Series in preparation for future public TV seasons, as of fall 1999
Winter 2000 | Spring 2000 | Summer 2000 | Fall 2000 | Sometime in 2000
Winter 2001 | Spring 2001 | Summer 2001 | Fall 2001 | Sometime in 2001 | Sometime in 2001 or 2002
Winter 2002 | Spring 2002 | Fall 2002 | Winter 2003 | Spring 2003 | Fall 2003
Air dates to be determined | About this surveyCurrent's eighth annual survey, originally published Nov. 15, 1999. Compiled by Karen Everhart Bedford with assistance from Jamie Little Ruhl and Geneva Collins. Airdates are only expectations. List excludes projects less than two hours long. Expected distributor is PBS unless otherwise stated. Temporary working titles are marked "w.t." A listing here should not be construed as an indication that a series will be completed by the producer or accepted by PBS or other distributors.
CEO Exchange
Producing organization: WTTW, Chicago. Expected distributor: PBS Plus. Episodes: 8 x 60. Status: Production. Major funders: A.T. Kearney. Executive producer: Frederick Schneider. Producer: Lisa Yapp. In-depth, candid interviews with internationally recognized and respected CEOs on high-level business issues. Jeff Greenfield will moderate the programs, taped before live audiences at top business schools in the United States and Europe.Culture Shock
Producing station: WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 150, 1 x 120. Status: post-production. Budget: $3.3 million. Major funders: Ford Foundation, NEH, NEA, CPB. Executive producer: Jill Janows. The programs tell the story of classic works in literature, music, film and painting that have been controversial and explore their present-day relevance. Viewers are taken into the heart of the debate about the role the arts play in society. Web site: www.pbs.org./cultureshock.Cut Up & Cook
Producing station: WYES, New Orleans. Expected distributor: APT. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: post-production. Budget: $360,000. Major funder: L.E. Phillips Family Foundation. Executive producer: Jim Moriarty. Hosted by husband and wife team Merle and Neva Ellis, the series is a practical guide to today’s meat counter. Beef, pork, veal, poultry, lamb and fish will be featured.Eleanor Roosevelt
Producing organization: Ambrica Productions, Inc. A presentation of American Experience and WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 150. Status: post-production. Budget: $1.4 million. Major funders: NEH, Ford Foundation, New York Council for the Humanities, Albert Kunstadter Family Foundation. Executive producers: Judith Vecchione and Margaret Drain. Producers: Kathryn Dietz and Sue Williams. Writer/Director: Sue Williams. A fresh examination of a still-controversial American legend, Eleanor Roosevelt, the favorite niece of one president and wife of another.Fly-fishing Destinations
Producing station: WPBS-TV, Watertown, N.Y. Expected distributor: APT. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: production. Major funders: Wyoming Tourism, Hardy Reels. Hosts Gary and Robin Edwards search for great fly-fishing, fine foods and fun places to stay in this new outdoor/travel series. Web site: www.wpbstv.org.Grandfather Reads
Producing organization: Grandfather Reads LLC. Distributor: NETA. Episodes: 13 x 30. Major funders: self-funded. A kindly grandfather brings poems and stories to life for Pedro the Poetry Parrot and children. Website: www.grandfatherreads.com.The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization
Producing organizations: Atlantic Productions in association with PBS and DDE. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: completed. Budget: less than $700,000 per episode. Major funders: PBS and DDE. Executive producer: Anthony Geffen. Narrated by Liam Neeson, this inaugural production in the "Empires" program strand recounts the glory, demise and legacy of the empire that marked the dawn of Western civilization and laid the foundation for modern science, politics, warfare, philosophy and art.Inside the Animal Mind
Producing organizations: WNET, Green Umbrella, BBC. A presentation of Nature. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: completed. Major funders: PBS, Ford, Canon, TIAA-Cref, Park Foundation. Executive producer: Fred Kaufman. Investigates animal thinking, intelligence, emotions and consciousness.Islam: Empire of Faith
Producing organizations: Gardner Films, in association with PBS and DDE. Episodes: 3 x 60. Budget: $550,000+ per episode. Major funders: PBS and DDE. Executive producer: Rob Gardner. The second release in the “Empires” strand recounts the epic story of a cultural empire that dominated a millennium, encompassed half the world and shaped history.Journey into Amazonia
Producing organizations: Icon Films in association with PBS and DDE. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: completed. Budget: more than $600,000 per episode. Major funders: PBS and DDE. Executive producer: Harry Marshall for Icon Films. Seven-foot otters, fruit harvesting fish, freshwater dolphins and stealthy jaguars are some of the rare and exotic species seen up close in these programs, narrated by Rod Steiger.A Parliament of Minds: Philosophy for a New Millennium
Producing stations: KTEH, San Jose, and JMT Productions. Expected distributor: NETA. Episodes: 18 x 30. Status: complete. Budget: $230,000. Major funder: Wisdom Television. Executive producer: Danny L. McGuire. Producer: Patrick Fitzgerald. Forbes magazine editor Michael Malone discusses today’s social issues and their consequences in the new millennium with many of the world’s leading philosophers. Web site: www.kteh.org.Prairie Potter with Dennis Hart
Producing organization: Mid-Earth Productions, Ltd, of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Distributor: NETA. Episodes: 13 x 30. Dennis Hart is a knowledgeable, engaging pottery instructor who has a calm, relaxed way of showing beginners how to produce mugs, bowls and decorative pieces. Shot on location in Dennis’ studio.Quilting with Fons and Porter
Producing organizations: Iowa Public Television, Fons & Porter. Episodes: 13 x 30. Major funders: American Professional Quilting Systems, Bernina Sewing Machines, Oxmoor House and Omnigrid. A light-hearted quilt-making how-to series featuring Marianne Fons and Liz Porter.Right on the Money
Producing organization: KTCA, Twin Cities. Episodes: 26 x 26. Status: production. Major funders: Reliastar Corp., Reliastar Foundation. Executive producer: Joseph H. Garbarino. Series producer: Margaret Brower. Producers: Leslie Grisanti, James Leinfelder, Nancy Esslinger. Each episode focuses on a person or family that is facing a particular personal finance problem. Host Chris Farrell, Business Week editor and host of NPR’s Sound Money, then seeks expert advice, gathering useful financial information for the audience along the way. Web site: www.rightonthemoney.org.Stokes Birds at Home
Producing organization: Stokes Nature Co. Presenting station: Maryland PTV. Expected distributor: APT. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: post-production. Major funders: Droll Yankees, Swift Instruments, Lyric Birdseed, Birder’s World magazine. Executive producers: Donald and Lillian Stokes. Part how-to, part nature show, the series educates bird enthusiasts about how to transform their properties into bird havens using feeders, bird baths, bird houses, etc. Web site: www.mpt.org.Ticktock Minutes
Producing station: Mississippi ETV. Distributor: NETA. Episodes: 35 x 1-minute interstitials. Major funders: U.S. Department of Education, NASA, Americorps. Emmy-winning puppet Dr. Ticktock presents musical minutes on nutrition, the environment, manners, geography and more. Web site: www.ticktock.etv.state.ms.us.Uncommon Knowledge
