A CONVERSATION WITH JIMMY SMITS, NEW HOST OF A CAPITOL FOURTH

SMITS: My parents came to this country with the hopes that their children would grow up and live the American Dream and those dreams have been realized to a large extent.   For us, Independence Day has always been an acknowledgement and a thanks -- a feeling of gratefulness -- that we were a part of this country.

Q: What excites you most about hosting this year’s A Capitol Fourth?

SMITS: I feel extremely honored to be asked to host A Capitol Fourth celebration.  It is a day and a program that reaffirms what it is to be an American.  I participated in the concert in 2005 when I presented an award to my good friends Gloria and Emilio Estefan.  I was also involved with the National Memorial Day Concert last year so I’m very familiar with these shows.   When the producers asked me to host I got a double vibe.  I feel privileged to do it but when you’re presenting, you do your one little piece and then you get to watch the rest of the show.  The hosting duties are more labor intensive so there’s a bit more pressure but there’s an excitement too…  I can’t wait!

Q: You’ve been to A Capitol Fourth before.  What’s it like to perform before a crowd that numbers in the hundreds of thousands?

SMITS: I was floored by what my reaction was to the time that I spent in Washington, D.C. on the Fourth of July.   I can’t emphasize enough the rush you get when you see this fireworks display with all of the national monuments ... the huge crowds... the National Symphony Orchestra and Erich Kunzel playing the 1812 Overture with a battery of real cannons - -  it just gives you goose bumps.  It left me very reflective in looking at the monuments and the fireworks but at the same time, knowing what the fireworks reflect on a historical level.  It fortified my feeling of what it is to be an American.  It made me feel proud, and thankful and joyous to be an American.

Q: What did you do on the Fourth of July as a kid in Brooklyn?  What are some of your favorite Fourth of July memories?

SMITS:  The significance of Fourth of July when you’re very young is that you get to see the fireworks.  For me, that was always connected either with a baseball game in Brooklyn or going to Coney Island and watching the fireworks.  That was the thing to do because it was a day off for the family to be together.  The Bicentennial in 1976, with the huge fireworks displays around the country, was an important July 4th   memory for me.  But again, it pales to the wonderful fireworks display that you have with A Capitol Fourth celebration - - it’s just incredible!

Q: What is notable to you about celebrating our “nation’s birthday” in our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.?

SMITS:  The backdrop of the national monuments energizes me and creates a sense of awe.  The experience always makes me reflect on the framers of the Constitution and how these men put their names on that document that was kind of a death warrant to them.  I mean, they fully believed in what they were doing and but it was a “declaration of independence” from another country.  They asserted their independence and what were the ramifications that were going to come from that?   The document became their dream and has flourished into something really beautiful.

Q: Are you going to bring your family to A Capitol Fourth?  

SMITS:  My daughter lives in the Washington area so we will all be together. When they heard that I was hosting this year they were jazzed!

Q: What makes A Capitol Fourth special – the grandeur of the setting, the excitement of the huge crowd, the wide array of performers?

SMITS:  I think it’s by design that the producers of A Capitol Fourth have an array of musical genres from classical to rock ‘n roll and Broadway.  There’s something for everyone and, I believe, the performers that grace the stage at the Capitol are also representative of the tapestry of people that make up this country.  You have performers from all different walks of life, different ethnicities and the audience watching the show is equally diverse.  With the birthplace of our nation as a backdrop, I think that’s an important thrust that no other July 4 celebration or television program can offer.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to say to our audience and to our troops around the globe who will be watching on the American Forces Network?

SMITS: The fact that we’re doing this show in 2008 when we are in the midst of a conflict around the world, we should pause to reflect on the fact that we have troops in other countries in harm’s way.  But it is also a time to reflect on the fact that we are in the midst of a presidential election cycle right now.  When you see people running for the highest office in this land, they are a spectrum of what this country is: women, white, black, Hispanic. That adds a bit more significance to the show for me this particular year. The country has gone through this two hundred year change and we are all the fruits of that.

Masterpiece Mystery! Inspector Lewis, Series I
Expiation
sun, july 6 | 8 p.m.
Kevin Whately returns as Detective Inspector Robbie Lewis in the spin-off to the popular Inspector Morse series. Lewis, back in Oxford following the tragic death of his wife, is cracking cases with his sharp young sidekick, DS Hathaway (Laurence Fox, Becoming Jane). An impressive list of guest stars (Gina McKee, Anna Massey and James Wilby) joins Lewis and Hathaway this season as they take on murder mysteries that draw them into the underbelly of celebrity, ambition and the sexual politics of the Oxfordshire elite. When an Oxford housewife is found hanged in her home, Lewis and Hathaway unearth a far darker murder case than the initial suicide verdict suggests. For more about Inspector Lewis, please visit pbs.org/masterpiece.

