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“The Biggest Loser” may lose some of its Catholic viewers tonight. On opposite of it on PBS is a NOVA special, “Building the Great Cathedrals.”

The architectural journey explores the Gothic architecture of cathedrals in Chartres, Beauvais and other European cities in the context of Middle Age technology. It also focuses on how to save some of those cathedrals from collapsing.

A team of engineers, architects, art historians and computer scientists,
“searches the naves, bays, and bell-towers for clues” of what “the cathedral builders used to erect their towering, glass-filled walls and reveals the hidden formulas drawn from the Bible that drove medieval builders ever upward,” according to the program description.

Here’s a preview:

Still don’t want to give up regular Tuesday night programming? The transcript of the 60-minute program, which begins at 8 p.m. on PBS, is posted online.

I’ll try to tune in. It’ll pass the time as I await the “Parenthood” Halloween special that follows “The Biggest Loser.” I skimmed the transcript of “Building the Great Cathedrals” then the broadcast credits. I found it apropos that Handcranked Productions provided the animation for a documentary on how our Medieval ancestors achieved architectural greatness without modern tools.