What’s on PBS tonight? Here is the full PBS schedule for Tuesday, October 27, 2026, with times in Eastern Time (ET).

PBS opens primetime with its safest bet and spends the rest of the night talking about politics

See also: What's on tonight across all channels | Wednesday's TV guide

Finding Your Roots at 8pm ET/PT (7pm Central) is the reason to be on PBS tonight, and PBS knows it: the series also sits at 4pm, so anyone who misses the evening slot has already had a second chance earlier in the day. It is a documentary and historical series, 11 series and 116 episodes deep, and it is the longest and most dependable thing on the channel this evening. Against it sit Dancing with the Stars on ABC and NCIS on CBS. Those are very different evenings, and the people choosing between them are rarely the same people.

The two hours after it are where the night gets thinner. Breaking the Deadlock follows at 9pm ET. It is a public affairs series with three series and five episodes to date, which makes it young and still finding its audience, and it runs against a wall of reality and crime programming. At 10pm ET comes In Pursuit: Lessons of American Leadership. Both repeat across the same few days in the coming week, which tells you PBS is using them as a block rather than as appointment viewing. Neither is a bad idea. Neither is a night-defining one. PBS isn’t saying more about the 10pm hour than its title, so it stays unrated.

The more interesting viewing comes earlier. American Experience: Annie Oakley is on at 5pm ET, and it is the one hour of the day where PBS’s history strand gets a clear run before the news. It is episode 12 of season 18, and it airs on several days in the current window, so it is a good catch-up rather than a one-off. At 3pm ET, Hotel Portofino returns with what is listed as the first episode of its second season. The series is a British historical drama that started on BritBox, with three series and 18 episodes so far, and with Natascha McElhone leading the cast. It shows up on ten days across the window, so the daytime slot is a rolling run, not a premiere. Anyone who missed it can start here.

Between those, the day is built the way PBS always builds it. Kids’ programming runs from the early morning into the afternoon, with Wild Kratts, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and Sesame Street all in the morning block. The first Sesame Street episode of season 55 is on at 10:30am ET. Baking with Julia and Ask This Old House fill the early afternoon, and Antiques Roadshow is back at 6pm ET before PBS News Hour at 7pm ET.

Late, Amanpour & Company runs twice, at midnight and again at 11pm ET, so it effectively bookends the schedule.

If you only have one hour tonight, take Finding Your Roots at 8pm ET. If you have two, add American Experience from the afternoon if you can find it again. The rest is background.


Also on TV tonight at 8pm ET

  • ABC: Dancing with the Stars
  • NBC: NBA Basketball
  • CBS: NCIS
  • FOX: 2026 World Series
  • The CW: WWE NXT
  • ION: Chicago Fire
  • TCM: Arsenic and Old Lace
  • AMC: A Nightmare on Elm Street (from 7pm ET)
  • FX: Independence Day (from 6pm ET)
  • Freeform: Addams Family Values (from 7pm ET)

Every channel tonight, side by side · Movies on TV this week · Tomorrow’s TV


Frequently asked questions

What’s on PBS tonight?

On Tuesday, October 27, 2026, PBS shows Finding Your Roots at 8pm ET, Breaking the Deadlock at 9pm ET and In Pursuit: Lessons of American Leadership at 10pm ET.

Is there a movie on PBS tonight?

No. PBS has no movies in its evening schedule on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.

What’s on PBS late tonight?

After 11pm ET, PBS has Amanpour & Company at 11pm ET.

What time does PBS’s evening start?

The evening schedule starts with Antiques Roadshow US at 6pm ET.

Children’s television by day, documentaries by night

PBS runs two channels in one. Until early afternoon it is a children’s network, with a fixed run of half-hour shows starting at 6am. From 7pm it becomes the most documentary-heavy schedule of the broadcast networks we track, with a different long-running factual strand in each hour. Across the two weeks we tracked, animation made up a third of all airtime and none of primetime, while documentary took 39% of the evening.

It is also the most regular schedule we measure. PBS fills its day with around 32 programmes, more than any of the commercial networks, and 95% of its airtime goes to titles that return on three or more days. Most of them sit in the same slot every time.

