08.26.08

Ever wondered what's hiding behind the scenes of America's most renowned museum complex? Find out in Stories From the Vaults: Season One, as host Tom Cavanagh (Eli Stone, Ed) takes viewers on an insider's tour of the private rooms and high-tech vaults of the Smithsonian, revealing some of the amazing artifacts that visitors rarely get to see! In recognition of its creativity, the Stories From the Vaults: Season One series recently received a Gold World Medal from the New York Festival, as well as a Parent's Choice Gold Award for Excellence.

In America's Greatest Monuments: Washington D.C.., appreciate our capital's greatest shrines on a whole new level. From the war memorials to the monuments honoring America's founding fathers to Arlington's eternal flame, learn not only the mechanics of these precious structures (The Washington Monument is a dizzying 555 feet high!) but the often overlooked stories of how these monuments came to be the emotional epicenter of the city and perhaps our nation. To walk among these lasting memorials is to live history and to feel what it is to be an American.

Pre-order is Aug. 19 and street date is Sept. 23 for both titles. SRP is $24.98 each.

Other award-winning Smithsonian Networks programs that will be available through Infinity include the original documentary, Remembering Vietnam: The Wall at 25, which was also awarded a Gold World Medal. Another Gold World Medal was awarded to Day of the Kamikaze, a fascinating docudrama recreating the Japanese suicide attacks against the Allied Fleet in 1945. Another series, Nature Tech, a three-episode series that examines the new field of bio-mimetics, was awarded Best Limited Series by the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival.

The network also has received recognition on a different level with five 2008 Parents' Choice Awards for excellence in its family- and child-friendly programming. The annual awards, established in 1978 by the Parents' Choice Foundation -- the nation's oldest nonprofit guide to quality children's media and toys -- are bestowed at different levels. Smithsonian Channel won two Gold Awards, one Silver Honor, one Recommended and one Approved rating for its shows Nature Tech, Critter Quest, America's Treasures and Loose at the Zoo: Golden Lion Tamarins, as well as Stories From the Vaults: Season One.

Smithsonian Networks (SN) is a joint venture between Showtime Networks Inc. and the Smithsonian Institution.