Producing organizations: KTEH, San Jose, and the Hoover Foundation. Expected distributor: PBS Plus. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: production. Budget: $290,000. Major funder: Starr Foundation. Executive producers: William Free and Danny McGuire. A series about economic and social ideas that drive American public policy. Experts explore domestic and international issues by rescuing them from media pundits and Washington insiders.The American President
Producing organizations: Kunhardt Productions, WNET. Episodes: 10 x 60. Status: post-production. Major funder: New York Life. Executive producers: William R. Grant, Peter Kunhardt. Producers: Philip Kunhardt, Philip Kunhardt III. A history of the most powerful office in the world, as told through the stories of the 41 men who have held the job.Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story
Producing organization: Sullivan Entertainment. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: post-production. Major funders: CBC, Canadian Television Fund, Telefilm Canada. Executive producers: Kevin Sullivan and Trudy Grant. The finale to the popular “Anne of Green Gable” dramas presented on Wonderworks in the 1980’s, this miniseries is set in World War I. Anne Shirley (played by Megan Follows), a young woman in her 20s, moves to New York to join her beau, Gilbert, and pursue a career in publishing. The drama spans several years and takes the couple to London and Europe as they confront the demons of their past before returning to Avonlea.Between the Lions
Producing organizations: WGBH, Sirius Thinking, Ltd. Episodes: 30 x 30. Status: production. Budget: $17.6 million. Major funders: CPB, Park Foundation, Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, Charles H. Revson Foundation, Institute for Civil Society. Executive producer: Judith Stoia. Series producer: Sonia Rosario. Creative producers: Chris Cerf, Michael Frith, Norman Stiles. Coordinating producer: Elizabeth Benjes. Animation producer: Sharon Lerner. This series, targeted to 4- to 7-year olds, blends animation, puppets and live action with skits, songs and guest celebrities, and leads young viewers into an imaginary library where books, words and letters come to life. Web site: www.pbskids.org/lions.Digital Hollywood
Producing organization: Silliwood Studios. Present-ing station: KCET, Los Angeles. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: production. Executive producer: Joel Bloom. How the digital revolution has made an impact on the film industry -- creating new technologies, new companies and new artistic possibilities.The Dooley and Pals Show
Producing organizations: Victory Entertainment Inc. in association with South Carolina ETV. Episodes: 39 x 30. Status: production. Major funder: Victory Entertainment Inc. Executive producers: Toby Martin, Mark Riddle, Gary Zeidenstein. Dooley is a lovable creature from “a star far, far away” in this show designed for 2-to-5-year-olds that combines live action with 3-D animation, child actors and dozens of original songs.E.C.U./Extreme Close Up
Producing organizations: ITVS, American Documentary Inc. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: near completion. Budget: $1.15 million. Major funders: ITVS, CPB. Executive producer: Ellen Schneider. Producer: Steve Atlas. First-person video diaries in which individuals on the cusp of eventful personal changes are recruited, trained and turned loose with Hi-8 cameras to tell, in words and pictures, what happens next. Web site: www.itvs.org.Frontera Cooking, w.t.
Producing organizations: Frontera Media Productions Inc. Presenting station: WTTW, Chicago. Expected distributor: APT. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: production. Major funders: National Pork Producers Council, Geyser Peak Wineries, Weber, All-Clad. Rick Bayless, award-winning chef, teacher and cookbook author, demonstrates how to prepare dozens of authentic Mexican dishes that embrace both sides of the border.George Wallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire
Producing station: WGBH. A presentation of American Experience. Episodes: 1 x 180. Status: post-production. Budget: $1 million. Major funders: NEH, Schumann Foundation, Southern Humanities Media Fund, state humanities councils. Executive producer for American Experience: Margaret Drain. Executive producer: Paul Stekler. Producer: Dan McCabe. A biography tracing the rise of the firebrand Alabama governor who ran for president four times -- from his rural roots to the assassination attempt that transformed him.Great American Speeches: 80 Years of Political Oratory
Producing organization: Pieri & Spring Productions. Episodes: 5 x 60. Status: post-production. Executive producer: Parker Payson. Narrated by former White House Press Secretary Jody Powell, the series provides historical background, anecdotes and analysis for some of the most famous speeches and speakers in American history.Lost Liners
Producing organizations: Partisan Pictures Inc. and Odyssey Expeditions in association with PBS and DDE. Episodes: 2 x 60. Budget: $600,000+ per episode. Major funder: PBS. Executive producers: Peter Schnall for Partisan Pictures, Bob Ballard. Legendary oceanographer and undersea explorer Robert Ballard brings to life the haunting stories of the majestic luxury liners of the 20th century, with underwater images and archival footage of the Titanic, Lusitania, Britannic and Empress of Ireland.The Making of IMAX
Producing organization: Big Pictures Productions in association with KCTS, Seattle. Episodes: 6 x 30. Status: production. Budget: $400,000. Major funders: Big Picture Productions, KCTS. Producer: Ryan Mullins. In cooperation with IMAX pioneers McGillvary-Freeman Films, this series goes behind the scenes to relive how some of the greatest IMAX titles were made.MasterChef USA
Producing organization: West 175 Enterprises Inc. Presenting station: WNET. Expected distributor: PBS Plus. Episodes: 13 x 30, 1 x 60. Status: production. Major funders: Look Smart. Executive producers: John McEwen, Elizabeth Brock. Producer: Christine Andrews Rylko. A culinary grand prix competition for non-professional chefs— i.e., viewers who love to cook. Contestants are selected on menus they submit and are invited to take part in televised cook-offs. In Great Britain, MasterChef UK is in its ninth season.Michael Palin’s Hemingway Adventure
Producing organization: Prominent Television. Episodes: 2 x 120. Status: post-production. Major funders: BBC, PBS. Executive producer: Anne James. Producer: Martha Wailes. Series director: David Turnbull. From Chicago to Paris, Venice to Spain, Mount Kilimanjaro to Havana, and the American Rockies to the Nile River, Michael Palin pursues the places, passions and people that Hemingway immortalized in his life and writings.Secrets of the Dead
Producing organizations: Channel 4 and WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: in production. Major funders: PBS/CPB Challenge Fund. Executive producers: Beth C. Hoppe and Dan Chambers. Detective stories that use cutting-edge science to explode historical myths.Southern Drama Trilogy, w.t.
Producing organization: ITVS. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: 2 completed, 1 in post-production. Major funders: ITVS, CPB. Producer for “Shift”: Kelly Anderson. Producers for “Cracker Man”: Bruce Kuerten, John DiJulio. Producer for The Wilgus Stories: Andrew Garrison. The trilogy’s three components are “Shift,” an unconventional love story set in the South of the near future; “Cracker Man,” an offbeat story of a life deferred; and The Wilgus Stories, a trilogy within the trilogy about a boy growing up in Eastern Kentucky. Web site: www.itvs.org.The Southern Gardener
Producing organization: Peachtree Film Company. Presenting station: WKNO, Memphis. Distributor: NETA. Episodes: 30 x 30. Major funders: Ace Hardware, Kroger, Pennington Seed. Host Walter Reeves provides encyclopedic knowledge on gardening as he guides viewers through the growing season. Web site: www.the-southern-gardener.com.Surviving the New Economy, w.t.
