We got pretty excited recently when Time Warner Cable added a TWC TV Roku channel, and now UNC-TV tells us that Roku is offering PBS and PBS Kids Channels?! Masterpiece Theatre, baby!! "Downton Abbey" and "Sherlock" on the Roku!! (Actually, there's no guarantee regarding specific Masterpiece programs, but fingers crossed.)

According to the press release, hundreds of streaming videos will be available, including PBS programs "Masterpiece," "Nova," "Frontline," "Austin City Limits," "Antiques Roadshow" and "Nature." PBS Kids programming includes "Curious George," "Dinosaur Train" and "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood."

Some UNC-TV content will also be available. "North Carolina Now" and "North Carolina Weekend" are listed in the release.

You can access the PBS content by selecting one of the PBS channels on Roku and then choosing UNC-TV (or your local public television station if you live somewhere else) and sharing your email address. (That last part means you'll probably be hearing from PBS at some point in the <cough PLEDGE DRIVE cough> future.)

You can pick up a Roku at retailers like Target or Best Buy or Amazon starting around $50 (and you can stream Netflix, HBO Go, Amazon Prime and many other services over it).

At least in part, your feelings about the new PBS Masterpiece series "Mr. Selfridge" may depend on how you feel about Jeremy Piven, the former "Entourage" actor who stars in the title role.

Piven, an actor with a somewhat mercurial reputation (pun intended), can't help but bring a little of his wheeler-dealer Ari Gold character to the Selfridge part. (But to be fair, both Gold and Selfridge do seem to possess the same Showboat strand of DNA.)

The eight-part series, debuting Sunday at 9, tells the story of the Wisconsin native who took his retail talents to London in 1908 and founded one of the city's most fantastic and most famous department stores: Selfridge & Co. -- a truly innovative store still operating in the same location on Oxford Street in London.

Selfridge, who got his professional start at Marshall Fields in Chicago, was a forward-thinking retail genius, and for that reason alone, the series is fascinating for its look at how he helped transform the way people shop.

But Selfridge was also a man who lived as grandly as he dreamed, so his flawed personal life plays a big part in this story. A serial philanderer, Selfridge repeatedly gives in to an almost primal appetite for showgirls, practically drooling as he watches stage star Ellen Love (Zoe Tapper) prance around during performances. Those appetites have a profound impact on both his new business and his family, which has recently relocated to London from Chicago.

Despite those moral flaws, Selfridge is also portrayed here as a family man, but one more loyal -- and more attentive -- to his work family than to those who share his last name.

I've checked and it's against international law to write about any Masterpiece series these days without mentioning "Downton Abbey," so I'll add that like "Downton" (which began its story in roughly the same time period), "Mr. Selfridge" does a fine job of demonstrating the "upstairs/downstairs" aspect of the Selfridge & Co. narrative. This is Selfridge's story, no doubt, but nearly as much time is devoted to the lives of the clerks, waiters and various other employees at the landmark store. The result is a look at class lines similar to what we see in "Downton," just moved to the grittier big city setting. (And an interesting wrinkle here is that the American Selfridges, though very wealthy, were not fully accepted by the sentries of London's upper class.)

Still, while I admit that "Mr. Selfridge" the series grew on me as I watched more episodes (I've seen four total, which includes Sunday's two-hour debut), Mr. Selfridge the character always feels a little too much like Ari Gold with a time machine.

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Watch "Mr. Selfridge" beginning Sunday night at 9 on UNC-TV.

Pioneers of Television: Primetime Soaps (8pm, UNC-TV) - This wonderful series puts the spotlight on primetime soaps of the 70s and 80s, including "Dallas," "Dynasty," and "Knots Landing," as well as their antecedent "Peyton Place." The late Larry Hagman is among the notables interviewed.

The Abolitionists (9pm, UNC-TV) - The conclusion of this three-part series focuses on John Brown's 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry, the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation and the passing of the 13th Amendment in December of 1865.

Edge of America (9pm, Travel) - Two back-to-back new episodes in the debut of this new series in which host Geoff Edgers travels across America taking part in wacky festivals and contests. We really like it. There are repeats at midnight.

The Mindy Project (9:30pm, Fox) - Mindy's attempted one-night stand with Brendan hits a snag when his brother and Morgan drop by. Also, Danny goes on a date with Eye Patch Girl.

