Pipeline 2013

Current’s 2013 Pipeline survey lists about 120 television projects planned, under way or completed, covering historical subjects such as slavery abolitionists and automotive pioneer Henry Ford; pledge specials about breakthrough rock-and-rollers Buddy Holly, Freddie Fender and Elvis Presley; and for classical music lovers, tenors from Texas and Italy. Louisiana Public Broadcasting is producing a documentary on wetlands erosion, American Experience will revisit the final days of the Vietnam conflict and New York’s WNET will deliver two major series next spring about the works of Shakespeare.

Upcoming British dramas include a new season of Downton Abbey with guest star Shirley MacLaine, a prequel to the Inspector Morse series and Mr. Selfridge, a dramatization of the real life of the flamboyant American who founded the famous London department store.

Acclaimed PBS documentarian Ken Burns is at work on four projects: The Central Park Five, about a racially-charged rape case; The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, about Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor; and Jackie Robinson, about the first African American to play in Major League Baseball. A 12-hour series about the Vietnam War that Burns co-directed and co-produced with Lynn Novick is in production for a 2016 airdate.

The pipeline includes a rich and varied lineup of documentaries exploring Latin American history and culture: a film by Renee Tajima-Peña about forced sterilization of Mexican women in the late 1960s; a profile of Mexican-American journalist Ruben Salazar; and Niños de la Memoria, examining how the Salvadoran civil war affected the lives of three children. WETA is presenting a six-hour series from producer Adrianna Bosch, Latino Americans, and Bernardo Ruiz is directing a one-hour documentary about the reporters of ZETA, a Tijuana-based muckraking weekly.

The list highlights projects planned as primetime, weekly or pledge-drive broadcasts in January 2013 or later. Our thanks to producers and their distributors, who supplied most of the information.

Due to space limitations, the list includes only noninstructional public TV projects one hour or longer. The list also excludes sequels and episodes of ongoing series that are 60 minutes or shorter.

Abbreviations: APT, American Public Television, Boston; EPS, Executive Program Services, Rocky Mount, Va.; ITVS, Independent Television Service, San Francisco; NETA, National Educational Telecommunications Association, Columbia, S.C.; NEA, National Endowment for the Arts; NEH, National Endowment for the Humanities; NSF, National Science Foundation; and PBS, Public Broadcasting Service. In production credits, “e.p.” means executive producer.

Program missing? If so, please complete the questionnaire at current.org/pipeline and send it to us by Nov. 15. We’ll publish an addendum in December.

Winter ’13

The Abolitionists

Producing organization: American Experience. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: postproduction. Executive producers: Mark Samels, Sharon Grimberg. Writer/producer/director: Rob Rapley. Contact: Julianna Newmeyer, [email protected], 617-300-5950. ♦ On 150th anniversary of Emancipation Proclamation, series tells how a motley crew of anti-slavery allies turned a despised fringe movement into a force that changed the nation. Outreach includes mobile app, Abolitionist Map of America.

AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange

Producing organization: National Black Programming Consortium. Distributor: APT. Episodes: 5 x 60, 1 x 90. Status: postproduction. Budget: $300,000. Major funders: CPB, NEA. V.p. operations/director of programming: Leslie Fields-Cruz. Contact: Leslie Fields-Cruz, [email protected], 212-234-8200. ♦ Series charts present-day realities and contemporary lifestyles of the Black Diaspora.

America On Stage (w.t.)

Producing organizations: A co-production of Robert Levi Films, WETA Washington, D.C. Distributor: ITVS. Presenting station: WETA. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: production. Major funders: PBS, ITVS. Executive producers: Dalton Delan, David Thompson. Producer/director: Robert Levi. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Follows development of new plays funded by the NEA in workshops, rehearsals and performances across the country, culminating in Broadway premiere of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo.

The Amish II (w.t.)

Producing organization: American Experience. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: production. E.p.: Mark Samels. Senior producer: Sharon Grimberg. Writer/producer/director: Callie Wiser. Contact: Julianna Newmeyer, [email protected], 617-300-5950. ♦ Following stories of several families, doc explores how those who leave this insular, centuries-old community are affected, and how their departure affects those left behind.

Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy

Producing organizations: B’way Films LLC., Ghost Light Films, and Thirteen for association with WNET. Presented by Great Performances. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 90. Status: production. Major funders: NEA, Irene Diamond Fund, Vivian Milstein, Agnes Varis Trust, Starr Foundation, PBS. E.p. for B’way Films LLC: Barbara Brilliant. Contact: David Ernst, [email protected], 212-560-2946. ♦ Combines extensive footage of some of Broadway’s most influential Jewish talents — including Irving Berlin, Comden and Green, George and Ira Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim — performing many of America’s favorite anthems and timeless ballads.

Buddy Holly: Listen to Me — The Ultimate Buddy Party

Producing organization: Songmasters LLC. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 90 minutes. Status: complete. Executive producers: Jennifer Cohen, Regan McCarthy. Music supervisor/producer/host: Peter Asher. Music director: Waddy Wachtel. Contact: Adam Kerner, [email protected]. ♦ Pledge special concert stars three generations of top recording artists — Stevie Nicks, Graham Nash, Lyle Lovett, Chris Isaak, Cobra Starship and more — performing updates of Buddy Holly’s best-known songs. Premiums include program DVD.

A Celtic Awakening with Faith Marion Robinson

Producer and presenting station: Detroit Public Television. Distributor: APT. Episodes: Three-part, 60-minute pledge program and 90-minute pledge event. Status: postproduction. E.p.: Jamie Westrick. Producer: Josette Marano. Associate producers: Lauren Smith, Aimee Gudme. Director: Jeff Forster. Contact: Lauren Smith, [email protected], 248-305-3791. ♦ In pledge special filmed on location in Ireland, Faith Marion Robinson sings of family relationships, love, the spirit of Ireland and hopes for a peaceful world, with lyrics from Irish standards, Broadway and pop songs. Premiums include program DVD and two CDs.

The Central Park Five

Producing organizations: A co-production of Florentine Films and WETA, Washington, D.C. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Episodes: 1 x 180. Status: postproduction. Major funders: Atlantic Philanthropies, CPB, Better Angels Society, Bobby and Polly Stein, PBS. Executive-in-charge for WETA: Dalton Delan. Project director: David Thompson. Director/producer: Ken Burns. Producers: Sarah Burns, David McMahon.
Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Ken Burns examines America’s complicated perceptions of race and crime through the story of the Central Park Five, a group of minority teenagers accused of brutally raping a white woman in New York City.

Downton Abbey, Season 3

Producing organization: A Carnival/Masterpiece co-production, in association with NBCUniversal. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 2 x 120, 5 x 60. Status: postproduction. E.p. for Masterpiece: Rebecca Eaton. Writer: Julian Fellowes. Contact: Olivia Wong, [email protected], 617-300-5349. ♦ In the third season of Emmy-

winning series, the Great War is over and a long-awaited engagement is on, but all is not tranquil as wrenching social changes, romantic intrigues and personal crises grip the majestic English country estate — with guest star Shirley MacLaine.

Drop 7 Foods, Feel Better Fast with JJ Virgin

Producing organization: Glass Onion Productions. Distributor: EPS. Episodes: Three-part, 60-minute pledge program and 90-minute pledge event. Status: production. Producer: Ellyne Lonergan. Contact: Alan Foster, [email protected], 540-483-4767. ♦ In pledge special, health and fitness expert JJ Virgin explains how many foods considered to be healthy can stop weight loss, add pounds and create joint pain, brain fog and gastrointestinal problems. Premiums include program DVD, companion book and related merchandise.

Earth from Space

Producing organizations: Nova, Darlow Smithson. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 2 x 51:5. Status: postproduction. Major funder: Kendeda Fund. Nova senior e.p.: Paula Apsell. Contact: Melanie Wallace, [email protected], 617-300-4340; Karen Laverty, [email protected], 617-300-4340. ♦ Groundbreaking special reveals spectacular new space-based views of our planet while examining the astonishing beauty and complexity of Earth.