Producing organization: Public Affairs Television Inc. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 1 x 150. Status: editing. Major funders: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Mutual of America Life Insurance Co. Executive producers: Judith Davidson Moyers, Judy Doctoroff O’Neill. Producers: Tom Casciato, Kathleen Hughes. This documentary special chronicles the triumph of two blue-collar families as they struggle to survive a decade of devastating job layoffs and navigate a new American economy in which competition is global and nothing is guaranteed.Adventures from the Book of Virtues
Producing organization: Porchlight Entertainment. Presenting station: KCET, Los Angeles. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: production. Major funders: Cigna, Chik-Fil-A. Executive producers: Bruce D. Johnson and William T. Bauman. New episodes of the half-hour animated series based on William Bennett’s bestselling book of the same title. Each program illustrates a single virtue using a variety of tales, myths and fables.The Box: Election 2000
Producing station: KCTS, Seattle. Episodes: 4 x 30. Status: development. Budget: $550,000. Major funder: PBS Election 2000 Initiative. Producer: Peggy Case. Using a portable video booth that functions like an electronic confessional, the Box will travel the country to reveal the very personal sides of major national issues of the presidential campaign. Topics will be selected in cooperation with PBS; programs will likely be scheduled monthly leading up to November 2000.Burt Wolf: Local Flavors, w.t.
Producing organization: Acom Associates. Presenting station: WKNO, Memphis. Expected distributor: APT. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: production. Senior producer: Caroline McCool. Burt Wolf’s new series reviews cooking equipment, with topics like three great chef knives. Jacques Pepin and other celebrity chefs will appear as guests.Experience California
Producing station: KVIE, Sacramento. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: pilot in production. Budget: $900,000. Executive producer: Corita Gravitt. KVIE executive-in-charge: Jan Tilmon. This food, wine and travel series in magazine format will include a web site, calendar and guidebook.The Latin Sound
Producing station: KCET, Los Angeles. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: fundraising. Major funders: PBS, CPB. Executive producer: Jackie Kain. High-energy pledge specials celebrating Latin music—today’s fastest-growing music genre—and its many styles, sounds and rhythms.Napoleon
Producing organizations: David Grubin Productions in association with PBS, DDE, and DocStar. Episodes: 4 x 60. Budget: less than $750,000 per episode. Major funders: PBS and DDE. Executive producer: David Grubin. An examination of the extraordinary life of the soldier, emperor, lover, statesman—from his birth on the rugged island of Corsica to his death in exile on the island of St. Helena.Running Zone
Producing station: KVIE, Sacramento. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: pilot completed. Budget: $650,000. Executive producer: Debby Everett. Producer: Brian May. KVIE executive in charge: Jan Tilmon. Running for health and fitness, for sports and competition, for everyone from tots to elders.Savage Planet
Producing organizations: Granada Television and WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: production. Major funder: PBS. Executive producer: Beth C. Hoppe. Avalanches, exploding lakes and killer storms are some of the savage phenomena examined.Season by Season
Producing station: KQED, San Francisco. Episodes: 22 x 30. Status: production. Budget: $750,000. Major funders: Beaulieu Vineyards, Salton Inc. Executive producer: Jack Walsh. Producer: Lonnie Porro. Chef Michael Chiarello celebrates the bounty of Napa Valley by combining his love of fresh, seasonal cooking with brilliant entertaining ideas. Website: www.kqed.org.Train Specials
Producing organizations: Driftwood Productions Inc. and OPB. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: post-production. Budget: $500,000. Major funder: PBS. Executive producer: John Grant. Producers: John Grant and John Booth. “The American South by Rail” features a trip on the American Orient Express to Mobile, Savannah, Charleston and Richmond. “Alaska’s Gold Rush Train” features the beauty and history of the White Pass and Yukon Route Train.Triumph of Life
Producing organizations: Green Umbrella Ltd. in association with WNET, PBS, Trebitsch Produktion International GmbH, and DDE. Episodes: 6 x 60. Budget: $5.4 million. Major funders: PBS and DDE. Executive producer: Peter Jones for Green Umbrella Ltd. Series producer: Nick Upton. A stunning new vision of the story of evolution, examining the epic forces that have shaped the creatures of Earth, all of them winners in the 4 billion-year war for survival.American Voices
Producing organizations: KTEH, San Jose, and Gigantic Pictures. Episodes: 5 x 60. Status: fundraising, scripting. Budget: $1.8 million. Executive producers: D.L. McGuire, KTEH, and Jason Orans, Gigantic Pictures. Adaptations of short stories by ethnic American authors of the second half of the 20th century. The series will portray the changing nature of American society as it pertains to cultural, racial and gender issues.Australia: Beyond the Fatal Shore, w.t.
Producing organizations: WNET, BBC, Australian Broadcasting (ABC), NVC Arts. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: production. Major funder: PBS/CPB Challenge Fund. Executive producer: Jac Venza for WNET. Using paintings, sculpture, poetry, monuments, architecture and literature, this series from Robert Hughes explores the facts and myths of the history of the formation of the Australian people, their attitudes and social dynamics.
A Biography of America
Producing organization: WGBH. Expected distributor: Annenberg/CPB Project. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: post-production. Budget: $2.5 million. Major funder: Annenberg/CPB Project. Executive producer: Michele Korf. American history is chronologically explored as the series examines major themes in national identity. Visuals from the holdings of the National Archives and the Library of Congress enrich each program. Web site: www.learner.org.Building Big
Producing organizations: WGBH Science Unit and Production Group Inc. Episodes: 5 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $6.9 million. Major funders: NSF, NEH, PBS/CPB Challenge Fund, American Society of Civil Engineers. Executive producer: Larry Klein. Executive-in-charge: Paula Apsell. An exploration of some of the largest, most complex and awe-inspiring structures of our time: the Golden Gate Bridge, the Channel Tunnel, Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, and Toronto’s Skydome. Hosted by David Macauley of The Way Things Work.Death Valley: An American Mirage
Producing organizations: Gold Creek Films, and KTEH, San Jose. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: fundraising, scripting. Budget: $600,000+. Executive producer: D.L. McGuire. Producer: Ted Faye. The geologic and human history of the Western Hemisphere’s deepest, driest, hottest desert and its hold on the American imagination.The Educated Traveler: Learning from the Masters, w.t.
Producing organizations: Educated Traveler Productions LLC, Asti-Trevi Productions. Presenting station: WTTW, Chicago. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: fundraising, scripting. Budget: $1.9 million. Executive producers: Ann H. Waigand, Gina Minervini. Production executive/distribution and sales: Melissa Wohl. Associate producer: Joanne Cosker. A cultural travel series that takes actor Harry Anderson on learning vacations around the globe, where he participates in special-interest activities (tango dancing in Argentina, marble sculpting in Italy), taught by experts in each field. Web site: www.educated-traveler.com.English Composition: Writing for an Audience
Producing organizations: Berkow and Berkow Inc. Expected distributor: Annenberg/CPB Project. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: post-production. Budget: $500,000. Major funder: Annenberg/CPB Project. Executive producer: Peter Berkow. Celebrated working writers and academics share their views on all areas of English composition, including structure, diction, point of view and audience. From the creators of News Writing.The First Measured Century
Producing organization: New River Media. Expected distributor: PBS Plus. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $1.5 million. Major funders: PBS, CPB. Executive producer: Andrew Walworth. Producers: John Sorenson, Doug Anderson. Ben Wattenberg looks at the history of measurement and social science in America.Fitness Forever
Producing station: KVIE, Sacramento. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: pilot complete, fundraising. Budget: $1.2 million. Major funder: Wyeth Ayerst Co. Executive producers: Janet Brady and Nancy Swayzee. Producer: Bob Perna. KVIE executive-in-charge: Jan Tilmon. Senior exercise video with lifestyle tips and positive encouragement from host Nancy Swayze.Footnotes of History, w.t.
