Best Bets

Hosted by BBC World News anchor Mishal Husain, the third season of this international affairs series devotes special attention to the Islamic world, from a rare glimpse inside the guarded Saudi royal family to a compelling look at what motivates Palestinian suicide bombers. The series also profiles Rwandan women who are rebuilding their nation 10 years after its bloody genocide; examines Angola’s looming HIV epidemic; and chronicles the chilling murders of two Russian journalists.

Thursdays at 10 p.m. beginning July 1

Keith Lockhart's 10th Anniversary Special

Guest host Paula Zahn reveals the man behind the baton during this special celebration of conductor Keith Lockhart's 10th anniversary with the Boston Pops, which kicks off the 35th season of Evening at Pops. Zahn chats with Lockhart about his decade with "America's Orchestra" and presents fabulous clips from past seasons, including performances by Nathan Lane, Sarah Jessica Parker, Martin Short, Patti LaBelle, k.d. lang, and Penn and Teller! More new episodes of Evening At Pops air Sundays in July at 6 p.m.

Sunday, July 4 at 6 p.m.

A Thief of Time

Peter Fonda guest stars as an unscrupulous pottery collector in this new American "Mystery!" Special based on a novel by Tony Hillerman. Detectives Joe Leaphorn (Wes Studi) and Jim Chee (Adam Beach) team up once again, this time to investigate the recent disappearance of an eminent anthropologist who is linked to the illegal trade of sacred Native American ceramic pots. Against a backdrop of Navajo witches, spirits and lore, Leaphorn and Chee (pictured at right) must piece together some vexing clues before more pottery poachers turn up dead.

Sunday, July 11 at 9 p.m.

Unusual Buildings and Other Roadside Stuff

Take a wacky road trip with intrepid documentary producer Rick Sebak as he visits the World's Largest Catsup Bottle in Illinois; an enormous duck-shaped structure on Long Island built to sell eggs; the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum in Hayward, Wisconsin (pictured) and other oddly shaped buildings that make drivers stop and stare. Traveling to places that have earned a place in American highway history (the three remaining sets of teepee-shaped motel rooms) as well as strange new structures (Orlando's upside-down WonderWorks building), Sebak meets the people who maintain these one-of-a-kind buildings during this true celebration of outlandish architecture.

Sunday, July 11 at 8 p.m.

Foyle's War II

In the second season of this popular Mystery! series, Detective Chief Inspector Christopher Foyle faces some of his greatest challenges yet as he solves crimes in the small town of Hastings on England's south coast in the early months of World War II. In the first episode, "Fifty Ships," Foyle uncovers an organized theft ring when he is sent to investigate a bomb blast at the home of his sidekick Sam's boarding house. The investigation is compromised when the wealthy American father of one of the suspected looters is found dead on the beach -- a connection the British military would rather

cover-up.

Sundays at 9 p.m. beginning July 18

Who Was Here First?

Former British submarine commander Gavin Menzies has devised a theory that could turn conventional wisdom on its head: legendary 15th-century Chinese admiral Zheng He reached America’s shores decades before Christopher Columbus landed in 1492. The new special 1421: The Year China Discovered America? investigates this bold claim, using computer models to recreate 15th-century China and its massive naval armadas, retracing the route that Menzies proposes Zheng He traveled and consulting various historians, archeologists and scientists.

Wednesday, July 21 at 9 p.m.

-- Edited for Applause Online by Anna Christopher