Endeavour, Series 1

Producing organizations: A co-production of Mammoth Screen Ltd for ITV and Masterpiece. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 4 x 90. Status: preproduction. E.p. for Masterpiece: Rebecca Eaton. Contact: Olivia Wong, [email protected], 617-300-5349. ♦ Prequel to Inspector Morse series features rookie Constable Endeavour Morse (Shaun Evans), who’s fed up with police work and ready to hand in his resignation — until a murder turns up that only he could solve.

He Touched Me:
The Gospel Music of Elvis Presley

Producing organization: Gaither Music. Distributor: NETA. Presenting station: WKNO, Memphis, Tenn. Episodes: 90 minutes in three segments. Status: completed. Producer: Michael Merriman. Executive producers for Gaither Organization: Bill Carter, Barry Jennings. Narrator: Sander Vanocur. Contact: Carrie Stanley, [email protected], 765-724-8263. ♦ Newly created HD pledge event featuring guest Joe Moscheo, of the Elvis Imperials backup group, charts Elvis’ gospel career with vintage photos, interviews and video footage of impromptu offstage performances. Premiums include performance DVDs, CDs and related merchandise.

The Heart of Perfect Health with Brenda Watson

Producing organization: Glass Onion Productions. Distributor: EPS. Episodes: Three-part, 60-minute pledge program and 90-pledge event. Status: complete. Producer: Ellyne Lonergan. Contact: Alan Foster, [email protected], 540-483-4767. ♦ Following up her successful 2010 program “The Road to Perfect Health,” pledge special starring digestive care expert Brenda Watson includes compelling evidence of connection between digestive health and heart health, and describes easy ways to protect the heart by balancing the gut to achieve healthy digestion. Premiums include program DVD, companion book and related merchandise.

Henry Ford

Producing organization: American Experience. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: postproduction. E.p.: Mark Samels. Senior Producer: Sharon Grimberg. Writer/producer/director: Sarah Colt. Contact: Julianna Newmeyer, [email protected], 617-300-5950. ♦ Examines life of Henry Ford, a preeminent businessman and one of the most influential Americans of the 20th century, who was also an anti-unionist, an anti-Semite and a cruel father.

Inspector Lewis, Series VI

Producing organizations: A co-production of ITV Studios and Masterpiece.
Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 3 x 90. Status: postproduction. E.p. for Masterpiece: Rebecca Eaton. Contact: Olivia Wong, [email protected], 617-300-5349. ♦ Kevin Whately, returning for his sixth and final season as Inspector Lewis, and his young partner DS Hathaway (Laurence Fox) continue solving cases in the seemingly perfect academic haven of Oxford.

Jesse Cook: Live in Concert

Producing organization and distributor: Santa Fe Productions. Presenting station: KVCR, San Bernardino, Calif. Episodes: 30-, 60- and 90-minute pledge editions. Status: complete. Budget: $250,000. Producer: Paul Mercs. Contact: Dione Dirito, [email protected], 925-457-5261. ♦ In pledge special filmed in May at Rose Theatre in Brampton, Ontario, platinum-selling guitarist Jesse Cook performs a blend of rumba, flamenco and salsa music. Premiums include program DVD, event tickets and related merchandise.

The Lady Vanishes

Producing organizations: A BBC/Masterpiece co-production. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 90. Status: preproduction. E.p. for Masterpiece: Rebecca Eaton. Contact: Olivia Wong, [email protected], 617-300-5349. ♦ A young socialite suspects foul play when a young woman inexplicably disappears from a train, in a new adaptation of classic thriller based on Ethel Lina White’s 1936 novel The Wheel Spins.

Latino Americans

Producing organizations: A co-production of WETA, Washington, D.C., Latino Public Broadcasting, and Bosch and Company, Inc. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Episodes: 3 x 120. Status: postproduction. Series executive producers for WETA: Jeff Bieber, Dalton Delan. Series e.p. for LPB: Sandie Pedlow. Series producer: Adriana Bosch. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Charts lives of Latinos in the U.S. from the 16th to the 21st century — a story of people, politics and culture. Outreach includes engagement campaign and book by Ray Suarez of PBS NewsHour.

Makers: Women Who Make America

Producing organizations: A production of Kunhardt McGee Productions, Storyville Films and WETA, Washington, D.C., in association with Ark Media. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Episodes: 1 x 180. Status: postproduction. Major funders: Simple, Charles H. Revson Foundation, NoVo Foundation, Ford Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Rice Family Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation. Project founder/e.p.: Dyllan McGee. Executive producers: Betsy West, Peter Kunhardt. E.p. for WETA: Dalton Delan. Producers: Barak Goodman, Pamela Mason Wagner. Project executive for WETA: Anne Harrington. Narrator: Meryl Streep. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Doc examines how women have shaped America over the last 50 years through one of the most sweeping social revolutions in U.S. history — building on the multiplatform video experience from PBS and AOL. Web: Makers.com.

Mario Frangoulis: Beautiful Things

Producing organization and distributor: Santa Fe Productions. Presenting station: KVCR, San Bernardino, Calif. Episodes: 90 minutes in three acts. Status: complete. Budget: $300,000. Conductor: Keith Lockhart. Contact: Heidi Brown, [email protected], 505-264-1783. ♦ Pledge special features tenor Frangoulis and the Boston Pops performing contemporary, classical-crossover and world music with guests Hayley Westenra, Alkistis Protopsalti, George Perris. Premiums include DVD, event tickets and related merchandise.

Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook – Season 3

Producing organization: Hudson West Productions. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $500,000. Producer/director: Amber Edwards. Co-producer/director of photography: Dave Davidson. Contact: Amber Edwards, [email protected], 203-426-6219; Hope Reed, [email protected]. ♦ Michael Feinstein continues his exploration of the American Songbook with “Show Tunes,” the music of Broadway; “On the Air,” the impact of radio; and “Make Believe Ballroom,” music for dancing.

The Modoc War

Producing organization and presenting station: Oregon Public Broadcasting.  Distributor: NETA. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: complete. Budget: $125,000. Producer: Kami Horton. Editor: Bruce Barrow. E.p.: Nadine Jelsing. Contact: David Davis, [email protected], 503-293-1959 ♦ Chronicles the Modoc Wars in southern Oregon, one of the major conflicts with Native Americans in the settling of the American West.

Mr. Selfridge

Producing organizations: A BBC/Masterpiece co-production. Distributor: PBS.  Presenting station: WGBH. Status: production. E.p. for Masterpiece: Rebecca Eaton. Director: Anthony Byrne. Writer: Andrew Davies. Contact: Olivia Wong, [email protected], 617-300-5349. ♦ Series dramatizes real-life story of Harry Gordon Selfridge, the flamboyant and visionary American founder of the famous London department store that revolutionized the modern shopping experience. Created by Andrew Davies (Little Dorrit) with Jeremy Piven (Entourage) in title role.

Pieces of Light

Producing organization: Santa Fe Productions. Episodes: 60 minutes. Status: postproduction. Budget: $150,000. E.p.: Anthony Tiano. Contact: Heidi Brown, [email protected], 505-264-1783. ♦ Pledge special by producer of “Brain Fitness” programs shows how to make a stained-glass work of art — from concept to cutting materials, leading and strengthening the assemblage. Premiums include program DVD, companion book and related merchandise.

Pioneers of Television

Producing organization: Boettcher+Trinklein Television Inc. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: complete. Producers: Steven Boettcher, Michael Trinklein. Contact: Steven Boettcher, [email protected], 262-238-4336. ♦ Ryan Seacrest introduces four new episodes of Emmy-nominated series on TV’s breakthrough celebrities: “Funny Ladies,” “Superheroes,” “Primetime Soaps” and “Miniseries.”