Parenthood (10pm, NBC) - In the Season 4 finale, Kristina gets ready for her next round of treatment, Jasmine and Crosby receive exciting news, Amber and Ryan discuss the future, and Sarah (Lauren Graham, left) must choose between Mark (Jason Ritter, left) and Hank (Ray Romano). (Mark! Mark! Mark!)

Frontline: The Untouchables (10pm, UNC-TV) - A look at why major Wall Street players haven't been criminally prosecuted for wrongdoing related to the 2008 financial meltdown.

Justified (10pm, FX) - Raylan finds himself in trouble with the FBI, and the church strikes back at Boyd.

There's a lot to like about "Soul Food Junkies" (UNC-TV, 11 p.m. Saturday ), a documentary airing on PBS, but there's one line I love.

Documentarian/narrator Byron Hurt encounters some men at a tailgating party cooking up a big batch of assorted porcine parts: pig ears, pig feet, neckbones, turkey necks, plus corn and potatoes.

Hurt has long stopped eating pork or red meat, but as the son of a Southerner he learned that it's rude not to take food hospitably offered. He tries to get away with a bite of corn, but that doesn't cut it. He's handed a piece of turkey.

"Yo, I can not front," he says. "That turkey neck drenched in pork juices was good!"

That scene pretty much sums up the allure and the agony of soul food. It may not be the best thing for you, but it sure is one of the best things. Hurt's doc explores the cost of that 'addiction', particularly for Southern-influenced African-Americans.

It's no secret that that cost is high. Hurt starts his journey after watching his father become obese after a lifetime of eating fried chicken, greens seasoned with pork, sweet potato pie, and all those other delights. His dad eventually dies of pancreatic cancer. Hurt admits he doesn't know that his father's cancer was caused by his diet, but just exploring the foods leads to a journey that changes his family and their diets.

During that journey, Hurt presents a culinary history of so-called soul food, exploding some myths about how slaves ate and about how the food developed. He examines how soul food moved from mere sustenance to cultural meme, and how changes in greater American culture and agriculture have added to the soul food junkie woes. Finally, he shows how some folks are adopting healthier lifestyles by rethinking the notion of 'soul' food.

Hurt is an engaging guide, personable, plain-speaking and honest. Although he makes his dietary choices clear, you never feel like he's judging. As he showed in that quote about the pork juice, he gets why soul food is a hard habit to break. Yet he also understands why we have to try.

You can also watch the documentary online now thru Jan. 22. UNC-TV will also air the documentary through out February, starting Feb. 10

Just the other day, I got an email from studentsfirst, the education lobby group launched by education activist Michelle Rhee. It told of a state by state policy report card performed by the group, based on whether state laws are giving schools the tools to do the best job for kids. No state got higher than a B-; North Carolina got a D.

That's the kind of tough-mindedness that has earned Rhee a reputation as a no-nonsense leader. It's also the kind of thing about Rhee that turns a lot of people off.

While watching Frontline's excellent "The Education of Michelle Rhee" (10 tonight, UNC-TV), you'll see both of those groups represented. Frontline was given broad access to Rhee during her three years as chancellor of Washington, D.C. public schools, documenting her highs and lows and her laser focus on trying to build a better school system for the District's children.

The long wait is almost over. Season 3 of the addictive British soap "Downton Abbey" returns to PBS Sunday night, and fans of the Crawley clan -- and their colorful staff -- are practically drooling in anticipation.

And with good reason. The series' third installment is just great.

The entire cast returns for the season and Shirley MacLaine is even tossed into the fray, playing the rich American mother of Lady Cora Elizabeth McGovern. Though she has a few good moments with Maggie Smith, who plays Lady Violet just as brilliantly as ever, MacLaine's much anticipated guest turn is a dull disappointment. (Don't expect too much and you might not be let down.)

I don't want to say anything too specific about the season for fear of giving away important plot points. But to speak in general terms, all the usual soap opera crises are present: romantic woes, money problems, untimely deaths (and murder trials, of course), sexual shenanigans, health scares and back-stabbing. Classing up the soap genre just a bit, "Downton" tosses in (as usual) a generous dose of class and gender struggles. It is 1920s England, after all.

There are also plenty of heartwarming storylines and a little more character development with some of the staff this season, including Mrs. Patmore, the grumpy Downton cook. If Mrs. Patmore, played by Lesley Nicol, doesn't emerge as a favorite this season, I worry for your cold heart. And speaking of cold hearts, a certain Downton baddie shows an unexpected side as the season progresses. That arc is one of the many delightful surprises of this latest run.

