DAILY, July 15-16, 18-22, live
Tour de France 2012
NBC SPORTS NETWORK Live cable coverage of the 99th Tour de France bicycle race will be at 8am on the 15th, 16th and 20th; 7:30am on the 19th; and tbd on the 18th and 21st.  On NBC at 1pm Sunday, July 22, taped, the 20th and final stage will take place.

WEDNESDAY, July 18, 4pm
Denver Archbishop Installation
EWTN Watch live as Samuel Aquila is installed as Denver’s new archbishop.

WEDNESDAY, July 18, 8pm
EWTN Live
EWTN Host Father Mitch Pacwa will interview fellow Jesuit Father Robert Spitzer, whose books include Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life, New Proofs for the Existence of God, and Ten Universal Principles: A Brief Philosophy of the Life Issues.

FRIDAY, July 20, 6pm
Engineering the Impossible: The Colosseum
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL Historians’ comments and computer-generated re-creations illustrate how ancient Romans built their 50,000-seat amphitheater with architectural techniques and materials still used today.

FRIDAY, July 20, 9pm
Homecoming: The Kansas City Symphony Presents Joyce DiDonato
PBS This special follows mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato as she returned to Kansas City, Mo., her hometown, this past March to sing with the Kansas City Symphony under conductor Michael Stern.

SATURDAY, July 21, 8pm
Into Great Silence
EWTN Step into the riveting silence of Philip Groning’s stunning, award-winning documentary on the spirituality of Carthusian monks. Filmed without narration and very little dialogue at the Monastery of the Grand Chartreuse in France, this program captures the brimming vitality of monastic life and the overpowering sound of God.

SUNDAY, July 22, 10pm
EWTN ON LOCATION: Franciscan University Science and Faith Conference
EWTN This 60-minute program features talks from the 2012 Science and Faith Conference held at the Steubenville, Ohio, campus last Dec. 2-3. The theme was: “Can Science Inform Our Understanding of God?”  Re-airings at 1pm Tuesday and 5am Thursday.

THURSDAY, July 26, 8pm
American Olympic Heroes in Film
TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES At 8pm, The Bob Mathias Story (1954) stars Mathias (1930-2006) himself, a two-time winner of gold medals in the decathlon. (TV-G)  At 9:30pm, Jim Thorpe – All American (1951) stars Burt Lancaster as Thorpe (1888-1953), who won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon in 1912. (A-II, TV-PG)

THURSDAY, July 26, 8pm
Life on the Rock
EWTN Hosts Father Mark Mary and Doug Barry interview Pat Castle and Jeff Grabosky of the National Life Runners, who recruit dozens of runners for full and half marathons to support pro-life groups.

DAILY, July 27-Aug. 12
2012 London Olympics
NBC The Opening Ceremony of the XXX (30th) Summer Olympiad begins Friday, July 27, at 7:30pm. NBC’s coverage of the Games themselves will begin most days at 10am. On weekends, most daily coverage will begin as early as 5am. Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, NBC Sports Network and Telemundo (in Spanish) will also provide coverage.
 

Dan Engler writes from
Santa Barbara, California.