Reportero

Producing organizations: A co-production of Quiet Pictures, LLC and ITVS in association with Latino Public Broadcasting. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: complete. Budget: $557,022. Major funders: Ford Foundation, ITVS, Sundance Documentary Fund, Cinereach, PBS. Director/producer: Bernardo Ruiz. Co-producer: Patricia Benabe. Contact: Luis Ortiz, [email protected], 818-847-9656. ♦ Follows a veteran reporter and his colleagues at ZETA, a Tijuana-based muckraking weekly, as they stubbornly ply their trade in what has become one of the deadliest places in the world to be a journalist.

Rhythm of the Dance

Producing organizations: Terrel Cass Productions/Desert C.A.M. Episodes: 60 minutes in three acts. Status: postproduction. Budget: $500,000. Co-producer: Terrel Cass. Co-producer/director: Chip Miller. Contact: Terrel Cass, [email protected], 830-693-5294. ♦ In a pledge performance special of Irish traditional dance, performers leap from the stage into gorgeous Irish countryside locations. Premiums include program DVD, event tickets and related merchandise.

Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey

Producing organization: Back Door Productions. Distributor: APT. Presenting station: Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: complete. Host: Rick Steves. Contact: Ashley Sytsma, [email protected], 425-608-4293; Hope Reed, [email protected], 520-622-1393. ♦ In one-hour concert special, Steves teams up with the Cascade Symphony Orchestra on musical tour that begins in U.S. and touches down in seven European countries.

Rudy Maxa’s World – Season 3

Producing organization: RMW Productions, Ltd. Distributor: APT. Presenting station: TPT National Productions. Episodes: 6 x 30. Status: postproduction. Major funders: Orbitz.com, Korea Tourism Organization, Delta Airlines. Host: Rudy Maxa. Contact: Elaine Powell, [email protected], 651-229-1378. ♦ Travel journalist Rudy Maxa discusses the history, architecture, culture, cuisine and people of some of the world’s great destinations, making them accessible to active and armchair travelers alike.

Side By Side: The Science, Art and Impact of Digital Cinema

Producing organization: Company Films, LLC. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: Maryland Public Television. Episodes: 1 x 60, Status: fundraising, postproduction. Host/producer: Keanu Reeves. Producer: Justin Szlasa. Director: Chris Kenneally. Contact: Krystal Dell, [email protected], 410-581-4149. ♦ Host Keanu Reeves leads tour of the past and future of filmmaking in doc investigating the history, process and workflow of both digital and photochemical film creation.

Silk

Producing organizations: A BBC Production. Presented by Masterpiece. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 3 x 120 or 6 x 60. Status: complete. E.p. for Masterpiece: Rebecca Eaton. Writer: Peter Moffat. Contact: Olivia Wong, [email protected], 617-300-5349. ♦ Modern, fast-paced legal drama follows rivalries, passions and intrigues of criminal law, starring Maxine Peake (Little Dorrit) and Rupert Penry-Jones (The 39 Steps) as rival barristers.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Producing organization: Antelope South Ltd. Presented by American Masters. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. E.p. for American Masters: Susan Lacy. Contact: Susan Lacy, [email protected], 212-560-8037. ♦ Profiles Southern-born, Chicago-raised, New York–made Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who during the 1940s, 50s and 60s introduced the passion of her gospel music into rock ’n’ roll, inspiring and influencing Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Isaac Hayes and Etta James as well as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash.

Something Ventured

Producing organization: Miralan Productions. Distributor: NETA. Presenting station: KQED, San Francisco. Episodes: 1 x 90. Status: complete. Budget: $750,000. Major funder: Kauffman Foundation. Directors: Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller. Executive producers: Paul Holland, Molly Davis. Contact: Lisa Landi, [email protected], 415-553-2221. ♦ Chronicles venture capitalism’s early impact on innovation and economic growth by telling story behind the eccentric entrepreneurs who forged companies like Intel, Apple, Genentech and Atari.

Tamar Geller’s The Loved Dog

Producing organizations: Terrel Cass Productions/Kim Rubin-KOCE, Los Angeles. Episodes: 60 minutes in three acts. Budget: $225,000. Status: fundraising, preproduction. Co-producer: Kim Rubin. Associate producer: Brenda Brkusic. Contact: Terrel Cass, [email protected], 830-693-5294. ♦ In pledge special, Tamar Geller, an ex-Israeli Intelligence officer and developer of the “Loved Dog” training method, helps dogs and their people (mostly Hollywood stars) learn how to live with each other. Premiums include program DVD, companion book and related merchandise.

Transplant: A Gift for Life

Producing organizations: TPT National Productions in association with Living the Gift, Inc. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: complete. Major funders: Carlson Family Foundation, Curtis and Marjorie Nelson Family Foundation, Susan and Michael Kerr, Astellas, Persephone Fund of the Whitney Foundation. Producer/director: Dennis Mahoney. Co-producer/writer/editor: John Whitehead. Co-producer: Emily Stevens. Contact: Melissa Block, [email protected], 651-229-1482. ♦ Chronicling prevalence and urgency of vital organ transplantation in America, program follows and documents the stories of several transplant recipients, focusing not just on recipients, but on the organ donors and their families.

 

Spring’13

Australia’s First Three Billion Years (w.t.)

Producing organizations: Nova, Essential Media and Entertainment. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 4 x 51:51. Status: postproduction. Senior e.p. for Nova: Paula Apsell. Contact: Melanie Wallace, [email protected], 617-300-4340; Karen Laverty, [email protected], 617-300-4340. ♦ Geologist Richard Smith leads the ultimate Outback road trip: an exploration of the history of the planet as seen through the mind-altering window of Australia.

Big Ideas with Steven Johnson

Producing organization: Nutopia. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: preproduction. Budget: $5 million. Executive in charge of production: Jane Root. E.p.: Paul Senn. E.p. for OPB: David Davis. Contact: Pat Kruis, [email protected], 503-293-1933; David Davis, [email protected], 503-293-1959. ♦ Explores innovation and how it shaped our world — from the sinking of the Titanic to Twitter, the invention of air conditioning to the election of Ronald Reagan, and much more.

Connected Kids (w.t.)

Producing organizations: TPT National Productions in association with Mobile Digital Arts. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. Major funders: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Pearson Foundation. Producer: Stephen Brown. Contact: Melissa Block, [email protected], 651-229-1482. ♦ Designed for parents and educators, yearlong multiplatform project presents stories of young people who are using digital media to explore interests and change the world around them.

Constitution USA with Peter Sagal

Producing organizations: TPT National Productions in association with Insignia Films. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: production. Major funders: PBS/CPB Program Challenge Fund, NEH, Anne Ray Charitable Trust, U.S. Bank, Baker & McKenzie LLP, Dorsey & Whitney LLP. E.p.: Catherine Allan. Host: Peter Sagal. Contact: Elaine Powell, [email protected], 651-229-1378. ♦ Producers of Liberty!, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and Dolley Madison present multipart, multimedia event that brings vividly to life both the Constitution’s history and its vital living present.

DC Met: Life Inside School Reform

Producing organization: National Black Programming Consortium. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status:

postproduction. Budget: $1.4 million. Executive director: Jacquie Jones. Contact: Leslie Fields-Cruz, [email protected], 212-234-8200. ♦ Follows day-to-day stories of students, parents, teachers and staff at D.C.’s Washington Metropolitan High School to present intimate portrait of a public school.

Discover Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

Producing organization: The Discovery Orchestra. Distributor: APT. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $250,000. Major funders: Frank & Lydia Bergen Foundation, Robert Mills Foundation, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. Producer/director: Jeff Friedman. Consulting producer: Elena Mannes. Contact: Virginia Johnston, [email protected], 908-226-7300. ♦ Conductor George Marriner Maull explores how sonnets Vivaldi wrote in the score of his masterpiece are revealed in the music, followed by a performance of the music in its entirety.