And sure, there are a few too-convenient plot devices here and there, and you'll see them coming from a mile away. But they are forgivable. Overall, the third season is a delight, and much better than the wildly inconsistent Season 2 (no amnesia!).

You will laugh, and you will cry. You will cry.

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The "Downton Abbey" two-hour premiere airs on Sunday night at 9 p.m. on UNC-TV.

This week, we get the Democratic National Conventional, which starts on Tuesday in Charlotte.

Unlike the Republican convention, which was scheduled to run Monday through Thursday last week, the DNC only runs three days, Tuesday through Thursday. Broadcast networks will mostly handle the Democratic convetion the same way they handled the RNC: Coverage on morning news shows and on their nightly news programs, but just one hour of primetime coverage each night starting at 10 p.m. (only NBC deviates from this standard -- see below).

PBS (UNC-TV locally) will devote three hours of primetime to the convention each night, but no daytime hours. Cable news shows will be almost around-the-clock for the Charlotte action.  

As with the Republican show in Tampa last week, much of the TV coverage will start ahead of time on Sunday's political discussion shows.  



Here's a brief breakdown of what everyone will offer:

The Republican National Convention officially kicks off in Tampa on Monday, but most TV networks following the event will begin their coverage on Sunday, with discussions on morning roundtable shows and various "countdown" specials.

During the week of convention activity (the actual convention runs Monday through Thursday), broadcast networks and cable news channels will handle their coverage very differently.

The major broadcast networks -- ABC, CBS and NBC -- will be airing their morning and evening news programs from Tampa, but you'll only get one hour of primetime coverage (at 10 p.m.), and only Tuesday through Thursday (no primetime Monday coverage). PBS (UNC-TV locally) will devote three hours of primetime to the convention each night, but no daytime hours. For the super-duper wall-to-wall coverage, you'll want to head to the cable news channels, which will provide up to 20 hours per day of convention news and analysis.

Here's a brief breakdown of what everyone will offer: (UPDATE: There have been some big changes in the convention schedule thanks to Hurricane Isaac, but much of the coverage information below will stand. Any changes will be noted below as the information becomes available.)

Pretty Little Liars (8pm, ABC Family) - Hanna attempts to find out who's assiting Garret, and Emily has another flashback, which points her to a suspect.

History Detectives (9pm, UNC-TV) - The Season 10 premiere investigates the history of a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar to determine if it's the same one Bob Dylan played at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival (where he was booed off the stage for "going electric"). (Note: PBS is currently in dispute with Bob Dylan over this. A lawyer for Dylan says the singer still has the guitar, but PBS is so far standing by its claim that Dawn Peterson has the instrument). Also, possible Beatles autographs from 1964 Miami Beach, and a $5 thrift-store find that may have a Frank Zappa link.

MasterChef (9pm, Fox) - Paula Deen is the guest judge for a Southern-inspired mystery-box challenge.

American Gypsies (9pm, National Geographic Channel) - The series premiere introduces the Johns, a tight-knit Romani family  living in New York City. Patriarch Bob Sr.'s health is failing, prompting brothers Nicky and Bobby to battle for leadership. Meanwhile, a rival family encroaches on Nicky's psychic shop, leading to a violent confrontation.

NY Med (10pm, ABC) - A man with a liver disease needs a transplant and hopes to live long enough for his daughter's wedding, and a trauma surgeon finds his groove in New York after leaving New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (10pm, HBO) - Segments include a look at marching-band hazing; an interview with MLB All-Star Matt Kemp; and a report on former Olympic gold medalist Dominque Moceanu.

An 8-year-old from Moore County will appear on Monday's installment of "Biz Kid$," a public television series about financial literacy.

Maggie Batson of Whispering Pines is featured in the episode titled "Businesses that Give Back," because she sells necklaces made with recycled materials and donates profits to the Humane Society in Carthage.

Maggie isn't the only North Carolina kid to make the show. Some students from Smith Elementary School in Burlington appeared in an April 19 episode about understanding media manipulation and commercial messages, and an episode airing May 2 will have three siblings who opened their own business (FlipOutz bracelets) in Davidson.

"Biz Kid$" airs on UNC-KD, a UNC-TV channel devoted to programming for young people, at 5:30 p.m. It will repeat at 1:30 a.m. and again at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday.