TV program notes -- week of April 27

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Here are some television program notes for the week of April 27 with their TV Parental Guidelines ratings if available. They have not been reviewed and therefore are not necessarily recommended by the Office for Film & Broadcasting.

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Sunday, April 27, 1-3:30 p.m. EDT (PBS HD) "Manon Lescaut." Finnish phenomenon Karita Mattila plays the tragic courtesan in Giacomo Puccini's first international success in 1893. It co-stars Italian tenor Marcello Giordani as her headstrong young lover, Chevalier des Grieux. Sung in Italian with English titles.

Sunday, April 27, 1:30-2:30 p.m. EDT (EWTN) "Dana Sings: The Best Is Yet to Come." In Ireland, Dana sings folk songs, original inspirational compositions and popular tunes on 1,000-year-old city streets, picturesque ships and in her hometown.

Sunday-Thursday, April 27-May 1, 9-11 p.m. EDT (repeated each night 11 p.m.-1 a.m.) (PBS) "Carrier." Documentary series looks at the high-stakes world of a nuclear aircraft carrier. Aboard the USS Nimitz, the filmmakers look at everyone from the admiral of the strike group to the fighter pilots to the youngest sailors, as they navigate personal conflicts around their jobs, families, faith, patriotism, love, the rites of passage and the war on terror. It was filmed May-November 2005 during a full six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf, three months of which were spent in combat in support of ground troops. The "True Believers" segment April 30 at 10 p.m. explores the many expressions of faith aboard the Nimitz: faith in self, one's shipmates, the ship's mission and the president's call to arms (TV-14/V -- parents strongly cautioned; intense violence).

Tuesday, April 29, 7-8:30 p.m. EDT (Cinemax) "Nanking." Telling the story of the Japanese invasion of Nanking, China, in the early days of World War II, this 2007 Sundance Film Festival award-winner directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, focuses on the efforts of a small group of unarmed Westerners who established a safety zone where more than 200,000 Chinese found refuge.

Wednesday, April 30, 8-9 p.m. EDT (PBS) "Escape From Auschwitz." This episode of "Secrets of the Dead" tells the story of two young Slovak Jews, Rudolph Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, who escaped from Auschwitz and wrote a detailed account of atrocities being committed by the Nazis at the camp (TV-PG/V -- parental guidance suggested; moderate violence).

Wednesday, April 30, 10-11 p.m. EDT (EWTN) "Saints: Gospel Artists." A group of Canadian young adults traverse the rich spiritual landscape of Italy, visiting the holy sites of the country's saints and blesseds.

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