documentaries

Steam of Life – Canadian Premiere
Wednesday September 14, 2011 at 9 pm ET
85 minutes
Produced by Oktober and Röde Orm Film

Finnish men from all walks of life, in many different saunas, and usually completely nude, share their touching stories about love, death, birth and friendship. Steam of Life reveals the men's naked souls in an exceptionally intimate and poetic way as they speak straight from the heart and in the warmth of rusty stoves, cleansing themselves both physically and mentally.

Herb and Dorothy – TVO Premiere
Thursday September 15, 2011 at 9 pm ET
90 minutes
Produced by Fine Line Media and Independent Television Service

In the early 1960s, when very little attention was paid to Minimalist and Conceptual Art, Herbert Vogel, a postal clerk, and Dorothy Vogel, a librarian, quietly began purchasing the works of unknown artists. In a few years this unassuming New York City couple built one of the most important contemporary art collections in history with very modest means. Herb and Dorothy tells their story: how they devoted Herb’s salary to purchase art they liked while living on Dorothy's paycheck alone. They had two rules: the piece of art had to be affordable, and it had to be small enough to fit in their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. They proved to be curatorial visionaries, collecting early works by artists who would become world-renowned, including Sol LeWitt, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Richard Tuttle, Chuck Close, and many, many others.

ANPO: Art X War - Canadian Premiere
Wednesday September 28, 2011 at 9 pm ET
90 minutes
Directed by Linda Hoaglund

Linda Hoaglund’s unflinching documentary tells the story of resistance to U.S. military bases in Japan through an electrifying array of artwork created by Japan's foremost artists. The film articulates the lasting impact that the U.S. military presence has had on Japanese lives, and the creative processes that artists have devised to transmit the spirit of resistance.

DRAMA

Silk - North American Premiere
Beginning Sunday September 25, 2011 at 9 pm ET
6 / 60 minutes
Produced by BBC

Maxine Peake (The Street, Little Dorrit) and Rupert Penry-Jones (Whitechapel, Persuasion) star as competing lawyers applying to become members of the highly prestigious Queen's Counsel (QC) – known informally as “taking silk.” Peake plays Martha Costello, a brilliant and passionate defence barrister with a reputation for defending the poor and downtrodden. Penry-Jones is Clive Reader, a charming, funny, and gifted barrister who is thoroughly ruthless and knows how to play the game. Only one is likely to be made QC so how they perform in court is vital. Smart and classy with sharp, witty dialogue, Silk is a fast-paced drama following the rivalry, tension, passion and intrigue of life on the front line of criminal law.

Accused - North American Premiere
Beginning Sunday September 25, 2011 at 10 pm ET
6 / 60 minutes
Produced by BBC

Six holding cells – six very different and intriguing stories of crime and the consequences. Written and created by Jimmy McGovern (The Street, Cracker), each episode of Accused follows the stories of different defendants awaiting their verdicts, and through flashbacks reveal how they ended where they are. For the viewer, the verdict of whether the accused are guilty or innocent will arrive at different points in every story, creating true suspense and surprise. Each time, the possible outcomes are endless – as this compelling drama reveals just how easily life can present so many alternative paths. Starring Christopher Eccleston, Juliet Stephenson, Andy Serkis, Naomi Harris, Benjamin Smith and Marc Warren.