Producing organizations: OPB, Film Australia-TBC. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D, fundraising. Budget: $1.4 million. Executive producer: Daryl Karp. Looks at the ordinary people who have made extraordinary contributions to history, telling their tales of adventure, tenacity and discovery.A Force More Powerful, w.t.
Producing organizations: York Zimmerman Inc. and WETA, Washington. Episodes: 2 x 120. Status: post-production. Budget: $3.25 million. Major funders: Perry Lerner, Einstein Institute, Alan D. Levy, John H. van Merkensteijn III. Executive producers: Jack Duvall and Dalton Delan. Series producer: Steve York. The history of nonviolent conflict in the 20th century: how tyrants were toppled or regimes shaken through the strategic use of nonviolence.Free to Dance
Producing organizations: American Dance Festival, Kennedy Center, and WETA, Washington. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $2.6 million. Major funders: Ford Foundation, NEH, NEA, CPB. Executive producers: Stephanie and Charles Reinhart. Producer/director: M. David Lacey. Documents the contributions of African American dancers and choreographers to the development of modern dance. Includes interviews, archival footage and dance performances filmed especially for this series.Gail Greco’s Breakfast in America, w.t.
Producing organizations: Gail Greco and Maryland PTV. Expected distributor: APT. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: fundraising. Budget: $550,000. Major funders: Jones Dairy. Executive producers: Gail Greco, John Potthast. Following the success of Country Inn Cooking With Gail Greco, host Greco returns with a new series celebrating regional gatherings around the morning table. The series will visit bed and breakfasts, diners, and hometown cooks.Ground Force
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 13 x 60. Status: development.Executive producer: Stephen Segaller. Producers: GMG Endemol/Bazal Productions. A rapid-fire how-to series on garden design, renovation, planning, and makeover, in an entertaining and surprising format.Growing Young
Producing station: KVIE, Sacramento. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: pilot. Budget: $1.4 million. Executive producer: Julie Braley. KVIE executive-in-charge: Jan Tilmon. A magazine format, field-produced series aimed at the growing population of those age 55 and older. Topics will include travel, second careers and health issues.
How Good is our Health Care?
Producing organizations: Hedrick Smith Productions in association with South Carolina ETV. Episodes: 4 x 60 or 2 x 120. Status: preproduction. Budget: $2.5 million. Major funder: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Executive producer: Hedrick Smith. Reported by Hedrick Smith, this documentary series examines the impact of managed care on the U.S. health care system-its costs and availability, its providers, its patients, its values and its priorities.Jazz
Producing organizations: Florentine Films and WETA, Washington. in association with the BBC. Episodes: 9 x 120. Status: production. Budget: $13 million. Major funders: General Motors; NEH; PBS/CPB; Pew Charitable Trusts; Arthur Vining Davis Foundations; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Louisiana Dept. of Culture, Recreation and Tourism; New York State Tourism; Park Foundation; Doris Duke Foundation. Producers: Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, M. Davis Lacy, Peter Miller. The history of jazz music as it has evolved over the last 100 years, told through the lives and work of its leading creators and practitioners.Keeping Score: The Fan’s Story
Producing station: KCET, Los Angeles. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: fundraising. Major funder: PBS. Executive producer: Michael Weisman. In the big business world of professional sports, the voice of the fan is generally ignored. This special, hosted by Hugh Hewitt, puts the fan front and center, exploring the sports world from the point of view of the spectator whose dollars pay the bills.Mobil Masterpiece Theatre’s American Collection
Producing organizations: WGBH’s Mobil Masterpiece Theatre and ALT Films, Los Angeles. Episodes: lengths configurations vary. Status: 2 installments completed, 1 in production. Major funders: CPB, PBS, Mobil Corp. Executive producers: Rebecca Eaton, Marian Rees. An anthology of original American dramas adapted from literary works, including Henry James’ The American, Langston Hughes’ Cora Unashamed, Eudora Welty’s The Ponder Heart; Mark and Livy, and Willa Cather’s The Song of the Lark. Web site: www.ncte.americancollection.org.Nick Stellino’s Family Kitchen
Producing organizations: KCTS, Seattle, and Nick Stellino. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: production, fundraising. Budget: $250,000. Producer: Jeff Gentes. Based on his upcoming book, Nick Stellino creates meals designed for special family and social occasions: holiday celebrations, the romantic dinner, picnic fun and more.On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying in America
Producing organization: Public Affairs Television Inc. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 4 x 90. Status: editing. Major funders: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Fetzer Institute, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Kohlberg Foundation, Laurance S. Rockefeller Fund, Mutual of America Life Insurance Co. Executive producers: Judith Davidson Moyers, Judy Doctoroff O’Neill. Producers: Elena Mannes, Gail Pellett. Reports on the movement to improve end-of-life care and the best models of change by documenting remarkable human stories of the dying as they struggle to live their final days and share their deepest wisdom. Web site: www.thirteen.org/onourownterms.Pacific Profiles, w.t. Skin Stories
Producing organizations: Pacific Islanders in Communications, KPBS, San Diego. Episodes: TBD x 60. Status: production, fundraising. Budget: $550,000. Major funders: PIC/CPB, KPBS, Sony. Executive producers: Carlyn Tani for PIC; Michael Flaster for KPBS. This first in a series on one-hour specials explores the provocative art of tattoo, from the Islands of the Pacific to the parlors of Los Angeles, both as a historic cultural identity and a contemporary statement. Shot in HDTV.PBS Hollywood Television
Producing station: KCET, Los Angeles. Episodes: 4 x 90. Status: scripting, pre-production. Major funders: PBS/CPB, Michael J. Connell Foundation. Executive producer: Bruce Paltrow. KCET production executive: Mare Mazur. Hollywood’s biggest stars and behind-the-scenes talent revive studio drama in a series of contemporary dramatic films shot completely on sound stages.Rocks with Wings
Producing organizations: OPB, Shiprock Productions. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: post-production. Budget: $1 million, fully funded. Executive producer: David Davis. Producer/director: Rick Derby. The inspiring story, shot over the course of 10 years, of the Lady Chieftains, a Navaho girls’ basketball team in Shiprock, N.M. The players learn the value of both winning and losing in their quest to become state champions.School: The Story of American Public Education
Producing organization: Stone Lantern Films, Inc. Presenting station: KCET, Los Angeles. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: post-production. Budget: $2 million. Major funders: NEH, CPB, MacArthur Foundation, The Hewlett Foundation, the Spencer Foundation. Coproducers: Sarah Mondale and Sarah Patton. Tells the complex and controversial story of public education in the U.S., focusing on the historic struggle to build common ground in the schools despite the great dynamism and diversity of American society.The Sound of the Century: When the Music Went Round
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D completed. Executive producer: John Adams. Series project director: Barry J. Pavelec. Details the invention and development of the phonograph record and the industry and cultural revolution it created.Summer of Love, Days of Rage (1967-69)
Producing station: OPB. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: pre-production. Budget: $275,000, fully funded. Executive producer: David Davis. Producer/director: Steve Talbot. A documentary that revisits the turbulent ‘60s—the political and social upheaval, assassinations, rock & roll and counterculture that reverberated across the United States and around the world.Tutu and Franklin: A Journey Towards Peace
Producing organizations: Wisdom Works and Maryland PTV. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: fundraising. Budget: $2 million. Executive producer: Renee Poussaint. Producer: Doug Spin. In this critical examination of racism, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Dr. John Hope Franklin meet for the first time on the infamous Goree Island in Senegal. Joining them are 21 high school students grappling with their own issues of race and identity.Two for Tonight