What a day on PBS looks like

The children’s block runs on rails, weekends included. A typical weekday:

  • 6am: Arthur, then Odd Squad at 6:30am
  • 7am: Wild Kratts, then Weather Hunters at 7:30am
  • 8am: Lyla in the Loop, then Carl the Collector
  • 9am: Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, then Super Why’s Comic Book Adventures
  • 10am: Phoebe & Jay, then Sesame Street at 10:30am
  • 11am: Work It Out Wombats!, then Donkey Hodie
  • Noon: Rosie’s Rules, then Elinor Wonders Why
  • 1pm: Alma’s Way, then Molly of Denali

At 2pm the adults take over with Baking with Julia and Ask This Old House, followed by an afternoon of drama, such as the British period series Hotel Portofino, and more factual series. Antiques Roadshow arrives at 6pm.

Weeknights open with PBS News Hour at 7pm and close with Amanpour & Company at 11pm. In between, each night has its own identity:

  • Monday: Antiques Roadshow, often two hours, then a documentary special.
  • Tuesday: history and current affairs. Finding Your Roots at 8pm, American Experience at 9pm, Frontline at 10pm.
  • Wednesday: science and the natural world. Nature at 8pm, Nova at 9pm, Secrets of the Dead at 10pm.
  • Thursday: This Old House and Ask This Old House from 8pm, then Velvet at 9pm.
  • Friday: Washington Week with the Atlantic at 8pm and Great Performances at 9pm.

Weekends shift the mood. Saturday nights pair Antiques Roadshow at 7pm with Secrets of the Dead and Finding Your Roots, and end with Austin City Limits at 11pm. Sunday evenings after Antiques Roadshow are given to mystery and drama, with titles such as The Marlow Murder Club, Professor T and Maigret at 8pm and 9pm.

PBS shows few films. The handful it carries are music and performance specials more than movies.

Popular shows on PBS

Sesame Street is the puppet and sketch-comedy children’s program that first aired in 1969 and has run for 56 seasons. It holds 10:30am every day.

Nova is a popular science series that has been on since 1974, now at 50 seasons, and anchors Wednesday at 9pm. Before it at 8pm comes Nature, and after it Secrets of the Dead, a documentary series that began in 2000.

Frontline is a public affairs documentary program that started in 1983, with more than 40 seasons behind it. It closes Tuesday at 10pm, after American Experience, a documentary series that dates from 1988.

Finding Your Roots is a documentary and history series that began in 2012 and now runs to 11 seasons. It leads off Tuesday at 8pm and reappears on Saturday nights.

This Old House has been on since 1979, with more than 1,200 episodes, and its sister show Ask This Old House since 2002. Kevin O’Connor, Norm Abram and Tom Silva have been among the people on screen. Between them they own Thursday from 8pm and much of the daytime slot after lunch.

Antiques Roadshow is a reality series that appears more often than anything else on PBS outside the children’s block, almost daily at 6pm and in primetime several nights a week.

How to watch PBS

PBS is free over the air with an antenna through your local member station. It is also free online: the PBS app and pbs.org stream your local station live, and carry recent episodes on demand for a limited time. Station members can unlock a much larger on-demand library through PBS Passport.

The live stream works only within your local station’s coverage area. Among live TV streaming services, YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream carry PBS.

Channels like PBS

  • History offers documentary and history programming on cable, with a more commercial tone.
  • Hallmark Mystery suits the Sunday-night mystery crowd, with long runs of Murder, She Wrote and Matlock.
  • HGTV is the next stop for viewers who like This Old House and home renovation.
  • Food Network picks up where Baking with Julia leaves off.
  • Disney Channel is the other big daytime option for young children, built on animation and kids’ series.

Who it’s for

PBS serves two audiences well and almost never at the same hour. Parents of preschoolers get a long, unbroken run of children’s shows every morning. Adults who like factual television get the deepest weeknight documentary lineup of any free network, along with a mystery double bill on Sundays. Anyone looking for sitcoms, sport or big entertainment shows should look elsewhere.

Is PBS free to watch?

Yes. PBS is free with an antenna, and the PBS app and pbs.org stream your local station live at no cost within its coverage area.

What time is Sesame Street on PBS?

Sesame Street airs at 10:30am ET every day, in the middle of the morning children’s block.

What’s on PBS on weeknights?

PBS News Hour at 7pm, then a themed lineup: Finding Your Roots and Frontline on Tuesday, Nature and Nova on Wednesday, This Old House on Thursday, and Great Performances on Friday.

What time is primetime on PBS?

Primetime runs from 8pm to 11pm ET, after PBS News Hour at 7pm, with Amanpour & Company at 11pm.