Highlights Archive

A Celebration of Hanukkah • WXXI-TV

Host Geoffrey Baer takes you on a fun exploration of the time-honored traditions of this joyous Jewish holiday.

Great Performances: Rodgers & Hammerstein’s 80th Anniversary airs Thursday, December 11 at 8 p.m. WXXI-TV

Geoffrey shares how Hanukkah came to be, the significance of the season’s cherished dishes, and the ways families continue to celebrate together across generations. Along the way, Geoffrey provides an overview of Hanukkah in popular culture, weaving in his holiday memories through childhood home movies. And, because food plays such a meaningful part of every Hanukkah observance, he also heads into the kitchen with experts to try his hand at creating seasonal culinary delights – including latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (filled donuts) – while explaining how these dishes connect to Hanukkah’s history.

Fleetwood Mac: The Dance • WXXI-TV

Recorded in 1997, this concert marks the return of the band’s most successful line-up of Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, and Stevie Nicks, who had not released an album together since 1987’s Tango in the Night.

Fleetwood Mac: The Dance airs Wednesday, December 3 at 9:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streams live on the PBS app and the WXXI app.

The group performs “Go Your Own Way,” “The Chain,” “Landslide,” “Gold Dust Woman,” and “Gypsy.” The USC Marching Band joins in on “Tusk” and “Don’t Stop.”

Repeats December 7 at 4:30 p.m.

Ball and Vase • WXXI-TV

Follow this ailing professor and magician named Ed Coleman during the holidays.

Ball and Vase airs Friday, December 5 at 10:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streams live on the PBS app and the WXXI app.

Ed is a 92-year-old, widowed World War II veteran who lives alone in a small apartment in Hoboken, N.J. He has been all but forgotten, but Ed has one thing that keeps him going – an upcoming visit by his grandson on Christmas. When a change in those plans finds Ed alone at a local pub he used to visit with his late wife, he discovers one last opportunity to reconnect with the world.

Repeats December 13 at 5:30 p.m., December 21 at 5:30 p.m., and December 27 at 10:30 p.m.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: Live at the El Mocambo • WXXI-TV

An intense, high-powered performance from Stevie Ray’s early days, featuring “Testify,” “Texas Flood,” “Wham!,” “Pride and Joy,” and his fiery interpretation of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return).”

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: Live at the El Mocambo airs Saturday, November 29 at 10:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming on the WXXI and PBS apps.

Filmed at the intimate El Mocambo club in Toronto, Canada, the program showcases the acclaimed rock and blues musician’s raw performance and his virtuoso guitar playing. Repeats December 5 at 9 p.m. ad December 6 at 4:30 p.m.

Deconstructing the Beatles • WXXI-TV

Acclaimed “Beatle-ologist” Scott Freiman guides you, step by step, on an educational journey through several of The Beatles’ milestone albums and the fascinating stories that accompanied them.

Deconstructing the Beatles airs Tuesday, December 2 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming on the WXXI and PBS apps.

No matter how much you know about the Beatles, there’s something new here for you. Episodes include “The Beatles Come to America,” “Deconstructing Rubber Soul,” and “A Trip Through Strawberry Fields.”

Repeats Sunday, December 7 at 10:30 p.m.

Mister Rogers: It’s You I Like • WXXI-TV

Join host Michael Keaton to celebrate “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” the pioneering children’s series that premiered nationally more than 50 years ago.

Mister Rogers: It’s You I Like airs Monday, December 1 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming on the WXXI and PBS apps.

Keaton worked as a stagehand and made appearances on the series in the 1970. Judd Apatow, Joyce DiDonato, Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Kratt, John Lithgow, Yo-Yo Ma and son Nicholas Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Sarah Silverman, Esperanza Spalding and Caroll Spinney reveal their favorite memories from the series.

Thanksgiving Videos & Games with PBS KIDS!

Watch the Playlist: Celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends with PBS KIDS! Watch full episodes and clips from Wild Kratts, Nature Cat, Daniel Tiger, Cyberchase and more! See episodes from Arthur and Molly of Denali below.

Play An Elwood City Thanksgiving!

Play An Elwood City Thanksgiving Game at PBS KIDS

Watch An Arthur Thanksgiving with Activities

Arthur, DW and Baby Kate at a Thanksgiving dinner table with Dad in the background

Watch the full movie & explore Arthur activities

Watch Molly of Denali Thanks for Giving & Learn the Story of the Three Sister

The Story of the Three Sisters and Full Episode of Thanks for Giving

Unity and Hope: The Pride of the HBCU • YouTube

For nearly 200 years, historically Black colleges and universities have helped break cycles of poverty and build the Black middle class. This past September, Rochester hosted the second annual ‘Baldwin Richardson Foods Frederick Douglass HBCU Football Classic’, ushering in a tide of Black excellence and opportunity for Rochester’s youth.

This WXXI production was funded by a public media partnership led by Maryland Public Television with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and is part of the national project HBCU Week NOW. HBCU Week NOW is a YouTube channel that presents films about the under-told stories of sacrifice, courage, innovation, and hope that chronicle HBCU contributions to science, medicine, history, education, civil rights, the arts, music, sports, and more! Subscribe to the @HBCUWeekNow YouTube channel for more inspiring HBCU stories.