Extreme by Design

Producing organizations: Hawkview Pictures/Kikim Media. Distributor: PBS.  Presenting station: KQED, San Francisco. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: complete. Producer/director: Ralph King. Director/e.p.: Michael Schwarz. E.p.: Kiran Kiki Kapany. Director of photography: Vicente Franco. Contact: Ralph King, [email protected], 650-380-0550; Michael Schwarz, [email protected], 650-617-0550. ♦ Follows a band of ambitious Stanford University students who use a radical new design approach to prototype and build life-changing and affordable products for the world’s poor.

Film School Shorts

Producing organization and presenting station: KQED, San Francisco. Distributor: NETA. Episodes: 10 x 30. Status: production. Budget: $300,000. Major funder: Maurice Kanbar. Series producer: Lisa Landi. Contact: Lisa Landi, [email protected], 415-553-2221. ♦ Weekly series showcases best short student films from across the U.S.

Frontera!: Animated Histories of the Southwest Borderlands

Producing organization: Latino Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 3 x 10. Status: production. Budget: $98,100. Producer: John Jota Leaños. Contact: Luis Gutierrez, [email protected], 818-847-9659. ♦ Documentary animation reveals complex social history of U.S. southwest borderlands along four major river systems: the Río Grande, Colorado, Mississippi and Sacramento rivers.

Great Performances at 40: An All-Star Homecoming Celebration (w.t.)

Producing organization and presenting station: Thirteen for WNET. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 90. Status: preproduction. Major funders: NEA, Irene Diamond Fund, Vivian Milstein, Agnes Varis Trust, Starr Foundation, PBS, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Joseph A. Wilson, Filomen M. D’Agostino Foundation, Annaliese Soros, Jody and John Arnhold. E.p.: David Horn. Contact: David Ernst, [email protected], 212-560-2946. ♦ Pledge special honoring series’ 40th anniversary presents all-star homecoming on stage of David Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, where diverse alumni share personal stories and reflect on their creative collaborations with program.

The Hollow Crown: Shakespeare’s History Plays (w.t.)

Producing organizations: Neal Street Productions, NBCUniversal, BBC and Thirteen for WNET. Presented by Great Performances and WNET. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 2 x 150, 2 x 120. Status: postproduction: Major funders: NEA, Irene Diamond Fund, Vivian Milstein, Agnes Varis Trust, Starr Foundation, PBS. E.p.: Sam Mendes. E.p. for WNET: David Horn. Contact: David Ernst, [email protected], 212-560-2946. ♦ Fuses four of Shakespeare’s history plays — Richard II; Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2; and Henry V — into chronological narrative with powerful performances by Shakespeare veterans Jeremy Irons, Patrick Stewart and David Suchet plus up-and-coming British actors Ben Whishaw (The Hour), Tom Hiddleston (War Horse, Thor) and Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey).

Justice for My Sister

Producing organizations: Latino Public Broadcasting, Artevista Films. Episodes: 1 x 70. Status: complete. Producer: Kimberly Bautista. Contact: Luis Gutierrez, [email protected], 818-847-9659. ♦ Guatemalan woman pits herself against her country’s notoriously machista justice system in search of answers to her sister’s brutal murder.

Kind Hearted Woman

Producing organization: David Sutherland Productions. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 120 and 1 x 150. Status: postproduction. Producer/director: David Sutherland. Contact: Pam Johnston, [email protected], 617-300-3500; Jim Bracciale, [email protected], 617-300-3500. ♦ Illuminates the epidemic of child sexual abuse on Native American reservations and scandals of some tribes’ failure to protect children by profiling Robin Charboneau, a 32-year-old single mother and Oglala Sioux woman living on North Dakota’s Spirit Lake Reservation, who struggles between saving her family and helping her Indian community and abused women.

The Lost Bird Project

Producing organization: Middlemarch Films. Distributor: APT. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: complete. Director: Deborah Dickson. Producer: Muffie Meyer. Co-producer/cinematographer: Scott Anger. E.p.: Andy Stern. Contact: Scott Anger, [email protected], 917-622-2491. ♦ Tells stories of five bird species driven to extinction in modern times and sculptor Todd McGrain’s project to memorialize them.

Mel Brooks

Producing and presenting organizations: American Masters and Thirteen forWNET. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 90. Status: postproduction. American Masters e.p.: Susan Lacy. Contact: Susan Lacy, [email protected], 212-560-8037. ♦ First authorized biography of the former Melvin Kaminsky, who developed his aggressively funny personality on the mean streets of Brooklyn and went on to produce cult classics such as The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

Mineral Explorers

Producing organization: Think-Box Media, Inc. Distributor: NETA. Presenting station: Arkansas Educational Television Network. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: fundraising, production. E.p./host: Thomas Nagin. Producer/director: Jonathan Kudabeck. Contact: Leslie Fisher, [email protected], 501-762-0833. ♦ Thomas Nagin travels the globe hunting for fine gems, crystals and minerals to show viewers a deep underground world of natural beauty and immense wealth. Pilot won Best Reality Show Award at 2011 International Television Festival. Web: www.mineralexplorers.com.

Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries

Producing organizations: Every Cloud Productions and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distributor: Acorn Media. Episodes: 13 x 60. Status: complete. Producer: Fiona Eagger. Writer/producer: Deb Cox. Contact: Dan Hamby, [email protected], 301-608-2115; Tina Waganer, [email protected], 443-430-0415. ♦ Based on 18 novels by Kerry Greenwood, series features Miss Phryne Fisher (Essie Davis), a daring, glamorous detective and thoroughly modern woman of the late 1920s with a dagger-sharp wit.

Philip Roth

Producing organizations: Thirteen for WNET and Cinétévé. Presented by American Masters and WNET. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 90. Status: production. Major funders: American Masters e.p.: Susan Lacy. Contact: Susan Lacy, [email protected], 212-560-8037. ♦ Profile of an author who steadily earned the reputation as a man of letters, commanding ownership of the Jewish-American novel, making Newark, N.J., a literary destination and producing a dozen best-sellers in the past two decades.

Protect Your Memory with Dr. Neal Barnard

Producing organization and presenting station: Detroit Public Television. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 60-minute pledge program and 90-minute pledge event. Status: scripting. E.p.: Jamie Westrick. Producer: Lauren Smith. Contact: Lauren Smith, [email protected], 248-305-3791. ♦ Pledge special shows how to prevent memory loss and protect your brain in three simple steps, with new research and action steps from Dr. Barnard, a leading advocate for health, nutrition and higher standards in research, and host of past pledge programs “Tackling Diabetes” and “Kickstart Your Health.” Premiums include program DVD, companion book and related DVDs.

Rescue in the Philippines

Producing organization: 3 Roads Communications. Distributor: APT. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $1 million. Producers: Cynthia Scott-Johnson, Russ Hodge. Senior producer: Terry Irving. Contact: Cynthia Scott-Johnson, [email protected], 301-662-4121; Russ Hodge, [email protected], 703-309-3826. ♦ Recounts relatively unknown story of a small, eclectic and influential group of businessmen, politicians and military leaders living in the Philippines who provided sanctuary to Jews being persecuted in Europe by the Nazi regime.

Rick Steves’ Europe: Travel Skills

Producing organization: Back Door Productions. Distributor: APT. Presenting station: Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 120 virtual pledge event. Status: postproduction. Host: Rick Steves. Contact: Ashley Sytsma, [email protected], 425-608-4293; Hope Reed, [email protected], 520-622-1393. ♦ Pledge special offers Steves’s practical advice on how to have a fun, affordable and culturally broadening trip to Europe — filmed on location in Amsterdam, the Rhineland, Bavaria, Venice, Siena, the Italian Riviera, Swiss Alps, Paris and London. Premiums include program DVD, companion book, related merchandise.