Click & Clack’s As the Wrench Turns
sundays, beginning july 13 | 12:30 p.m.
Well-known NPR personalities Tom and Ray Magliozzi, better known as Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers, bring their automotive insights and comedic adventures to television. Click & Clack’s As the Wrench Turns follows the “on- and off-air” escapades of the Tappet brothers as they try to fix cars, fend off disgruntled customers and seek out increasingly creative ways to goof off. The ten 30-minute, animated episodes take place at Car Talk Plaza, a fictional building that houses their radio studio and their famed garage in Harvard Square in the fair city of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some of the misadventures involve competition with a nearby garage staffed by sexy hunks, a looming run-in with the feds and their two-man campaign for president. For more about Click & Clack, visit pbs.org/wrenchturns or learn more here.

P.O.V.
The Ballad of Esequiel Hernandez
sun, july 13 | 10:30 p.m.
In 1997, U.S. Marines patrolling the Texas-Mexico border as part of the “War on Drugs” shot and killed Esequiel Hernandez Jr. Mistaken for a drug runner, the 18-year-old was, in fact, a U.S. citizen tending his family’s goats with a .22 rifle. He became the first American killed by U.S. military forces on native soil since the 1970 Kent State shootings. Narrated by Tommy Lee Jones, the film explores Hernandez’s death and its torturous aftermath. His parents and friends, the Marines on patrol and investigators discuss the death of one young man and the dangers of militarizing the border. Learn more >>

Nature
The Good, the Bad, and the Grizzly
sun, july 20 | 7 p.m.
Once on the edge of extinction, grizzlies have made a remarkable recovery. But this fierce predator is no longer content foraging in the back country. Today, bears are everywhere. This film tells the story of a great conservation success story — the rescue of the once all-but-extinguished grizzly population of Yellowstone — and how that success has spawned a complex web of new social and environmental problems for our most beloved national park and the people who live near it.

Chasing Churchill: In Search of My Grandfather
mondays, beginning july 21 | 9 p.m.
Winston Churchill’s public life was a remarkable journey. Starting as a Second Lieutenant in the army, he rose through the political world to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and lead Britain to victory against the Axis powers. But Churchill’s life involved another, much more private journey. It was a journey in search of his self. The three-part series examines Churchill’s quest for his inner self. Hosted by his granddaughter Celia Sandys, the program follows Churchill’s footsteps to re-live his dreams, understand his anxieties and examine his inner-most thoughts.

NOVA
Car of the Future
tue, july 29 | 7 p.m.
How will the car of the future be powered? Will it run on hydrogen, batteries, ethanol or some as-yet undiscovered technology? Find out as NOVA takes a look at the latest and greatest in the automotive industry. Tom and Ray Magliozzi of NPR’s Car Talk fame take viewers on a roller-coaster ride into the world of cars — examining new technologies and ideas about America’s most common form of transportation. With constantly increasing prices at the pump and a growing concern about the impact of emissions on global warming, there is a keen interest in alternative fuel sources to power our cars. The hydrogen fuel cell has long been the holy grail of zero emissions energy, and countries like Iceland are trying out the technology by transforming their public transportation. Closer to home, there are attempts to create fuels like “biodiesel” — made of used vegetable oil — or ethanol from corn crops. Will these be our future fuels or just a useful intermediate? This program will re-air on Thursday, July 31, 10 p.m.

NOVA scienceNOW
Phoenix (Mars Mission)/Mammoth Mystery/Judah Folkman Tribute
wed. july 30 | 8 p.m.
Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson hosts a third season of this fast-paced and provocative science magazine. NOVA scienceNOW follows the upcoming NASA mission to send a lander to Mars. The lander is set to dig for water at the planet’s poles in an attempt to understand the mysterious red planet’s potential or past ability to support life. Then, the program is on the trail of an extraordinary paleontological cold case. Forty years ago, a young paleontologist unearthed the fossilized remains of two mammoths, their tusks entwined in a fatal battle. Was it accidental death or violent murder? Finally, with the recent passing of famed “cancer warrior” Judah Folkman, NOVA scienceNOW takes a look back at the great man’s accomplishments and where his groundbreaking angiogenesis work is leading the medical field today.