Rocky Mountain National Park is just outside the back door of the grand and graceful Stanley Hotel, which may look familiar to fans of Stephen King’s The Shining. At Jackson Lake Lodge, the magnificent views were personally selected by John D. and Laurence Rockefeller when they built this modern masterpiece at the foot of Grand Teton. Visitors can breakfast like a cowboy on an early morning mountain trail ride. Then it’s on to Alaska, where rivers of ice march into the ocean and bears fish from the water’s edge at Glacier Bay Lodge; North America’s highest peak greets visitors each day in their cozy cabin at the wild and remote Camp Denali.

NOVA scienceNOW

Wednesday, July 2, 9:00-10:00 p.m.

The implications of personal genetic profiles; using computers to authenticate art; carbon sequestration; and a profile of Harvard professor Pardis Sabeti, a researcher on the genetics of malaria.

SOUNDSTAGE “REO Speedwagon”

Thursdays, July 3, 10:00-11:00 p.m.

Still going strong after 36 years, REO Speedwagon performs classic after classic.

A CAPITOL FOURTH (2008)  

Friday, July 4, 8:00-9:30 p.m.

America’s biggest birthday party airs live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. With Huey Lewis and the News, “American Idol” winner Taylor Hicks and the NSO under the direction of top pops conductor Erich Kunzel.

NATURE “Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies”

Sunday, July 6, 8:00-9:00 p.m.

This is the remarkable story of a wild, white stallion in the mountains of Montana, whose life has been captured on film since the day of his birth by a filmmaker who has spent years documenting the lives of nearly 150 wild mustangs.

HISTORY DETECTIVES

Monday, July 7, 9:00-10:00 p.m.

A flag that may have been carried into battle by one of the few African-American infantry regiments in WWI; a painting that may be the work of Seth Eastman; and a two-story building that may have housed a Chinese Tong.

NOVA “The Perfect Corpse”

Tuesday, July 8, 8:00-9:00 p.m.

Central Ireland’s waterlogged ground perfectly preserves stunning evidence of brutal ritualistic killings from the prehistoric Iron Age.

WIDE ANGLE “Japan’s About Face”

Tuesday, July 8, 9:00-10:00 p.m.

A remarkable view of the Japanese military’s shifting role in post-war Japanese society.

P.O.V. “The Ballad of Esequiel Hernandez”

Tuesday, July 8, 10:00-11:30 p.m.

Tommy Lee Jones narrates the tale of a young man, mistaken for a drug runner and killed by U.S. Marines patrolling the Texas-Mexico border.

CLICK & CLACK’S AS THE WRENCH TURNS

Wednesdays, July 9-August 13, 8:00-9:00 p.m.

This animated sitcom takes off from the hit NPR show “Car Talk” and follows the “on- and off-air” escapades of Tom and Ray Magliozzi (known to their listeners as “Click and Clack,” the Tappet brothers) as they try to fix cars, fend off disgruntled customers and seek out increasingly creative ways to goof off.

NOVA scienceNOW

Wednesday, July 9, 9:00-10:00 p.m.

Hubble Space Telescope; early primates; Iraqi bacteria; a profile of Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, a former farmworker who is now an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins; and Iraqi bacteria.

SOUNDSTAGE “Bon Jovi: Lost Highway, The Concert”

Thursday, July 10, 10:00-11:00 p.m.

Bon Jovi delivers a high-energy, rousing performance of their new album, Lost Highway, in its entirety.

NATURE “Encountering Sea Monsters”

Sunday, July 13, 8:00-9:00 p.m.

Science fiction writers have come up with strange depictions of alien life, but nothing to rival a creature with a beak like a parrot, no bones in its body, three hearts, blue blood, skin that can change colors and arms growing out of its lips. Scientists call them cephalopods. Viewers enter the world of squid and octopus, where cannibalism is practiced daily, mating can involve amputation, trickery is everywhere and size means everything and nothing.

MASTERPIECE MYSTERY! “Foyle’s War, Series V”

Sundays, July 13-27, 9:00-10:30 p.m.

The popular World War II whodunit called “a triumph from start to finish” by the Wall Street Journal returns with three new episodes. Far away from the glory of the front, Inspector Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen, “Reckless,” “Oliver Twist”) fights his own battle against murder, mystery and betrayal on the south coast of England.

HISTORY DETECTIVES

Monday, July 14, 9:00-10:00 p.m.

A balloon scrap that may be a missing piece of a secret weapon; a circus program that connects a society woman, FDR and the Boy Scouts; and a letter from Ronald Reagan that links a Navy captain to the development of Camp David.

NOVA “The Great Inca Rebellion”

Tuesday, July 15, 8:00-9:00 p.m.