Shakespeare Uncovered

Producing organizations: Blakeway Films, 116 Films Ltd., Thirteen for WNET. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: postproduction. Major funders: NEH, Howard and Abby Milstein, Rosalind P. Walter, Polonsky Foundation, Virginia and Dana Randt, LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, PBS. Series producer: Richard Denton. Contact: David Ernst, [email protected], 212-560-2946. ♦ Bringing viewers behind the scenes of Shakespeare’s monumental plays, each episode — hosted by a star presenter, including Jeremy Irons and Ethan Hawke — combines interviews with actors, directors and scholars with visits to important locations related to the plays. Includes highlight clips from most celebrated productions and excerpts from plays especially rehearsed and performed at Shakespeare’s Globe.

Stephen Sondheim’s Company with the New York Philharmonic (w.t.)

Producing organizations: A co-production of Ellen M. Krass Productions and the New York Philharmonic. Presented by Great Performances. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 150. Status: postproduction. Major funders: NEA, Irene Diamond Fund, Vivian Milstein, Agnes Varis Trust, Starr Foundation, PBS. E.p.: Ellen M. Krass. Contact: David Ernst, [email protected], 212-560-2946. ♦ Live Philharmonic gala concert performance of Stephen Sondheim’s sardonic portrayal of the modern American marriage. Filmed in 2011 and starring Neil Patrick Harris as Bobby, supported by an all-star cast including Stephen Colbert, Patti LuPone, Christina Hendricks (Mad Men), Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls), Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men) and Martha Plimpton.

Sunshine by the Stars: A Louisiana Music Celebration

Producing organization and presenting station: Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $600,000. Major funder: BP. E.p.: Clay Fourrier. Contact: Bob Neese, [email protected], 225-767-4274. ♦ As part of Louisiana’s bicentennial, Tim McGraw, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Guy, Mickey Gilley, the Marsalis family and other Louisiana musicians perform their interpretations of “You Are My Sunshine.”

The Texas Tenors

Producing organization: Terrel Cass Productions. Episodes: 60 minutes in three acts. Status: preproduction. Budget: $600,000. E.p.: Terrel Cass. Contact: Terrel Cass, [email protected], 830-693-5294. ♦ Pledge special features the Texas Tenors, of America’s Got Talent fame, performing an intriguing mix of classical, folk and country music classics — everything from “O Sole Mio” to “Mountain Morning.” Guests include Lee Greenwood and others. Premiums include program DVD, event tickets and related merchandise.

Tribute to Freddy Fender (w.t.)

Producing organizations: Terrel Cass Productions/Terry Lickona Productions. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: KLRU in Austin, Texas. Episodes: 60 minutes in three acts. Status: fundraising, preproduction. Budget: $500,000. Producers: Terrel Cass, Terry Lickona, Jeff Peterson. Contact: Terrel Cass, [email protected], 830-693-5294. ♦ Pledge special honoring the late Freddy Fender and featuring performances of his songs by his friends and stars who loved his music, including Fender’s old band, the Texas Tornados. To be shot in the Austin City Limits studio. Premiums include program DVDs and related merchandise.

Trust: Second Acts in Young Lives

Producing organizations: Latino Public Broadcasting, Kelly+Yamamoto Productions. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: complete. Budget: $142,112. Producer: Nancy Kelly. Contact: Luis Ortiz, [email protected], 818-847-9656. ♦ Follows teenage actors involved in Chicago’s Albany Park Theater Project, most of whom are Latino, as they transform themselves through courage, storytelling and community.

Turning the Tide

Producing organization and presenting station: Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $250,000. Major funders: McKnight Foundation, Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Senior producer: Christina Melton. Contact: Bob Neese, [email protected], 225-767-4274. ♦ Examines possible scientific solutions to erosion of Louisiana’s coastline and wetlands.

Unleash the Power of the Female Brain with Dr. Daniel Amen

Producing organization: Mindworks Productions. Distributor: EPS. Episodes: Three-part 60-minute pledge program and 90-minute pledge event. Status: preproduction, scripting. Contact: Alan Foster, [email protected], 540-483-4767. ♦ Pledge special featuring Dr. Amen, host of six previous pledge specials, shows how to harness strengths of the female brain — intuition, collaboration, self-control and empathy — and overcome anxiety and depression. Premiums include program DVD and companion book.

A Younger You with Dr. Howard Murad (w.t.)

Producing organization: Lightbridge Media. Distributor: EPS. Episodes: Three-part, 60-minute pledge program and 90-minute pledge event. Status: preproduction. Executive producers: Roy Walkenhorst, Judy Brooks. Contact: Alan Foster, [email protected], 540-483-4767. ♦ In pledge special, dermatologist Dr. Murad draws on three decades of research to present his breakthrough “Inclusive Health” approach to controlling aging and help patients look younger, feel healthier and live happier. Premiums include program DVD, companion book and related merchandise.

 

Summer’13

The American Revolution

Producing organization: Lichtenstein Creative Media, Inc. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 83. Status: postproduction. Budget: $900,000. Major funders: Kickstarter.com campaign, Mass. Humanities. Associate producers: David Bieber, Jay Rooney. Director of photography: Boyd Estus. Contact: Bill Lichtenstein, [email protected], 617-682-3708. ♦ Pledge special chronicles the early days of radio station WBCN-FM and Boston’s other underground media to show “how a radio station, politics and rock and roll changed everything” in the late ’60s through early ’70s. Premiums include program DVD, companion book and related merchandise. Web: www.theamericanrevolution.fm.

Behind the Scenes of the Shaw Festival (w.t.)

Producing organizations: WNED, Buffalo, N.Y., and Forevergreen Productions. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WNED. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $504,803. Major funders: John R. Oishei Foundation, Rogers Documentary Fund. E.p.: John Grant. Producer: Alan Aylward. Contact: Sufana Wajed, [email protected], 716-845-7000. ♦ International production looks behind the scenes at the Shaw Theatre Company based in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

Getting Back to Abnormal

Producing organizations: Center for New American Media/Midnight Films. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 90. Status: complete. Budget: $350,000. Producers/directors: Louis Alvarez, Andrew Kolker, Peter Odabashian, Paul Stekler. Contact: Andrew Kolker, [email protected], 212-630-9971. ♦ Producers of People Like Us and Vote For Me present portrait of New Orleans five years after Katrina through the lens of race and politics.

The State of Arizona

Producing organizations: Latino Public Broadcasting, ITVS, Camino Bluff Productions. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status:

postproduction. Budget: $632,763. Producers/directors: Carlos Sandoval, Catherine Tambini. Contact: Luis Ortiz, [email protected], 818-847-9656. ♦ Personal stories capture the explosive emotions and tragic tolls behind Arizona’s struggle with illegal immigration.

Time Team America: Season Two

Producing organization and presenting station: Oregon Public Broadcasting. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $2.4 million. E.p. for OPB: David Davis. E.p. for Videotext: Tim Taylor. Series producer: Bruce Barrow. Contact: David Davis, [email protected], 503-293-1959. ♦ A team of experts explores North American history by uncovering what lies buried below the ground, racing against the clock to find answers to the riddles of the past.

 

Fall’13

Alice Walker

Producing organizations: Kali Films and Thirteen for WNET. Presented by American Masters and WNET. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 90. Status: postproduction. E.p. for American Masters. Susan Lacy Contact: Susan Lacy, [email protected], 212-560-8037. ♦ Thirty years after publication of Alice Walker’s seminal novel The Color Purple, doc tells story of writer/activist born into a family of rural Georgia sharecroppers who became first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Literature.

Designing America: Frederick Law Olmsted

Producing organizations: WNED, Buffalo, N.Y., and Florentine Films/Hott Productions. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WNED. Episodes: 1 x 90. Status: production. Budget: $875,000. Major funders: NEH, Margaret L. Wendt Foundation. E.p.: John Grant. Director/producer: Larry Hott. Contact: John Grant, [email protected], 814-234-5210. ♦ Explores the life and legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of American landscape architecture who designed New York’s Central Park, the U.S. Capitol grounds, and hundreds of parks and campuses nationwide.

