Director Debora Granik & More Set for Next METROFOCUS

The award-winning series MetroFocus premieres new episodes in the New York and tri-state region weeknights at 5 p.m. on WLIW21, 5:30 p.m. on NJTV and 6 p.m. on THIRTEEN. All episodes are available at metrofocus.org following the broadcast.

The episodes descriptions for the week of November 9 follow below. Please note episode descriptions are subject to change. Please visit metrofocus.org for the latest information.

MetroFocus #1014
Monday, November 9at 5 p.m. on WLIW21, 5:30 on NJTV and 6 p.m. on THIRTEEN
Can a piece of theater teach New York City police recruits about tolerance and racism? The NYPD has added "Anne & Emmett," a one-act play which imagines a conversation between Anne Frank and Emmett Till, to its recruit training this fall. MetroFocus host Jack Ford gets an inside look with "Anne & Emmett" playwright Janet Langhart Cohen and her husband and co-producer, former U.S. Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen. Next, the public employee pension crisis in New Jersey worsens as more government employees retire. New Jersey Capitol Report Anchor Steve Adubato jumps into the ongoing debate to make sense of the problem and what needs to be done to fix it. And, Mary Alice Williams sits down with Academy Award nominee and director Debora Granik to discuss her new INDEPENDENT LENS documentary Stray Dog, the Vietnam War, and the struggles that veterans still face today.

MetroFocus #1015
Tuesday, November 10 at 5 p.m. on WLIW21, 5:30 on NJTV and 6 p.m. on THIRTEEN
In our special Veterans Day edtion of MetroFocus, we speak with Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills, one of only five quadruple amputees from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. He discusses his new book, "Tough as They Come," how he continues to overcome life's challenges and physical barriers, and why he became an advocate for veterans and amputees. Plus, we follow television sound engineer Toba Potosky on his mission to re-open and restore the Brooklyn World War II memorial erected by New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses in 1951.

MetroFocus Presents: SciTech Now
Wednesday, November 11 at 5 p.m. on WLIW21, 5:30 on NJTV and 6 p.m. on THIRTEEN

MetroFocus #1016
Thursday, November 12 at 5 p.m. on WLIW21, 5:30 on NJTV and 6 p.m. on THIRTEEN
We take you back to 1969, a year of change for New York City, with two tales of revolution and historic reform. First, attorney, reporter and talk show host Geraldo Rivera shares THE STORY BEHIND the 1969 founding of the revolutionary Puerto Rican activist organization, the Young Lords. Rivera joins us to share his memories of the Young Lords, and how the group inspired him to become the icon he is today. Then, pioneering LGBT advocate and journalist Mark Segal joins us to talk about what really happened at the Stonewall Uprising in 1969, and what the landmarking of the Greenwich Village bar means to the gay rights movement today. Segal chronicles his life and work in his new memoir, "And Then I Danced: Traveling the Road to LGBT Equality."

MetroFocus #1017
Friday November 13 at 5 p.m. on WLIW21, 5:30 on NJTV and 6 p.m. on THIRTEEN
MetroFocus airs a special education-focused program. First, a 2014 UCLA Civil Rights Project report found New York to have the most segregated public schools in the country, and a lot of it has to do with low-income housing. CUNY professor L'Heureux Lewis-McCoy explores how New York came to have this segregation problem in its schools and what needs to be done to reverse the trend. Actor Jeff Daniels sits down with MetroFocus contributor Andrea Vasquez to talk about the importance of humanities and the arts, and his memorable three-minute monologue from the HBO series, "The Newsroom." Next, MetroFocus host Jack Ford sits down with Al Bagnoli, new head football coach of the Columbia Lions, to discuss the college team's quest to upset their long losing streak. Finally, actor Christopher Lloyd has influenced many generations as Doc Brown in the Back to the Future films, and now he is impacting a new generation as "The Hacker" on PBS's popular children's show Cyberchase - which is in its 10th season. He joins us to talk about his role and how he creates the cha