An ancient Peruvian cemetery crammed with disfigued mummies helps explain a long-standing mystery about the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.

WIDE ANGLE “Birth of a Surgeon”

Tuesday, July 15, 9:00-10:00 p.m. 

In Mozambique, a bold grassroots initiative is training midwives in advanced life-saving surgery and reducing the maternal death rate by half.

P.O.V. “The Last Conquistador”

Tuesday, July 15, 10:00-11:00 p.m.

El Paso splits along lines of race and class over a monument to the Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate.

NOVA scienceNOW

Wednesday, July 16, 9:00-10:00 p.m.

What the songs of zebra finches can tell us about the evolution of language; the glorious but mysterious northern lights; a profile of Yoky Matsuoka, a leader in the emerging field of neurobotics; and smart bridges.

SOUNDSTAGE “Stevie Nicks, Part 1”

Thursday, July 17, 10:00-11:00 p.m.

In the first of a two-part performance, Stevie Nicks performs songs from her album Crystal Visions.

NATURE “The Good, the Bad, and the Grizzly”

Sunday, July 20, 8:00-9:00 p.m. 

Once on the edge of extinction, grizzlies have made a remarkable recovery. But this fierce predator is no longer content to forage in the back country. Today, bears are everywhere. And everyone has something to say about it. The return of the grizzly is a conservation success story that comes with a price.

HISTORY DETECTIVES

Monday, July 21, 9:00-10:00 p.m.

A WWII Marine’s jacket with stitched inscriptions; a vintage Airstream that may have made a historic journey; and sheet music bearing Abraham Lincoln’s signature.

CHASING CHURCHILL: IN SEARCH OF MY GRANDFATHER

Mondays, July 21-August 4, 10:00-11:00 p.m.

Winston Churchill’s quest for his inner self took two forms: a constant thirst for exotic travel and a passion for the exuberance of painting and the beauty of words. His granddaughter Celia Sandys traveled extensively with Churchill towards the end of his life. Now, in this intimate portrait, she follows in her grandfather’s footsteps. By examining his art and literature, viewers will understand his dreams and anxieties and share his innermost thoughts. Sandys travels to France, Cuba, South Africa, the United States, Egypt and Morocco.

NOVA “Mystery of the Megaflood”

Tuesday, July 22, 8:00-9:00 p.m.

NOVA uncovers secrets buried since the Ice Age.

P.O.V. “9 Star Hotel”

Tuesday, July 22, 10:00-11:00 p.m.

Powerful vérité film illuminates the plight of young Palestinians working illegally as construction laborers in an Israeli city.

NOVA scienceNOW

Wednesday, July 23, 9:00-10:00 p.m.

A new view of leeches; SETI — the search for extraterrestrial intelligence; stem cells; and a profile of Edie Widder, a specialist in marine bioluminescence.

SOUNDSTAGE “Stevie Nicks, Part 2”

Thursday, July 24, 10:00-11:00 p.m.

Part two of this theatrical evening showcases one of the most prolific and influential women in rock music history at her best.

NATURE “Oceans in Glass: Behind the Scenes of the Monterey Bay Aquarium”

Sunday, July 27, 8:00-9:00 p.m.

Thanks to its realistic presentations, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is recognized as one of the most significant and spectacular aquariums in the world. Instead of exhibiting collections of animals, the aquarium presents entire habitats, virtual slices of ocean that include 30,000 animals and plants.

HISTORY DETECTIVES

Monday, July 28, 9:00-10:00 p.m.

An artifact that could be a souvenir of the Hindenburg disaster; a stamp that may be connected to the Bonus Army March on Washington in 1945; and a bell that may have been ringside at Jack Dempsey’s legendary world heavyweight championship match.

NOVA “Car of the Future”

Tuesday, July 29, 8:00-9:00 p.m.

Tom and Ray Magliozzi of NPR’s “Car Talk” take viewers on a roller-coaster ride into the world of cars as NOVA takes a look at the latest and greatest in the automotive industry.

P.O.V. “Campaign”

Tuesday, July 29, 10:00-11:00 p.m.

An insider’s view of Japanese electoral politics in this portrait of a man plucked from obscurity to run for a critical seat on a suburban city council.

NOVA scienceNOW

Wednesday, July 30, 9:00-10:00 p.m.

Phoenix Mars mission; mammoth mystery; and Judah Folkman tribute

SOUNDSTAGE “Matchbox Twenty”

Thursday, July 31, 10:00-11:00 p.m.

In a special performance, Matchbox Twenty showcases selections from their new record, Exile on Mainstream, a retrospective collection of 11 previously released smash singles and six new songs.