Final Days in Vietnam (w.t.)

Producing organization: American Experience. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: scripting. E.p.: Mark Samels. Senior producer: Sharon Grimberg. Producer/director: Rory Kennedy. Contact: Julianna Newmeyer, [email protected], 617-300-5950. ♦ Recounts panic that gripped Saigon on April 29, 1975, and the ingenuity and daring of individual military and embassy personnel who saved thousands of American and Vietnamese lives in the last days of the war.

Inventing Tomorrow (w.t.)

Producing organization: Nova. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 4 x 51:51. Status: preproduction. NSF, CPB Challenge Fund, U.S. Department of Energy. Nova senior e.p.: Paula Apsell. Contact: Melanie Wallace, [email protected], 617-300-4340. ♦ In series from producers of Making Stuff, host David Pogue meets scientists and engineers who plunge to the bottom of the temperature scale, find design inspiration in nature and break every speed limit to make tomorrow’s “stuff” colder, faster, wilder and safer.

JFK (w.t.)

Producing organization: American Experience. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: production. E.p.: Mark Samels. Senior producer: Sharon Grimberg. Producer/director: Susan Bellows. Writer: Mark Zwonitzer. Contact: Julianna Newmeyer, [email protected], 617-300-5950. ♦ Film scheduled for a broadcast to coincide with the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination (Nov. 22, 2013) explores life and political career of the 35th U.S. president.

Joe Papp

Producing organizations: ITVS, the Papp Project and Thirteen for WNET. Presented by American Masters and WNET. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 90. Status: postproduction. American Masters e.p.: Susan Lacy. Contact: Susan Lacy, [email protected], 212-560-8037. ♦ Features narrative in Papp’s own voice plus rare archival performance footage. Interweaves 50 years of oral and visual history of the architect and presiding spirit of New York’s Public Theater and Free Shakespeare Festival who produced such innovative works as Hair, A Chorus Line and For Colored Girls.

Lives In Transition: The Impact of Economic Freedom

Producing organization: Free to Choose Network. Distributor: NETA. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $700,000. Major funders: Donald and Paula Smith Family Foundation, Fred Maytag Foundation, David and Annette Jorgensen Foundation, Chris Rufer. Producers: Jim Tusty, Maureen Tusty. E.p.’s: Tom Skinner, Bob Chitester. Contact: Tom Skinner, [email protected], 231-883-1659. ♦ Relates personal stories from Chile, Slovakia, South Korea and Zambia that prove a nation’s economic freedom, as reflected on an international index, has real impact on the lives of its citizens.

Making Viva Max

Producing organizations: Three Cord Media, Latino Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $363,413. Director/writer: Jim Mendiola. Producer: Faith Radle. Contact: Luis Gutierrez, [email protected], 818-847-9656. ♦ Doc recounts 1969 incident when a Hollywood crew making Viva Max, a comedy about Mexicans retaking the Alamo, fought the Daughters of the Republic of Texas for permission to shoot their film on historic grounds.

Marthas

Producing organizations: Undocumented Films, Inc.; Latino Public Broadcasting; ITVS. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $339,156. Producer/director: Cristina Ibarra. Contact: Luis Ortiz, [email protected], 818-847-9656.  ♦ Follows yearlong preparations of Marthas, Mexican-American teens debuting in the exclusive Society of Martha Washington Colonial Pageant & Ball in Laredo, Texas — a 113-year-old tradition.

¿Más Bebes?

Producing organizations: Moon Canyon Films, ITVS, Latino Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $390,558. Major funder: California Council for the Humanities. Producer/director: Renee Tajima-Peña. Producer: Virgnia Espino. Contact: Luis Ortiz, [email protected], 818-847-9656. ♦ Reveals disturbing history of hundreds of Mexican-origin women who were coercively sterilized at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center during the late 1960s and 1970s.

Murder by Poison

Producing organization: American Experience. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: preproduction. E.p.: Mark Samels. Producer/director: Rob Rapley. Contact: Julianna Newmeyer, [email protected], 617-300-5950. ♦ Set in New York during Prohibition, film shows how two scientists turned forensic toxicology into an essential crime-fighting tool, sending many a murderer to the electric chair.

Niños de la Memoria

Producing organizations: Pata de Perro Productions, Latino Public Broadcasting, ITVS. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: complete. Budget: $447,285. Major funders: Pew Fellowship on the Arts, Philadelphia Foundation, Sundance Institute. Director/producer: Maria Teresa Rodriguez. Producer: Kathryn Smith Pyle. Contact: Luis Ortiz, [email protected], 818-847-9656. ♦ Examines lives of three children, now adults, whose personal stories of loss reveal the legacy of the Salvadoran civil war, which is still played out through modern struggles.

Rochester – Tailor Made: The History of Rochester’s Garment Industry (w.t.)

Producing organization: WXXI, Rochester, N.Y. Distributor: APT. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: fundraising. Major funder: Ames Amzalak Memorial Trust. E.p.: Todd McCammon. Contact: Todd McCammon, [email protected], 585-258-0241. ♦ Showcases rich history of Rochester, N.Y.’s clothing industry, from Michaels-Stern and Co. to Hickey Freeman, one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious clothiers.

Ruben Salazar: The Man in the Middle

Producing organizations: City Projects, Latino Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $644,720. Major funders: California Council for the Humanities. Producer/director: Phillip Rodriguez. Contact: Luis Ortiz, [email protected], 818-847-9656. ♦ Chronicles life and mysterious death of one of the of the 20th century’s most prominent Mexican American journalists.

Superheroes!

Producing organization: Ghost Light Films. Presenting station: Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $2.2 million. Executive/series producer: Michael Kantor. E.p. for OPB: David Davis. Contact: David Davis, [email protected], 503-293-1959. ♦ Explores how comic books, initially sold for a dime at corner drugstores, exploded into a modern American mythology and a multibillion-dollar industry.

Two Trinities

Producing organizations: Luchadora Productions, Latino Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $424,077. Major funders: Latino Public Broadcasting, ITVS. Director/producer/editor: Sandra Guardado. E.p./advisor: Paul Stekler. Contact: Luis Ortiz, [email protected], 818-847-9656. ♦ Explores the Trinity Foundation, a religious community in East Dallas led by Ole Anthony, and its quest to bring down televangelists who prey on the poor and the desperate using the lure of the “heavenly lottery.”

Unlikely Heroes: True Roots of the Arab Spring

Producing organization: Free to Choose Network. Distributor: NETA. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $700,000. Major funders: John Templeton Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation. Presenter: Hernando de Soto. Producers: Jim Taylor, Roger Brown. E.p.’s: Tom Skinner, Bob Chitester. Contact: Tom Skinner, [email protected], 231-883-1659. ♦ Economist Hernando de Soto (The Power of the Poor, Globalization at the Crossroads) examines economic and bureaucratic conditions that sparked the Arab Spring.

Walter Williams: An American Life

Producing organization: Free to Choose Network. Distributor: NETA. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $700,000. Major funders: Dunn’s Foundation, Donor’s Trust, Hickory Foundation, William R. Shepard, Taweel Family Fund. Producer: Anthony Macchi. E.p.’s: Tom Skinner, Bob Chitester. Contact: Tom Skinner, [email protected], 231-883-1659. ♦ Documents life and ideas of commentator/author Walter Williams, an African-American who characterized affirmative action, the Civil Rights Act and the welfare system as being destructive to African Americans.

Winter’14

1964 (w.t.)

Producing organizations: American Experience. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: R&D. Executive producer: Mark Samels. Senior producer: Sharon Grimberg. Writer/director: Stephen Ives. Producer: Amanda Pollak. Contact: Julianna Newmeyer, [email protected], 617-300-5950. ♦ Interweaving Beatlemania, the Warren Commission, riots in Harlem, the conflict in Vietnam, and Barry Goldwater and LBJ’s election campaigns, doc chronicles events of a year that shaped present-day America. Outreach includes website, youth events, iPad app supported with social media.

Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot

Producing organizations: ITV Studios in association with Agatha Christie Limited. Presented by Masterpiece. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 2 x 90. Status: preproduction. E.p. for Masterpiece: Rebecca Eaton Contact: Olivia Wong, [email protected], 617-300-5349. ♦ David Suchet returns in his signature role as suave Belgian super-sleuth Hercule Poirot in two new mysteries based on the novels by Agatha Christie.

Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple

Producing organizations: ITV Studios in association with Agatha Christie Limited. Presented by Masterpiece. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 3 x 90. Status: preproduction. E.p. for Masterpiece: Rebecca Eaton. Contact: Olivia Wong, [email protected], 617-300-5349. ♦ Acclaimed British actress Julia McKenzie (Cranford) returns as spinster sleuth Miss Marple in three new episodes of the popular series.

Animal

Producing organization: Two Cats Productions. Presenting station: Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: production. Budget: $2 million. Major funders: Marc and Diane Spilker Foundation, Hermine and David Heller Foundation, Goldman Sachs, Kraus Foundation. E.p.: Andrew Goldberg. Producer: Douglas Chang. Executive in charge of production: David Davis. Contact: David Davis, [email protected], 503-293-1959. ♦ A look at how humans use animals and animal products in their daily lives — how people and institutions make decisions about animal use and what ethics are involved.

The Anthropologist (w.t.)

Producing organization: Ironbound Films, Inc. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 90. Status: production. Budget: $870,000. Major funder: NSF. Producers/directors: Seth Kramer, Jeremy Newberger. Producer/director/writer: Daniel Miller. Contact: Daniel Miller, [email protected], 845-424-3700. ♦ Looks at indigenous communities hardest hit by climate change through the eyes of a cultural anthropologist and her teenage daughter.

Freedom Summer

Producing organization: American Experience. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: preproduction. E.p.: Mark Samels. Senior producer: Sharon Grimberg. Writer/producer/director: Stanley Nelson. Contact: Julianna Newmeyer, [email protected], 617-300-5950. ♦ Recounts historic voter registration and education effort that brought hundreds of volunteers to segregated Mississippi during the violent summer of 1964.

The Italian Americans (w.t.)

Producing organizations: A co-production of WETA, Washington, D.C., and Ark Media. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Episodes: 2 x 120. Status: production. NEH, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Program Challenge Fund, PBS Distribution. Executive producers for WETA: Jeff Bieber, Dalton Delan. Producers: John Maggio, Muriel Soenens, Barak Goodman. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Chronicles four generations of Italian Americans, from the late 19th century to today — their departures and reunions; divided identities between homeland and America; and entry into labor, entertainment, politics and war.

The Pilgrims (w.t.)

Producing organizations: A co-production of Steeplechase Films and WETA Washington, D.C. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: production. Annenberg Foundation, PBS, NEH, BBC. Executive producers for WETA: Jeff Bieber, Dalton Delan. Producer/director: Ric Burns. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Recounts deep history, origins and harrowing first decade of the Pilgrims’ colony in North America — a seminal chapter in the making of America.

The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (w.t.)

Producing organizations: A co-production of Florentine Films and WETA Washington, D.C. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Episodes: 6 x 120. Status: production. Major funders: Bank of America, CPB, Jack C. Taylor, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, NEH, Rosalind P. Walter; PBS, Better Angels Society, Pfeil Foundation, Joan Wellhouse Newton, Bonnie and Tom McCloskey, the Golkin family. Executive-in-charge for WETA: Dalton Delan. Project director: David Thompson. Producers/directors: Ken Burns, Paul Barnes, Pam Baucom. Writer: Geoffrey Ward. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Producers of The National Parks present Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt as they have never been seen before: the most prominent members of the most important family in U.S. history.

Sacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler

Producing organization: WGBH Educational Foundation. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: preproduction. E.p.: Laurie Donnelly. Host: Bruce Feiler. Contact: Laurie Donnelly, [email protected], 617-300-2688; Anne Adams, [email protected], 617-300-3838. ♦ Series about the idea and practice of pilgrimage is equal parts religious studies, cultural exploration, history and travelogue — from Mecca to Lourdes. Each episode focuses on a single pilgrimage as seen through the eyes of American pilgrims.

Sound Tracks: Music without Borders

Producing organizations: Talbot Players and KQED, San Francisco. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: KQED. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: fundraising, preproduction. Budget: $2.6 million. E.p.: Steve Talbot. Project director: Joanne Elgart Jennings. Co-e.p.: Bob Calo. Senior producer: Adrienne Calo. Coordinating producer: Marco Werman. Host/reporter/co-producer: Alexis Bloom. Contact: Joanne Elgart Jennings, [email protected], 415-282-5129. ♦ Magazine-formatted programs combining elements of a travelogue, journalistic investigation and concert performance through thematically linked stories and a “global hit” musical performance. Web: www.pbs.org/soundtracks.

These United Tastes (w.t.)

Producing organizations: KQED, San Francisco, and Center for Asian American Media. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: KQED. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: preproduction. Budget: $400,000. E.p. for KQED: Louise Lo. Contact: Louise Lo, [email protected], 415-553-2286. ♦ Journeys across Asian America, using obsession with food as launching point for a wealth of stories, traditions and unexpected characters. Pre-broadcast audience will be invited to contribute stories and ideas via social media. Outreach includes recipes, blogs, live chats and short videos on PBS Foods website.

Thomas Edison (w.t.)

Producing organization: American Experience. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: R&D. E.p.: Mark Samels. Senior producer: Sharon Grimberg. Contact: Julianna Newmeyer, [email protected], 617-300-5950. ♦ Thomas Edison could lay claim to 1,093 successful patents — but this doc reveals that perhaps his most ingenious invention was himself.

 

Spring’14

Dorothea Lange

Producing organizations: Katahdin Productions & Raven Rough, Inc., and Thirteen for WNET. Presented by American Masters and WNET. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 90. Status: production. Writer/director/producer: Dyanna Taylor. Producer: Roberta Grossman. Consulting producers: Meg Partridge, Pamela Mason Wagner. E.p.: Lisa Thomas. American Masters e.p.: Susan Lacy. Contact: Susan Lacy, [email protected], 212-560-8037. ♦ Photographer Dorothea Lange’s granddaughter chronicles Lange’s life and more than four decades of early-20th-century America reflected through the prism of her lens.

La Batalla

Producing organization: Souvenir Pictures. Presenting station: Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: R&D. E.p./producer: Mylene Moreno. E.p. for OPB: David Davis. Contact: David Davis, [email protected], 503-293-1959. ♦ Explores the Latino experience during Vietnam War.

LGBT in America (w.t.)

Producing organization: Two Cats Productions. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $3 million. Major funder: Double H Foundation. E.p.: Andrew Goldberg. Producer: Douglas Chang. Executive in charge of production: David Davis. Contact:  David Davis, [email protected], 503-293-1959. ♦ Explores the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in the U.S. from Colonial times to the present, with emphasis on the last decade and rapid changes taking place today.

The Ornament of the World

Producing organization: Kikim Media. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: production. Major funder: NEH. Producer/director: Michael Schwarz. E.p.: Kiran Kiki Kapany. Writer: Jason Cohn. Contact: Michael Schwarz, Michael [email protected], 650-617-0550. ♦ Chronicles 800-year period in medieval Spain when Muslims, Jews and Christians created a common culture that often transcended their religious identities.

Prison Nation (w.t.)

Producing organization: Mongoose Pictures. Presented by Frontline. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: R&D. Producer/director: Dan Edge. Contact: Pam Johnston, [email protected], 617-300-3500; Jim Bracciale, [email protected], 617-300-3500. ♦ Investigates how mass incarceration in the U.S. — which imprisons more of its own citizens than any other country — is backfiring, takes critical look at solitary confinement and the hugely profitable private prison industry.

