I’m a junkie for this kind of stuff that breaks away from the silliness of sitcoms in a bid to capture and celebrate reality.

But for some reason, in my quest to flip through all the cable channels, I’ve lost sight of PBS. Over the past few months, I’ve started returning to public television more and more, setting my recorder to capture "NOVA," "American Experience" and "Independent Lens," and I’ve been reminded of just how astonishing the network’s lineup is.

"NOVA," in particular, is at the top of its game. Last week, it brought the brilliant, Oscar-nominated short film "Walk to Beautiful" to TV - a heartwarming account of an African hospital that helps solve the medical crises of desperate, shunned women across the continent. Two weeks ago, the astonishing episode "Rat Attack" chronicled a nature story that was almost too bizarre to believe: Twice a century, a rare species of bamboo pops up in rural India, bringing with it a hoard of rats, who bring the famine with them in their quest for food. It’s a true nature emergency.

The next three weeks are similarly astonishing. Starting Tuesday, Milwaukee Public Television will bring back the hit "NOVA" episode "The Great Inca Rebellion," which uses fossils, graves and forensic science to reconstruct the final days of the Inca empire. The following week, "Extreme Ice" cuts through all the scientific mumbo-jumbo surrounding climate change and takes viewers to the front lines of the global glacial meltdown, as an acclaimed photographer and a team of scientists go to the ends of the Earth to chronicle the rapid melting of the great glaciers.

Then there’s "Last Extinction," which presents a whole new theory as to what events led to the rapid extinction of America’s great wooly mammoths. And just as America dives headfirst into the debate about how to reform this nation’s broken health care system, "NOVA" brings the two-part "Doctor’s Diaries" to the air. Over 21 years, "NOVA" has followed a group of seven doctors from their first day of medical school through the ranks of academia, and their turbulent introduction to this all-consuming profession.

This is riveting television - far superior in subject matter, production value and societal relevance than anything you’re likely to find on cable. I’m not sure why I started to overlook PBS’ programming, but you can count on the fact that I won’t be making that mistake again.

And neither should you.

E-mail: SnyderReviews@hotmail.com