An ongoing series of award-winning primetime specials examining the lives, works, and creative processes of our most outstanding cultural artists. It is both a celebration and an exploration of creativity in America.
Upcoming Broadcasts:
Walter Cronkite: Witness to History (#1905)
Duration:
1:26:19 CC Stereo TVPG
Everyone knows Walter Cronkite from the CBS Evening News, where he earned distinction as "The Most Trusted Man in America" during his 19 years at the anchor desk. Throughout his award-winning career - which began as a field reporter in World War II - Cronkite covered such historic events as the first trip to the moon; the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy; the Watergate scandal; the Vietnam War; the Iran hostage crisis; and John Glenn's return to space. Through it all, he steadfastly adhered to a credo of fast, accurate and unbiased news reporting. After stepping down as anchorman almost 25 years ago, his story continued - Walter Cronkite still leads the life of a genuine Renaissance man - author, sailor, producer and patron, his public concern for, and commitment to, our world has never faltered.
Channels and Airdates:
Woody Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home (#1903)
Duration:
1:26:32 CC Stereo TVPG
Essentially every American who has listened to the radio, or gone to summer camp, knows Woody's This Land is Your Land. The nation's signature folk singer/song-writer, Woody's music has been recorded by everyone from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to the Irish rock band U2. Originally blowing out of the Dust Bowl in 1930s Depression Era America, he blended vernacular, rural music and populism to give voice to millions of downtrodden citizens. Woody's prolific music, poetry and prose were politically leftist, uniquely patriotic, and always inspirational. He joined music with traditional oral history and was central to generations of folk music revival. His is a complex story filled with frenetic creative energy and a treasure trove of cultural history, as well as personal imperfections and profound family tragedy.
Channels and Airdates:
Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound (#2206)
Duration:
1:59:25 Stereo TVPG
Told from her perspective, and supported by a rich performance and historical archive, the centerpiece of this film is Baez' many years as a musician, her power as an artist, those who influenced her and those she influenced. From her earliest recordings, Baez introduced ever wider audiences to the songs of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, Johnny Cash and, of course, Bob Dylan -- before she began writing her own music. Follow Baez through her story, to see her as she sees herself: human being -- first, pacifist -- second, and folk-singer -- third.
Channels and Airdates:
Wed, Dec 2, 2009 -- 7:30 pm email reminder
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 -- 1:30 am email reminder
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 -- 1:00 pm email reminder
Sat, Dec 5, 2009 -- 3:00 pm email reminder
Sat, Dec 12, 2009 -- 7:00 pm email reminder
Sun, Dec 13, 2009 -- 1:00 am email reminder
Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women (#2207)
Duration:
1:26:46 Stereo TVPG
The author of Little Women is an almost universally recognized name. Her reputation as a morally upstanding New England spinster, reflecting the conventional propriety of late 19th-century Concord, is firmly established. However, raised among reformers and Transcendentalists and skeptics, the intellectual protege of Emerson and Hawthorne and Thoreau, Alcott was actually a free thinker with democratic ideals and progressive values about women -- a worldly careerist of sorts. Most surprising is that she led, under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard, a literary double life, undiscovered until the 1940s. As Barnard, Alcott penned scandalous, sensational works with characters running the gamut from murderers and revolutionaries to cross-dressers and opium addicts -- a far cry from her familiar fatherly mentors, courageous mothers and appropriately impish children.