Producing organization: Gancie Television Inc. Expected distributor: APT. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: production, fundraising. Budget: $500,000. Executive producers: George Colburn & Vincent Gancie with Jacques Haeringer. The cuisine of romance and health, as presented through the skill and humor of chef Jacques Haeringer of the famed L’Auberge Chez Francois near Washington, D.C. Shot in front of a live audience. Web site: www.twofortonight.com.Washington Women
Producing stations: WNET in association with WETA, Washington. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: R&D. Executive producer: Stephen Segaller. This documentary series enters the inner circle of women who have reached the top in American politics, who are in the process of achieving power and influence, or who operate in concentric circles of media publishing, public relations and lobbying.The Working Actor
Producing organization: Teleduction Inc. Presenting station: New Jersey Network. Episodes: 12 x 30. Status: pilot complete, fundraising. Budget: $780,000. Executive producer: New Jersey Network. Producer/director: Sharon V. Baker. Producer: Lisa McWilliams. A series that enters the everyday professional lives of working actors, from university stages, regional theater and Broadway to corporate videos, TV commercials and Hollywood blockbuster movies. Web site: www.teleduction.com.Stage on Screen
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 6 x 90 or 6 x 120. Status: production. Major funder: PBS. Executive producer: Jac Venza. A series of six drama specials to be based on new and classic works of theater that will feature the best of today’s writing, directing, and acting talent.Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln: A House Divided
Producing organization: David Grubin Productions, Inc. A presentation of American Experience, WGBH. Episodes: 3 x 120. Status: post-production. Budget: $4.2 million. Major funders: American Experience, PBS, Illinois Bureau of Tourism. Executive producer: Margaret Drain. Producer/director: David Grubin,. Explores the marriage of President Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln, the daughter of a Kentucky slave owner, in the context of a nation fractured by the slavery issue. Website: www.pbs.org/amex.All Kinds of Minds, w.t.
Producing station:WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: production. Budget: $5.7 million. Major funders: Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, Tremeine Foundation, Mobil Corporation, Olin Foundation. Executive producer: Michele Korf. Producer: Mike Kirk. Project director: Laurie Everett. Fosters broader and deeper understandings of individual differences in learning and functioning, at home and in school.The Appalachians
Producing organizations: WQED, Pittsburgh, and Evening Star Productions. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: pre-production. Budget: $2.1 million. Co-executive producers: James C. Rogal and Marilyn Evans. This series will explore the culture and contributions of the region that represents America’s first and last frontier. Includes outreach material, web site and companion CD.The Berlin Project
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: R&D. Major funders: TBC. Executive producer: Stephan Segaller. Producers: Bob Kotlowitz, Jack Sameth. An American writer residing in Berlin examines the historical traces of the city’s Jews ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and a half-century after the Holocaust.Bills to Bytes: The Money Revolution
Producing station: OPB. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: pre-production. Budget: $1million. Executive producers: John Gau. Director: Janet Tobias. Explores how technology has transformed the concept of money worldwide.
Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: pre-production. Executive producer: Stephen Segaller. A documentary series about the social history of blood from ancient sacrifice to the AIDS crisis and beyond.Breakthrough Thinkers
Producing organizations: KCTS, Seattle, in association with ZDNet. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: in development, seeking pilot funding. Budget: $2.6 million. Executive-in-charge of production: Jeff Gentes. A Biography-style series profiling the captains of the high tech industry, featuring ZD Net interviewer Jesse Bearst.Chasing the Sun
Producing station: KCET, Los Angeles. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: production. Major funders: PBS/CPB, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation. Executive producer: Isaac Mizrahi. An-depth look at the 90-year history of commercial aviation.Cities that Die, Cities that Live
Producing station: KTEH, San Jose. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising/scripting. Budget: $1 million. Executive producers: D.L. McGuire and Ronald Blatman. Cowriter/producer: Christopher Lukas. Examines the economic, social, political and spiritual life of urban America, with the intent to answer, “How can cities be made to work better?”Dan Rather’s Texas, w.t.
Producing organizations: Veras Communications and WETA, Washington. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $3 million. Executive producers: George Veras and Richard Thomas. Dan Rather explores his home state of Texas, symbol of frontier America, and demonstrates that historical truth is as exotic as fiction.Elegant Universe
Producing organization: WGBH Science Unit. A presentation of Nova. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: in development. Executive producer: Paula Apsell. As we enter the new millenium, the physics community is grappling with a serious problem: how to unify general relativity, Einstein’s theory of gravity, and the quantum mechanical theory of electromagnetism. In the first installment of this series, Nova outlines the deep divide that runs through modern physics, and traces the search for a simple, comprehensive set of physical laws, starting from the beginnings of science. The second half introduces the “string theory,” which has revolutionized the world of theoretical physics, and explores its potential to bridge the gap between quantum mechanics and relativity. The series also shares the personal stories of scientists from Ptolemy to Brian Greene, enabling viewers to experience the thrills and frustrations of physicists’ search for the “theory of everything.”The Eradicators, w.t.
Producing organizations: OPB and ICAN Produc-tions. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: R&D completed, fundraising. Budget: $1.4 million. Executive producer: Janet Tobias. Executive producer, science: Cynthia Needham. Follows the international efforts to eradicate infectious diseases from polio to AIDS, focusing on biologic, business, social and political challenges inherent in these undertakings.First Impressions
Producing station: KERA, Dallas. Episodes: multiple hour-long programs over three years. Status: fundraising, production. Executive producer: Rick Thompson. Senior producers: Rob Tranchin and Ginny Martin. Project director: Pat Chappell. A multi-year programming and outreach initiative designed to focus attention on the pivotal importance of a child’s earliest years. The initial hour-long broadcast, “Ready for Life,” follows the journey of development through the eyes of children in six families, capturing the skills they accomplish in their formative years.The Islam Project, w.t.
Producing organizations: Sunrise Media and Alvin H. Perlmutter Inc. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 2 x 120. Status: pre-production, fundraising. Budget: $2.5 million. Executive producer: Alvin H. Perlmutter. Explores how Islam is responding to modernity. Portrays the diversity within Islam through the stories of individuals, filmed in their daily lives.The Italian-Americans
Producing organizations: WQED, Pittsburgh, and Braddock Films. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: pre-production. Budget: $1.4 million. Major funders: Penn State. Executive producer: James C. Rogal. Producer: Tony Buba. From Christopher Columbus to Rudy Guliani, the series will cover the 500-year history of the Italian impact on America. Includes outreach material, web site and companion book.Joystick Nation
Producing station: KCTS, Seattle. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: in development. Budget: $850,000. Major funders: PBS, ITEL. Executive producers: Mark Etkind. Two- part special presents the history of the video game industry—and the larger story of the convergence of the computer, TV and film. Based on the best-seller book by New York Times columnist J.C. Herz.Latest Word
Producing station: KTCA, Twin Cities. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: development. Executive producer: John Schott. Producer: Ben Shapiro. A weekly series and web site that builds upon America’s growing passion for books.Local News, w.t.
