TV Worth Blogging
by David Thiel, Program Director for WILL-TV
An insider's view of public television programming and the issues that help determine what and how you watch
It's a Dubious Day in the Neighborhood
A San Diego teenager named Michael Kinsell has drawn fire for purporting to be the "successor" to the late Fred Rogers, the creator/host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Furthermore, he intends to "honor" Rogers at a ticketed event this Sunday, with proceeds going to Kinsell's own "Children's Media Foundation." Neither PBS nor Family Communications, producers of Neighborhood, are happy about it.
According to public broadcasting trade paper Current, Kinsell plans a "gala" event to give Rogers a "Children's Hero Award." Although details of the event are sketchy at best, he implies that it will feature live appearances by celebrity "supporters" of his foundation, including Bette Midler, Tom Hanks and Eddie Murphy. He's quoted as saying "That’s kind of our way of saying they will be on stage that night, but scheduling stars is difficult."
The Current article also stated that publicity for the event suggested that he would present himself as the "successor" to Mr. Rogers. Kinsell, who has appeared in a photo sporting Rogers' trademark cardigan, has apparently produced several episodes of a series called "Michael's Enchanted Neighborhood."
A follow-up piece in the North County Times says that Kinsell has changed his tune after receiving cease-and-desist orders from both Family Communications and PBS. He claims that previous statements that "Michael's Enchanted Neighborhood" would air on public television were "used out of context."
During my recent excursion to Baltimore for the PBS Showcase, I had the opportunity to chat with David Newell, who played "Mr. McFeely" and current serves as Family Communications' Director of Public Relations. He told me that they're in the early stages of developing an animated show that would carry on Fred's ideas and characters. I'm certain that it wasn't "Michael's Enchanted Neighborhood." Just as I'm certain that if Mr. Rogers ever truly has a successor some day, you won't be hearing about it at a self-promoter's own charity event.
Summer and Beyond from PBS Showcase
The final session of the PBS Showcase program preview celebrated this summer’s premieres and peered well into 2010.
Read on for more!
This July, A long-running British series comes to U.S. shores in Time Team America, a reality series which gives a group of archaeologists just three days to uncover as much information as they can about a historical site. They’ll use high-tech scanning equipment—and a whole lot of digging—to get at the truth.
P.O.V. will return in June for its 22nd season of independently-produced documentaries. One of the highlights will be “Patti Smith: Dream of Life,” the biography of the famous rocker.
“Secrets of Shangri-La” is a National Geographic Special coming this fall. A team of explorers will return to a warren of sacred shrines hidden in cliffside caves high in the Himalayas to rescue a forgotten library of handwritten texts.
This summer and beyond, American Masters will bring us the lives of luminaries. Among them will be Neil Young, William F. Buckley, Miles Davis, Garrison Keillor, Joan Baez, Louisa May Alcott, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, and Mambo king Cachao.
Nova’s new episodes this fall will search the heavens in “Ultimate Telescope” and find how the “fittest” came to be in “Decoding Evolution.” A three-part series called “First Human” will explore our earliest days.
Four episodes will comprise the fifth season of Art in the Twenty-First Century this October. Its profiles of modern artists will span six continents and showcase unusual hybrids of photography, painting, video, and performance.
Coming in Winter 2010 will be a three-part miniseries called Human Nature. It will look into our need for social relationships, the role of so-called negative emotions such as fear and sadness, and how all of these play into our endless pursuit of happiness.
The Calling, planned for Spring 2010, profiles those who seek to enter religious service.
The producers of Carrier will next bring us Circus, premiering in Fall 2010. Similar to their previous effort, it promises to take us deep into the daily lives of those who appear under the big top—and those who have to erect that massive tent in city after city.
I hope that you enjoyed this look at what’s to come from PBS and WILL-TV!
Who's on Masterpiece Classic?
The afternoon program preview session capped off the second day of PBS Showcase. The big news was that David Tennant (Doctor Who, Masterpiece's "Casanova") will be hosting the fall season of Masterpiece Contemporary.
More about new and returning PBS series after the jump!
Headlining Masterpiece's run of modern dramas will be William Hurt starring in "Endgame," regarding the end of Apartheid in South Africa.
Masterpiece Classic will be back in early 2010 with follow-ups to "Cranford" (featuring Dame Judi Dench) and "Sharpe" (with Sean Bean). There also will be remakes of Jane Austen's "Emma," and "The 39 Steps."
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. will host a series called Faces of America. Like his previous African-American Lives, it will use geneology and DNA research to chart the unknown backgrounds of twelve well-known Americans including Yo-Yo Ma, Eva Longoria, Kristi Yamaguchi and Stephen Colbert.
Frontline will explore the transformative nature of online culture in "Digital Nation" when it returns in October.
A second series of Pioneers of Television will look at the iconic personalities who shaped our TV culture. Four episodes will profile those who broke new ground in the genres of science-fiction, kids' shows, westerns and prime-time dramas.
Nature will present several spectacular new animal documentaries. "Moment of Impact" will use high-speed photography and computer animation to detail the complicated series of skeletal and muscular movements that occur when predator meets prey. "Cloud: Challenge of the Stallions" will be the third chapter in the lives of wild horses, while "Born Wild: The First Day of Life" will depict birth in the animal world. Ill-tempered grizzlies will fight over scarce resources in "Fortress of the Bears," and "Wolverine: Chasing the Phantom" will track the powerful carnivore that inspired the comic-book superhero.
I'll give you the scoop on the final programming preview session tomorrow!
