MONDAY, April 11, 9pm

American Experience: The Great Famine

PBS When famine partly caused by communist confiscation of peasants’ food killed 5 million people in Lenin’s Russia and Ukraine, 1921-1923, food aid by the American Relief Administration helped save 11 million lives. Advisory: Scenes of famine victims.

WEDNESDAY, April 13

Shirley Temple Classics

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES Shirley stars in Little Miss Marker (1934) at 8:15am; The Poor Little Rich Girl (1936) at 9:45am; Heidi (1937) at 11:15am; The Little Princess (1939) at 12:45pm; Kathleen (1941) at 2:30pm; and The Littlest Rebel (1935) at 10pm.

WEDNESDAY, April 13, 3pm

Ben Franklin’s Pirate Fleet

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL In 1778 and 1779, Franklin commissioned three Irish-captained vessels as American privateers. Under Luke Ryan, 25, and Edward McCatter, the ships wrought havoc upon British shipping. Re-airing at noon Thursday.

WEDNESDAY, April 13, 9pm

The Lost Kennedy Home Movies

HISTORY In this new two-hour special, home movies of the Kennedys from the 1930s through November 1963 show them at Hyannis Port and Palm Beach and in Europe and Asia.

SUNDAY, April 17

Solemn Mass of Palm Sunday

EWTN, CATHOLICTV In a three-hour telecast starting at 3:30am, EWTN will broadcast, live, Pope Benedict XVI’s blessing of palms, procession and Mass in St. Peter’s Square, with a re-airing at 8pm. CatholicTV will air the services at noon and 8pm.

MONDAY, April 18, 10pm

Games of the North: Playing for Survival

PBS This special follows four Inuit athletes from Alaska as they train in their ancestral sports before competing in the biennial weeklong Arctic Winter Games.

THURSDAY-SATURDAY, April 21-23

The Easter Triduum

EWTN At 3:30am, live, on Holy Thursday, Pope Benedict XVI will preside at the chrism Mass in St. Peter’s. At 11:30am, live, he will celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at St. John Lateran; the re-airing is at midnight. At 11am, live, on Good Friday, the Pope will lead the Lord’s Passion service in St. Peter’s. At 8pm (tape delay) on Good Friday, he will lead the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum. At 3pm, live, on Holy Saturday, Pope Benedict will celebrate the Easter vigil Mass in St. Peter’s.

CATHOLICTV Holy Thursday’s chrism Mass at St. Peter’s will air at 3pm. The Good Friday service at St. Peter’s will air at 5pm, and the Holy Father’s Stations of the Cross will be shown at 8pm. Holy Saturday coverage begins with the Easter vigil Mass at St. Peter’s at 4pm (re-airing at midnight).

Dan Engler writes from Santa Barbara, California.