Producing organizations: Lumiere Productions and WNET. Episodes: 5 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $2 million. Major funders: The Ford Foundation, CPB. Executive producer: Stephen Segaller. Producers: Calvin Skaggs, David Van Taylor, Brad Lichtenstein and Ali Pomeroy. This behind-the-scenes look at a newsroom in Charlotte, N.C., shows clashes of journalism, economics, race and community.Real Men—The Science of Being Male
Producing station: OPB. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D, fundraising. Budget: $1.4 million. Executive producers: Daryl Karp. Using science, the series seeks to understand the complexities of being male. Series will have a web site and re-versioned educational video.Rockefellers
Producing station: WGBH. A presentation of American Experience. Episodes: 2 x 90. Status: post-production. Budget: $1.9 million. Major funders: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Liberty Mutual, SOOHS/Miracle-Gro Products, Inc. Executive producer: Margaret Drain. Senior producer: Mark Samuels. Producers: Elizabeth Dean and Adrian Bosch. The saga of three generations of Rockefellers.Roman Empire: The First Century.
Producing organizations: Goldfarb and Koval Productions in association with PBS and DDE. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $2.6 million. Major funders: PBS and DDE. Executive producers: Lyn Goldfarb and Margaret Koval. The story of how Rome became the world’s first and most enduring superpower, told through the experiences, memories and writings of people who lived then—emperors and slaves, poets and plebians.The Search for African American Routes
Producing organizations: WYES, New Orleans and Lancit Media. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: research. Budget: $3 million. Executive producers: Randall Feldman and Cecily Truett. Features places of historical interest to the African-American community. Plans include educational outreach and a web site.Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska
Producing organization: Simple Living Productions. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: fundraising. Budget: $1.1 million. Producers: Vivia Boe, Wanda Urbanska, and Frank Levering. A how-to series on consumer culture hosted by co-author of “Simple Living,” Wanda Urbanska. Project includes outreach plans, companion books & videos, school off-air rights for two years and a web site.They Came For Good: A History of the Jews in the U.S.
Producing organization: Amrak Nowak Associates. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $2.5 million. Major funders: NEH, CPB and private foundations. Executive producers: Amram Nowak and Manya Starr. A history of the Jews in the U.S., from the arrival of the first group in 1654 to the present. Extensive distribution to schools is planned.Art 21/ Art for the 21st Century
Producing organization: Art 21, Inc. Episodes: 4 x 60 for first year. Status: production. Budget: $1.8 million. Major funders: PBS, CPB, NEA, Rockefeller Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation, Jon and Mary Shirley Foundation, the Bagley Wright Fund, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and the Foundation-to-Life. Executive producer: Susan Sollins. Senior producer: Susan Dowling. Focuses on contemporary visual art and artists in the United States. Educational outreach components, web site and companion volume are planned.Backyard Paradise
Producing organizations: OPB, KIKIM Media. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: R&D. Budget: $1 million. Executive producers: David Davis and Michael Schwarz. Series producer: Michael Schwarz. Shot on location throughout the country, this series follows the transformation of weed-infested backyards to backyard paradises.California & the American Dream
Producing organizations: OPB & Independent Producers Services. Presenting stations: OPB and KPBS, San Diego. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D, fundraising. Budget: $2 million. Executive producers: David Davis and Rhyena Halpern. Series producer: Jed Riffe. Producers: Lyns Goldfarb, Paul Espinoza and Bill Jersey. A history of the state that has shaped and re-shaped the American dream. Project includes web site, CD-ROM, educational elements and digital enhancements.Child Soldiers
Producing organizations: Electric Pictures, Wildfilm Australia, OPB. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: fundraising, pre-production. Budget: $1.1 million. Executive producers: Andrew Ogilvie, David Davis and Daryl Karp. Directors: Peter DuCane and Chris Hilton. A documentary examining the conscription of children into combat. Outreach and educational components included.Class in America
Producing organizations: The Center for New American Media, Inc., and WETA, Washington., in association with ITVS. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $1.5 million. Major funders: PBS/CPB, ITVS, and MacArthur Foundation. Exe-cutive producers: Louis Alvarez, Andrew Kolker, Paul Stekler. A look at how social class works in the U.S., from the producers of Politics in America.The Commanding Heights, w.t.
Producing organization: Invision Productions Limited. Presenting station: WETA, Washington. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising/scripting. Budget: $3.2 million. Major funders: EDS. Executive producers: Dan Yergin and Richard Thomas. Series producer: Bill Cran. A series about the global struggle between government and the marketplace, and how it’s shaping the 21st century.Conquista, w.t.
Producing organization: Maya Vision International Ltd. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $1.9 million. Major funders: BBC, PBS, Itel. Executive producers: Leo Eaton for the U.S. and Laurence Rees, UK. Producer: Rebecca Dobbs. Michael Wood journeys along the trail of the Spanish Conquistadors, examining the history and consequences of the collision of two worlds.Convergence, w.t.
Producing organizations: OPB & ICAN Productions. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: R&D, fundraising. Budget: $4.8 million. Executive producers: John Lindsay. Executive producers, science: Cynthia Needham and Kenneth McPherson. Examines the convergence of chemical and computational nanotechnologies and biotechnology to a common solution—the complex chemical reactions of life. Major outreach with webcast and possible web-based version planned.Great Lodges of America’s National Parks, w.t.
Producing organizations: OPB & W.W. West Publishing Inc. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: pre-production, fundraising. Budget: $1.4 million.. Executive producers: John Grant for OPB. Content producer: Don Compton. Explores historical journeys, past to present, to the architectural treasures in our National Parks. Educational DVD will be available.Diversity in America, w.t.
