WHYY Late Night

TV12's late night highlights
Compiled by Anna Christopher and Jamila Trindle

Mr. Bean Animation
British comedian Rowan Atkinson is able to generate fits of laughter with the slightest upturned nose or disgusted facial expression. Never were his talents more evident than in his portrayal of Mr. Bean, a character who says nary a word but manages to make audiences howl with laughter at his many escapades.

Atkinson recreated Mr. Bean's expressions and intonations to help animators give life to the character in this cartoon version of the popular live-action program. In this episode, Mr. Bean struggles to make Teddy perform water tricks. Frustrated, he eventually recruits the goldfish from his landlady Mrs. Wicket's pond and discovers that it has hidden talents. Next, Mr. Bean tries to one-up an inventor who moves into the empty room in his attic.
Monday, March 1 at 12:30 a.m.

The Latest Trend
Hosted by Tony Award-winning actress Cherry Jones, this episode of In the Life, the leading television newsmagazine examining issues affecting gays and lesbians in America, explores the increasingly prominent role gays and lesbians are playing in everything from pop culture to politics. With this segment of the population becoming a top target market -- especially for the travel industry -- the program checks out what New York City has to offer the gay or lesbian traveler.
Friday, March 5 at 1 a.m.

America's Home Cooking Casseroles & Covered Dishes
Across America, casseroles and covered dishes are standard fare at potluck dinners, where people find fellowship and sustenance in each other and in the food they share.

In this edition of America's Home Cooking, hosts Chris Fennimore and Nancy Polinsky welcome guest cooks into the kitchen to share some of their favorite recipes for these simple and satisfying dishes, including ones for ham and scalloped potatoes, chicken and broccoli, baked mashed potatoes, and a hearty kielbasa and sauerkraut combination.
Friday, March 12 at midnight

Killer Flu
In 1918, a flu epidemic ripped through the world's population with such speed and virulence that by the end of the following year, an estimated 40 million people were dead -- four times the number of victims claimed by World War I.

Modern health experts are bracing themselves for a potential return of a viral strain similar to the 1918 flu, and some of today's leading scientists are racing to uncover what made that outbreak so deadly. This Secrets of the Dead episode follows the progress of pathologists who are working to map the genetic code of the last undamaged sample of the 1918 virus in an attempt to prevent an outbreak of that magnitude from ever happening again.
Tuesday, March 16 at 2 a.m.

Gaslight (1940)
Set in late Victorian London, Gaslight is considered the quintessential psychological thriller: a tale of a troubled marriage and an unsolved murder.

In this British version of the popular mystery (made four years before the Hollywood classic starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Angela Lansbury), Bella Mallen (Diana Wynyard) is a rich, innocent bride whose husband Paul (Anton Walbrook) slowly tries to drive her insane in order to claim some hidden jewels, but the unsolved murder of an older woman in the same house in which the couple now resides leads a Scotland Yard detective to investigate Paul of earlier foul play.
Sunday, March 28 at 12:30 a.m.