Remember, all times Central, all stations local, so if you're reading this in Aruba, Zimbabwe, or anyplace else not in the KC metro area, check your local listings.
MONDAY
“Shouting Fire” (8 p.m. HBO) pairs noted hard-news documentarian Liz Garbus with her father, civil rights attorney Martin Garbus, in a survey of the free speech landscape, post-9/11. The cases considered include the interrogation techniques used by New York City police on protestors at the 2004 Republican convention; a teenager who wore a T-shirt condemning homosexuality to a gay and lesbian rally; and an Arabic-speaking principal fired for using the literal meaning of “intifada” in a news interview. Garbus and Garbus survey a number of intellectual viewpoints on free speech, including First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams, presidential prosecutor Kenneth Starr, historian Eric Foner and academic gadfly David Horowitz.
WEDNESDAY
“Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes” (7 p.m., KCPT) is a worthy tribute to the host of radio's “Prairie Home Companion” for more than 30 years. This “American Masters” program was filmed at various locations including the Minnesota State Fair, the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul (“PHC's” home base), a rhubarb festival and Keillor's New York City apartment, where he tried to run away from radio and then settled on a Big Apple-based show in the early 1990s before returning to St. Paul. Sue Scott, Tom Keith, Rich Dworsky and other “PHC” collaborators are featured, but this is less about the making of a show so much as a picture poem narrated by Keillor, America's last great sentimentalist and keeper of the old-time radio traditions. Listen carefully and you'll hear him singing a few lines of “Kansas City Star.”
SATURDAY
Start out American Independence Day by watching the Tour de France (8:30 a.m.,Versus) and cheering on Lance Armstrong. The 7-time Tour de France champion makes a somewhat muted return to the grandest of all road races. His teammate Alberto Contador won the 2007 tour. To add to the excitement, the 20th stage of the race, which is usually a time trial, will be a mountain climb this year, obviously favoring Armstrong (if he's still in it by then).
On the big night, KCPT will bracket two plays of the annual D.C. concert, “A Capitol Fourth,” with one of our own: “Celebration at the Station,” taped live at Union Station over Memorial Day weekend, replays at 8:30 p.m. on KCPT, in between “A Capitol Fourth” at 7 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. In the battle of the hyperbolic network specials, NBC's “Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular” (8 p.m., KSHB) features Jewel, Rob Thomas and a couple of “American Idol” alums; CBS's “Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular” features Neil Diamond and recent American Craig Ferguson (9 p.m., KCTV).
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