Producing organizations: Children’s Express & Nebraska Educational Television. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: pre-production. Major funders: The Kellogg Foundation. Executive producer: Bob Frye. Producer: Eric Graham. When children look thoughtfully at issues of diversity, they bring an important and magical twist to age-old adult struggles over differences: they tend to focus quickly on “what is the same as me” in the experiences of others. In this series, unique and fresh voices of children will challenge assumptions about diversity, aiming to redefine beliefs and values in the context of their experiences and insights. Extensive outreach, educational materials and interactive web site are planned.Jacques Pepin’s Kitchen: Holidays & Celebrations
Producing station: KQED Inc., San Francisco. Expected distributor: APT. Episodes: 26 x 30 (also available as 13 x 60). Status: R&D. Executive producer: Jack Walsh. Chef Jacques Pepin returns for a cooking series focusing on preparing meals for special occasions and annual holidays.Making Us Modern
Producing organizations: MUSE Film & Television, PMI & WETA, Washington. Episodes: 2 x 120. Status: pre-production. Budget: $3 million. Executive producers: Karl Katz and Richard Somerset-Ward. Producer/director: Hart Perry. Producer: Michael Owen. A history of American art in the 20th century inspired by the two-part retrospective mounted by New York’s Whitney Museum.The Meaning of Food
Producing organizations: OPB, Sue McLaughlin and Palmer/Fenster Inc. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Budget: $2 million. Executive producers: David Davis and Sue McLaughlin. Series producer: Sue McLaughlin. Examines what we eat, when we eat it, and why, in the U.S. and around the world. Hosted by Greg Palmer.Our Genes/Our Choices: A Fred Friendly Seminar
Producing organization: Fred Friendly Seminars, Inc. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: research. Executive producer: Stephen Segaller for WNET. Producers: Richard Kilberg and Barbara Margolis. Considers the moral, ethical and philosophical dilemmas surrounding genetic technology.Reporting America at War
Producing organizations: Insignia Films, and WETA, Washington. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: pre-production. Budget: $2.6 million. Major funders: PBS/CPB Challenge Fund. Executive producers: Dalton Delan and David Thompson. Producer/director: Stephen Ives. Examines the tensions and contradictions of a democracy at war through the life stories and work of a select group of American war correspondents.Sister Wendy’s American Collection
Producing organizations: WGBH and Spire Films. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $2 million. Major funders: PBS. Executive producers: Jill Janows for WGBH and David Willcock for Spire Films. Sister Wendy tours six American art museums and expounds on highlights of their collections.Struggle for Paradise: 500 Years in Florida, w.t.
Producing organization: Florida Public Broadcasting Services, Inc. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $2.8 million. Major funders: Florida Department of Education, Florida Secretary of State. Executive producers: Jim Moran. Co-producer: Larry Goldin. Series producer: Rich Panter. A history of Florida for general audiences with a companion book and CD-ROM for middle and high schools curriculums.Treasures of the Library of Congress
Producing station: WQED, Pittsburgh. Episodes: TBD. Status: development. Executive producer: James C. Rogal. A limited series of specials drawn from the collections of the world’s largest repository of knowledge and information. Plans include outreach material and web site.What’s So Funny?
Producing organizations: OPB, Palmer/Fenster Inc.. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: R&D, fundraising. Budget: $2 million. Executive producers: David Davis and Greg Palmer. Series producer: Greg Palmer. Explores what makes us laugh and why.What’s Up in the Universe?
Producing station: OPB. Episodes: 6 x 30, or 3 x 60. Status: fundraising, pilot episode in production. Budget: $1.7 million. Executive producers: David Davis. Series producer: Susan Friedman. Travels through time and space to map the universe. Animation allows viewers to visit the farthest reaches of space. Project includes web site and educational components.World Photographer
Producing organizations: WYES, New Orleans, and World Vista Foundation. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: fundraising. Budget: $494,500. Executive producers: Jim Moriarity and Beth Utterback. Producer/host: Howard Doughty. Emphasizes the artistic aspects of photography, travelling the globe to find subjects and locations that feature the world’s cultural and natural beauty.
Breaking News
Producing station: KQED, San Francisco. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $750,000. Executive producers: Peter Calabrese. Producer: Steven Talbot. An uncompromising examination of the state of American journalism that explores why the public has become increasingly dissatisfied with the news media.Handmade in Mexico, w.t.
Producing organizations: KERA, Dallas, and Hecho a Mano Productions, San Luis Potosi. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: production/fundraising. Executive producers: Curtis Craven and Rick Thompson. A cultural adventure into the world of Mexican folk art.Islam in America
Producing organization: Video Verite. Presenting station: WETA, Washington. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: scripting/fundraising. Budget: $1.2 million. Executive producers: Richard Thomas, Alan and Susan Raymond. A profile of the fastest growing religious group in America. Examines the unity and diversity, hopes, fears and agenda for public life within the Islamic community. Plans for community outreach include video modules with guides for discussion leaders.Kids World News
Producing station: KQED, San Francisco. Episodes: 52 x 30. Status: R&D. Executive producer: Peter Calabrese. Producer: J.P. Kids. A weekly series aimed at 8- to 10-year olds that stimulates curiosity about other peoples and cultures. It also puts current events in context, offering a bridge for kids to travel beyond the horizons of their familiar world. Web site: www.kqed.org.The Minors, w.t.
Producing organizations: Digital Ranch and Maryland PTV. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: fundraising. Budget: $500,000. Executive producers: Rob Kirk and John Potthast. Follows the Baltimore Orioles’ farm team through several seasons, allowing individual players’ stories to unfold on the field, in the locker rooms and on the road.Africa: Land of the Sun
Coproducing organizations: Magic Box Mediaworks, WNET and National Geographic. Episodes: 8 x 60. Status: production. Major funders: PBS/CPB Challenge Fund. Executive producers: Jennifer Lawson, Fred Kauffman, Chris Weber, and Jeremy Bradshaw. Series producer: Andrew Jackson. Explores the mystery, natural history and cultural wonders of Africa.The Aleutians: Cradle of the Storms, w.t.
Producing organizations: OPB and Natural History New Zealand. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: pre-production. Budget: $1 million. Executive producers: John Grant for OPB and Neil Harraway for NHNZ. Producer: Beth Harrington. The natural history, science and weather of this chain of islands and the human stories of the native people who live there, including their involvement in WWII.Allies at War
Producing organizations: 3BM Television/BBC. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: R&D. Executive producer: Stephen Segaller. Producers: Simon Berthon, Jeremy Bennett. A documentary series presenting the conflicted and duplicitous relationships between Roosevelt, Churchill and deGaulle.The American Appetite, w.t.
Producing organizations: Legacy Television and Maryland PTV. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $2.5 million. Executive producers: David Osterland and John Potthast. Examines American contributions to food and wine, how our culture influences what we eat, and vice versa.The American Home
Producing station: KTCA, Twin Cities. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producers: Catherine Allan. A history of the home in America that looks at the social and cultural forces that shaped housing styles, home furnishings and backyards during this century.Breaking the Maya Code
Producing organization: Night Fire Films. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: scripting. Budget: $1.25 million. Major funders: NEH for research and writing. Executive producers: David Lebrun. Associate Producer: Karen Olender. The story of the deciphering of the Maya hieroglyphic script from the effort’s 16th-century beginnings to recent discoveries.C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud: Contrasting Perspectives
Producing organizations: Tatge/Lasseur Productions and Contrasting Perspectives. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: scripting and pre-production. Budget: $3 million. Executive producers: Doug Holladay and Catherine Tatge. Based on the work and teachings of Harvard Professor Armand Nicholi, this series presents the opposite worldviews of two of this century’s major thinkers, Lewis and Freud.Dances of the Pacific, w.t.
Producing organizations: Pacific Islanders in Communications in association with Tatge/Lasseur Productions, Inc. Episodes: 4x60. Status: R&D, fundraising. Budget: $3.2 million. Major funder: PIC. Executive producer: Carlyn Tani. Coexecutive producer: Sharon Tavares. Producer/director: Catherine Tatge. Looks at dance, from New Zealand to Hawaii, as the heartbeat of a culture—more than a cultural curiosity or entertainment.The Decalogue
Producing organizations: Sandra Itkoff and WGBH. Episodes: 10 x 60. Status: pre-production. Budget: $8 million. Major funders: MacArthur Foundation. Executive producers: Sandra Itkoff, Elizabeth Deane for WGBH. Producer/directors: Jon Else, Albert Maysles, Susan Fromcke, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Freedman. Ten verite films that explore the issues at the heart of each of the ten commandments through complex choices faced by real people. An extensive outreach campaign, on-line course and web site are also being developed.Digital West
Producing station: KQED, San Francisco. Episodes: 52 x 30. Status: pre-production. Budget: $500,000. Major funders: CNET, Google.com, Fenwick & West. Executive producer: Peter Calabrese. Experts and critics discuss the social, political, economic, and cultural implications of the technological revolution. Website: www.kqed.org.Gorbachev, w.t.