Balti-More! from PBS Showcase
Kids' programming was the focus of the morning on Day Two of the PBS Showcase conference. A major theme was PBS Kids as a "trusted guide" for young viewers.
Read on for the latest scoop about new and returning shows that your children (or grandchilden) will love!
The 40th anniversary of Sesame Street is this September. One addition to the show will be a computer-animated segment starring Abby Cadabby and her adventures at a school for fairies.
The new weekday series Dinosaur Train was a highlight of the session. It'll join the morning hosted kids' block beginning with a Labor Day marathon.
Returning kids' series will offer up nearly 100 new episodes this fall. It's a Big, Big World is being refreshed with a new, baby sloth character, as well as "Snook on the Road" segments which send the gentle giant out into the real world to learn more about nature.
Specials will include a Curious George Christmas, premiering Thanksgiving weekend. There'll also be a President's Day marathon of Martha Speaks, in which Martha goes to Washington, D.C.
The afternoon PBS Kids Go! block won't see many changes. However, The Electric Company will expand to five days a week this September.
There will be several specials, including a WordGirl Halloween episode. Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman will become fully-animated for a single episode this September, when Ruff loses his job and goes to Australia on a quest to get it back. Lance Armstrong will guest in a two-part episode of Arthur, which deals with the subject of cancer in an age-appropriate manner.
Weekends will bring an all-new Angelina Ballerina series called The Next Steps, featuring an expanded dance curriculum. It will be computer-animated, allowing its characters a wider range of movement and the ability to engage in dance styles such as hip-hop, folk and Irish step.
Coming in fall 2010 will be The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That, starring the Dr. Seuss character.
All Aboard the Dinosaur Train!
Day Two of the PBS Showcase began with a look at the newest addition to the PBS Kids menagerie: Dinosaur Train! As someone who could correctly pronounce (and spell) a couple of dozen dinosaur species when I was only four years old, I felt that this one was made for me. My only disappointment? I may be too large to fit in the suit.
Read on for more about this fun, new show, coming to WILL-TV in September!
Dinosaur Train is a computer-animated series for ages 3-6 intended to encourage basic scientific thinking, as well as interest in natural science, natural history and, of course, paleontology. There will be 40 episodes in the initial run, scheduled to air weekdays as part of the PBS Kids lineup.
The star of the series is Buddy, a not-so-ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex who finds himself adopted by a family of Pteranodons. (Don't know what these are? Ask your kids.) Encouraged to literally leave the nest, the kids take the Dinosaur Train through a prehistoric world to meet a variety of creatures.
Creator Craig Bartlett (who previously produced Hey Arnold!) was inspired by his own son's love of both dinosaurs and trains to make this series. He also wrote the songs! Bartlett performed a couple of them for the assembled guests this morning, including a catchy "Dinosaurs A-Z" number that, to my surprise, managed to work in dinos for the letters Q, X and Z!
The dinosaur nerd in me was hooked, and I'm looking forward to the premiere of Dinosaur Train on September 7. As for the suit; well, maybe if I hunch over a bit...
Greetings from Baltimore! Day One
I'm currently in Baltimore attending the annual PBS Showcase conference, where public TV station personnel meet to mingle with PBS executives, as well as producers of series that will be airing soon on screens nationwide. Keep reading for the highlights of the first day, including some big announcements!
The morning kicked off with a breakfast hosted by Sesame Workshop, producers of Sesame Street and The Electric Company. The magical Muppet Abby Cadabby made an in-person appearance to poke fun at Sesame Workshop President Gary Knell and to introduce clips from the new season. Celebrity guests will include Michelle Obama, Ricky Gervais and Adam Sandler. The cast of the new Electric Company also showed up to perform several songs from the show and to demonstrate the skills of Shock, the human beat box. Electric Company will expand to five days a week beginning this fall.
PBS President Paula Kerger began the first session by expressing a renewed commitment to performing arts and professional journalism. She also announced that the Ford Foundation has contributed $1 million to EDCAR, the Education Digital Content Asset Repository, which will make the collected educational content of the public TV system available online for educators.
Jim Lehrer made a surprise appearance to dispel rumors that he will be retiring from the Newshour. He also announced the fifth iteration of the long-running series. (Bonus points if you can name the other four!) Beginning in September, the show will be redubbed the PBS Newshour, and will have a modified format designed to incorporate the entire news team. There'll be two anchors (Jim Lehrer and a rotating group of co-anchors) in the studio, as well as more original reporting from the field.
A quick overview of programming early in the production process included such intriguing titles as The Story of China (with historian Michael Wood), Fashion in America, Superheroes: Comic Books in America, The War Within (regarding Latino participation in America's wars), The South and a tasty special named Breakfast Anytime. Comedian Lewis Black will appear in a new project called In Search of Happiness.
Previews of prime-time shows which will air on WILL within the year included Antiques Roadshow, which will return with 18 new episodes and a new segment called "Antiques' Most Wanted," profiling stolen works of art. The Botany of Desire looks to be a breathtakingly beautiful look at the plant world from the plants' point of view. American Experience will present "Earth Days" for the 40th anniversary of our recognition of the fragility of our environment. Patrick Stewart will star as Macbeth in an upcoming Great Performances episode.
Filmmaker Ken Burns capped off the first day's previews with a look not only at his National Parks series, coming in September, but at a sequel to Baseball entitled The 10th Inning (2010) and a look back at our misguided attempt at Prohibition (premiering Winter 2011).
Stay tuned for more tomorrow!
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