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KCET Announces Primetime Fall Schedule, Including Sunday Night Movie Series With Sam Rubin

'SoCal Connected' Moves to Wednesdays and 'Masterpiece' Moves to Thursdays

KCET, public media for Southern and Central California, turns Sunday night into movie night with the launch of KCET Presents, a new weekly film series beginning October 3 at 9:00 p.m. KCET Presents, hosted by Sam Rubin, will feature some of Hollywood's best and most beloved motion pictures without commercial interruption.

 The third season of the Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning SoCal Connected, KCET's hard-hitting weekly news program, premieres on a new night beginning Wednesday, October 20, at 9:00 p.m.,with the BBC series MI-5 also moving to Wednesdays beginning October 27 at 8:00 p.m.

 Also this fall, KCET has just the prescription for Thursday nights with the KCET premiere on October 21 of Doc Martin, starring Martin Clunes (Men Behaving Badly) as an incorrigible country doctor, and a new night for the PBS series Masterpiece (Masterpiece Classic, Masterpiece Mystery! and Masterpiece Contemporary) beginning on Thursday, October 3.

"With KCET Presents we found an opportunity to bring back a long-standing television tradition of offering great movies on Sunday nights," said Bohdan Zachary, KCET Vice President of Broadcast and Syndication. "We are moving Masterpiece to Thursdays because KCET had a long, successful history there with Mystery!, now part of the Masterpiece franchise, and feel that it will work well with Doc Martin as a scripted drama programming block." 

KCET's new fall line-up:

Sunday, October 3 (9:00 - 11:00 p.m.)

Spanning an array of genres, including comedic and dramatic gems, KCET Presents premieres on KCET with Woody Allen's "nervous romance" Annie Hall. KTLA entertainment reporter Sam Rubin hosts this weekly film series from KCET's historic studio lot every Sunday at 9:00 p.m. (See below for the complete fall KCET Presents schedule).

Thursday, October 7 (9:00 - 10:30 p.m.)

Masterpiece begins its new night on KCET. Kenneth Branagh returns for a second season as detective Kurt Wallander in the series based on the best-selling novels by author Henning Mankell. Wallander battles crimes, and his own demons, in the bucolic yet brutal seaside town of Ystad, Sweden.

Wednesday, October 20 (9:00 - 9:30 p.m.)

SoCal Connected, KCET's Emmy and Peabody Award-winning news program, returns for a third season of hard-hitting reports about issues and topics that matter. The show kicks off its new season with an election special investigating politics and money. 

Thursday, October 21 (8:00 - 9:00 p.m.)

KCET premieres Doc Martin, starring Martin Clunes (Men Behaving Badly). This comedic drama follows the adventures of Dr. Martin Ellingham, a celebrated London surgeon with a blood phobia whose tactless manner causes mayhem in the small Cornish community where he now lives and works.

Wednesday, October 27 (8:00 - 9:00 p.m.)

MI-5 comes to Wednesday nights on KCET as the lead-in to SoCal Connected. This action-packed drama series takes us into the thrilling world of Britain's MI5, a clandestine security service made up of an elite team that faces the challenges posed by organized crime, terrorist activities, and drug trafficking, among other threats.

The KCET Presents fall movie line-up:

Sunday, October 3 (9:00 - 11:00 p.m.) - Annie Hall - Winning the Academy Award® for Best Picture, this classic stars Woody Allen as a neurotic, New York comedian who falls for a quirky, Midwestern girl (Diane Keaton) in an on-again, off-again romance. The film was recently selected as one of the top 100 American films of all time by the American Film Institute.

Sunday, October 10 (9:00 - 11:00 p.m.) - Edward Scissorhands - A deceased inventor's unfinished creation (Johnny Depp) becomes an instant celebrity when a cheery suburbanite (Dianne Wiest) brings him home.

Sunday, October 17 (9:00 - 11:00 p.m.) - Batman - The Caped Crusader (Michael Keaton) saves both Gotham City and the gorgeous Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) from the Joker (Jack Nicholson).

Sunday, October 24 (9:00 - 11:00 p.m.) - Rain Man - A wheeler-dealer (Tom Cruise) meets his brother (Dustin Hoffman), an institutionalized autistic-savant, heir to $3 million.           

Sunday, October 31 (9:00 - 11:00 p.m.) - Ninotchka - A playboy (Melvyn Douglas) charms a Russian envoy (Greta Garbo) sent to fetch three wayward comrades in Paris.           

Sunday, November 7 (9:00 - 11:00 p.m.) - A Fish Called Wanda - An American (Jamie Lee Curtis) flirts with a crook, a barrister (John Cleese) and a mercenary (Kevin Kline) to find diamonds in London.                                                                                               

Sunday, November 14 (9:00 - 11:00 p.m.) - Batman Forever - The Caped Crusader (Val Kilmer) woos a criminal psychologist, takes on a sidekick and battles Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) and the Riddler (Jim Carrey).

Sunday, November 21 (9:00 - 11:00 p.m.) - Of Mice and Men - Migrant worker George (Gary Sinise) protects his strong, simple-minded friend Lennie (John Malkovich) in 1930s California.                                                                                  

Sunday, November 28 (9:00 - 11:00 p.m.) - Easter Parade - A New York dancer (Fred Astaire) grooms a chorus girl (Judy Garland) to be his new partner, falling in love along the way.                                                                                                                

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