Raising Service Dogs: Making of a Hero (w.t.)

Producing organization: TPT National Productions. Distributor: PBS. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive director in charge of production: Gerry Richman. Contact: Elaine Powell, [email protected], 651-229-1378. ♦ Sequel to 2010’s Through a Dog’s Eyes documents, for the first time on television, remarkable story of how service dogs are trained.

 

Fall’14

Beyond La Bamba

Producing organizations: Latino Public Broadcasting, Flywitness Films. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $336,232. Major funder: National Association of Latino Arts and Culture. Producer: Marco Villalobos. Contact: Luis Gutierrez, [email protected], 818-847-9656. ♦ Follows struggles of Rubi, Noe and Jose Luis, three young Afro-Mestizo descendants of Mexico’s oldest musical tradition, in their efforts to preserve and elevate their culture on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border.

Children of Giant

Producing organization: Latino Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $548,575. Producer: Hector Galan. Contact: Luis Gutierrez, [email protected], 818-847-9656. ♦ Exposes the events and emotions that transformed the small town of Marfa, Texas — where the epic movie Giant was filmed — during and beyond Anglo/Latino segregation, through voices of Mexican-Americans and Anglos who experienced it firsthand.

Farewell, Ferris Wheel

Producing organization: Latino Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $249,846. Major funders: IFP, ITVS, Tribeca Film Institute. Co-director/co-editor: Miguel Martinez. Co-director/co-producer/co-editor: Jamie Sisley. Supervising editor: Sean Kelly. Co-producer: Sam Baker. Contact: Luis Ortiz, luis.ortiz.lpbp.org, 818-847-9656. ♦ Examines the endangered American carnival and the small Mexican town of Tlapacoyan, which provides one-third of America’s carnival labor force.

FSK

Producing organizations: Maryland Public Television & American Photoplay, LLC. Presenting station: Maryland Public Television. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $8.5 million. Producers: Joshua Nathan, Scott Rosenfelt. Producer/director: Philip Marshall. Contact: Philip Marshall, [email protected], 410-581-4318. ♦ Charts the life and times of Francis Scott Key, a patriot who struggled with the problems of an emerging nation. Release will be accompanied by documentary special on history of the national anthem.

Havens of Earth and Spirit

Producing organizations: Driftwood Productions and WNED, Buffalo, N.Y. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WNED. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Producer: John Grant. Contact: Sufana Wajed, [email protected], 716-845-7000. ♦ Series relates history, impact and legacy of the Spanish missions of California and the Southwest.

In Defense of Food

Producing organization: Kikim Media. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: KQED, San Francisco. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: preproduction. Major funder: NSF. Producer/director: Michael Schwarz. Co-producer/director: Edward Gray. E.p.: Kiran Kiki Kapany. Contact: Michael Schwarz, [email protected], 650-617-0550. ♦ Program based on Michael Pollan’s best-selling book, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, takes viewers around the world to explore one of the most perplexing questions of our time: What should I eat?

Murder of a President (w.t.)

Producing organization: American Experience. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: R&D. E.p.: Mark Samels. Senior producer: Sharon Grimberg. Writer/producer/director: Rob Rapley. Contact: Julianna Newmeyer, [email protected], 617-300-5950. ♦ Relates intertwined stories of a delusional assassin and his victim, President James Garfield, and explores desperate attempts of an unexpected group of friends and experts to restore the president to health.

Now In Español

Producing organization: Latino Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 90. Status: postproduction. Budget: $698,951. Major funder: California Council for Humanities. Producer: Andrea Meller. Contact: Luis Gutierrez, [email protected], 818-847-9656. ♦ Doc chronicles ups and downs of Latina actresses in Hollywood by following dynamic women who dubbed Desperate Housewives into Spanish.

Sometime in’15

America’s Fresh Water Coast:
Seasons of the Great Lakes

Producing organizations: Driftwood Productions and WNED, Buffalo, N.Y. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WNED. Episodes: 5 x 60. Status: fundraising. Producer: John Grant. Contact: John Grant, [email protected], 814-234-5210. ♦ Reveals the important historical, cultural and personal stories of the Great Lakes while examining lakes’ role as a source of freshwater and the various threats it faces.

Jackie Robinson (w.t.)

Producing organizations: A co-production of Florentine Films and WETA Washington, D.C. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: preproduction. Major funders: Bank of America, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, CPB, PBS. Executive-in-charge for WETA: Dalton Delan. Project director: David Thompson. Producers/directors: Ken Burns, David McMahon, Sarah Burns. Writer: David McMahon. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Chronicles life and times of Jack Roosevelt Robinson, who in 1947 became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball.

Making North America (w.t.)

Producing organization: Nova. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 3 x 51.51. Status: fundraising. Major funder: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Nova senior e.p.: Paula Apsell. Contact: Melanie Wallace, [email protected], 617-300-4340, Karen Laverty, [email protected], 617-300-4340. ♦ In a bold and sweeping biography of our continent and how it came to be, leading geological detectives examine the elemental forces that molded North America.

The Railway that Built the Nation

Producing organizations: WNED, Buffalo, N.Y., and 90th Parallel Productions Ltd. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WNED. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: fundraising. Budget: $1.1 million. E.p.: John Grant. Producer: Gordon Henderson. Contact: Sufana Wajed, [email protected], 716-845-7000. ♦ Explores history, construction and legacy of Canada’s transcontinental railroad.

Riches of the Earth (w.t.)

Producing organizations: Nova, Pioneer Productions. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 3 x 51:51. Status: R&D. Nova senior e.p. Paula Apsell. Contact: Melanie Wallace, [email protected], 617-300-4340; Karen Laverty, [email protected], 617-300-4340. ♦ Explores how precious stones and metals — the ultimate symbols of wealth and power — were forged in extraordinary circumstances, and introduces scientists attempting to outdo nature in the lab.

 

Sometime in’16

Vietnam: The War and the War Against the War (w.t.)

Producing organizations: A co-production of Florentine Films and WETA Washington, D.C. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Episodes: 6 x 120. Status: production, postproduction. Major funders: Bank of America, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Park Foundations, CPB, PBS. Executive-in-charge for WETA: Dalton Delan. Project director: David Thompson. Producers/directors: Ken Burns, Lynn Novick. Writer: Geoffrey Ward. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Producers of The War examine the history and meaning of the Vietnam War by exploring the military, political, cultural, social and human dimensions of “the war of lost illusions.”

 

Air Dates to be Set

American Reds: The Failed Revolution

Producing organization: Videoline Inc. Presenting station: Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: preproduction. Budget: $700,000. Producers: Richard Wormser, Bill Jersey. E.p. for OPB: David Davis. Contact: David Davis, [email protected], 503-293-1959. ♦ Tracks rise and fall of the American Communist Party.

Oregon Wine: Grapes of Place

Producing organization and presenting station: Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Oregon Experience, a local production that has previously offered programs for national distribution. Distributor: NETA. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: complete. Budget: $125,000. E.p./producer: Nadine Jelsing. Contact: David Davis, [email protected], 503-293-1959; Pat Kruis, [email protected], 503-293-1933. ♦ Chronicles Oregon’s nationally acclaimed wine industry.

Rashneeshpuram

Producing organization and presenting station: Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Oregon Experience, a local production that has previously offered programs for national distribution. Distributor: NETA. Episodes: 1 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $125,000. E.p./producer: Nadine Jelsing. Co-producer: Eric Cain. Contact: David Davis, [email protected], 503-293-1959. ♦ Charts the history of the Rashneesh religious community that polarized Oregon in the 1980s.

Thoreau: A Biography

Producing organization and presenting station: Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: R&D. Budget: $1 million. E.p. for OPB: David Davis. Contact: David Davis, [email protected], 503-293-1959. ♦ Biography of Henry David Thoreau focuses on his scientific inquiries at Walden Pond as the precursor of today’s citizen science movement.