REALITY CHECK / SECRETS OF THE LOST SYMBOL

The Today Show's Matt Lauer has already chatted with author Dan Brown in his New Hampshire home about his latest bestseller. In that September interview, he met with Brown in the author's Gothic-looking den, behind bookshelves (lined with international versions of his own novels) that opened secretly to a hidden room. Flickering pillar candles and the occasional glimpse of The Da Vinci Code movie props made it all very mysterious and moody for a morning-news interview.

Now the two are at it again, this time in Washington - where The Lost Symbol is set - to understand what it was within the capital city that inspired Brown. We already know that he explored Washington monuments incognito as a tourist, then went back as a multimillion-dollar author for a private tour. In clips promoting this new interview, the men appear to be talking inside either a deserted national monument or perhaps a Freemason house of worship. Either way, it beats the Halloween-esque study setting of last month.

Catherine Dawson March

Also airing this week

Terror in the Skies (Monday, 10 p.m., CBC Newsworld)

This chilling documentary rewinds the 2006 plot to blow up seven airliners using bombs disguised as bottles of soft drinks. The audacious plot involved seven young Muslim males who planned to board planes bound for cities in the U.S. and Canada. Their hand luggage was supposed to carry the homemade explosives, which were to be detonated over the ocean or North American cities. If not for the dogged efforts of intelligence agents, the plot might have succeeded.

Frontline (Tuesday, 9 p.m., PBS)

Following in the wake of the past year's economic meltdown, the documentary titled The Warning examines how things could have been prevented. The program traces the roots of the global crisis back to the days of the Clinton administration, which had the opportunity to regulate the complex American market system and didn't. Cautionary viewing for the next fiscal crisis.

Andrew Ryan