Producing organizations: October Films and BBC. Presenting station: WETA, Washington. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: research/fundraising. Executive producers: Richard Thomas, Nick Fraser. Producer: Angus McQueen. A biography of the political leader whose policies of glasnost and perestroika changed the world.Great Projects: The Building America
Producing organization: Great Projects Film Company, Inc. Presenting station: South Carolina ETV. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $5 million. Major funders: NSF, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Executive producers: Kenneth Mandell, Daniel B. Polin. A chronicle of America’s engineering heritage that profiles the builders and visionaries who transformed this vast land into modern America.The Harriman Alaska Expedition Retraced: A Century of Change, w.t.
Producing station: KTOO, Juneau. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $1.5 million. Major funders: Harriman Family Foundations, Andreas Foundation, Town Creek Foundation, ARCO/Alaska. Executive producer: Tom Litwin. Producer/director: Lawrence Hott. One hundred years after Edward Harriman assembled an elite team of scientists and artists to survey the Alaskan coast, a similar crew retraces his route.Hopkins -- An American Hospital
Producing organizations: WETA, Washington, and Lion Television. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $1.6 million. Major funders: PBS. Executive producers: Jeremy Catliff & Richard Thomas. Producer: Henry Singer. A profile of America’s number one hospital—from ER to Nobel-level research, from patient activism to cutting-edge surgery—the characters, the stories, the drama of life and death. Website: www.florentinefilms.com.Independent View
Producing station: KQED, San Francisco. Episodes: 52 x 30. Status: production. Budget: $700,000. Major funders: KQED. Executive producers: Jack Walsh. Producer: Jennifer Maytorena Taylor. A weekly magazine about independent film, video and electronic media, featuring the perspectives of media makers from around the world.Mark Twain
Producing organizations: Florentine Films & WETA, Washington. Episodes: 2 x 90. Status: production. Budget: $1.65 million. Major funders: General Motors, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, PBS/CPB and Connecticut Department of Tourism. Executive producers: Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan. The next installment in Ken Burns’ occasional series of biographies about eminent Americans in history. The life of Samuel Clemens is one of the most eventful and significant in literary history.National Edition
Producing organizations: MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, the New York Times, WNET and WETA, Washington. Episodes: 260 x 30. Status: development. Major funders: TBD. Executive producer: Stephen Segaller. Producer: Dan Werner. A weeknightly newscast of hard news content and context, appealing to the rapidly evolving interests of an affluent and educated audience of viewers in their 30s and 40s.Oil at the Ends of the Earth
Producing organization: InVision Productions. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: R&D. Executive producers: Stephen Segaller. Producer: William Cran. Covers the technological, political, moral and geographical difficulties that oil companies face when they operate in the world’s most dangerous and difficult regions.The Secret Life of the Brain
Coproducing organizations: David Grubin Productions and WNET. Episodes: 5 x 60. Status: pre-production. Major funders: NSF, Pfizer, CPB/PBS Challenge Fund, Dana Foundation, Medtronic, Park Foundation. Executive producers: David Grubin; Beth C. Hoppe, for WNET. Follows the normal stages of brain development from conception through advanced age, and looks at knowledge gained from dysfunctional brain activity and the ongoing revolution in neuroscience. Comprehensive outreach including print materials, training workshops and a web page are planned.Touchstones
Producing organizations: Muse Films and Television, and WETA, Washington. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: fundraising. Budget: $1.5 million. Executive producers: Karl Katz for Muse; Dalton Delan and David S. Thompson for WETA. Examines the treasures, sites, monuments and artistic creations that constitute our common cultural heritage.Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of the American Century
Producing station: KCET, Los Angeles. Episodes: 2 x 90. Status: fundraising. Major funders: NEH. KCET production executive: Joyce Campbell. Follows the rise and fall of Woodrow Wilson and examines his moral vision within the context of ideas and emotions expressed by his generation.Broadway: The American Musical
Producing organizations: Ghostlight Films and WNET. Episodes: 8 x 60. Status: R&D, fundraising. Major funders: CPB, NEA for R&D. Executive producers: Jac Venza, Martin Starger. Producers: Michael Kantor. Chronicles the history of the American musical theatre from the turn of the century to today’s multi-million dollar high-tech extravaganzas.China in the Red, w.t.
Producing organizations: Ambrica Productions and WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: production. Budget: $1.2 million. Major funders: PBS, MacArthur Foundation. Executive producer: Judith Vecchione. Producer/director/writer: Sue Williams. Project director/co-producer: Kathryn Dietz. As the Chinese government races to dismantle huge state-run enterprises, citizens struggle with dramatic changes in their lives. Filmed over a three-year period to document intimate portraits of a society in flux.Evolution
Producing organizations: WGBH Science Unit and Clear Blue Sky Productions. Episodes: 8 x 60. Status: in production. Budget: $9 million. Executive producer: Richard Hutton. Examines the evidence for and implications of the controversial theory that underlies all life sciences by exploring the voyage that led Darwin to develop the theory of natural selection; advances in genetics and molecular biology that have helped confirm his theory; and, evolution’s implications for better understanding human origins and behavior. To be accompanied by a major web site and companion book.Fire, w.t.
Producing organization: WGBH Science Unit. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: development. Budget: $2.5 million. Executive-in-charge: Paula Apsell. Producer: Judith Vecchione. Director: Kirk Wolfinger. The story of fire on earth as it has occurred in cities and the wilderness, on primitive hearths, and within internal combustion.Music From the Inside Out with the Philadelphia Orchestra
Producing organization: Anker Productions, Inc. Episodes: 5 x 30. Status: half-funded, beginning production. Budget: $1 million. Executive producers: Daniel Anker and Diana Ingraham. Blends verite documentary and musical performance to explore the meaning of music in the daily lives of members of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Ex-tensive educational outreach and ancillary materials included.Ocean Wilds
Producing organization: Feodor Pitcairn Productions, Ltd. Episodes: 5 x 60. Status: 3 hours completed, 2 entering post-production. Executive producers: Tom Simon, Joel West Brook. Series producer: Mose Richards. Penetrates the reclusive lives of sharks, great whales, orcas, manta rays and whale sharks, investigating curious phenomena and behavior.Shackleton
Producing organizations: White Mountain Films and Nova/WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 120. Executive producers: Louise Rosen, George Butler and Paula Apsell. The story of explorer Ernest Shackleton and his crew aboard the Endurance, whose expedition crossing the Antarctic between 1914 and 1915 is one of the greatest survival tales in history. A Nova Online Adventure, featuring daily dispatches by the film crew, ends this month. Also being filmed in large-format for IMAX and IWERKS theaters worldwide. Web site: www.pbs.org/nova/shackleton.Chinese in America, w.t.
Producing organization: Public Affairs Television, Inc. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: TBD. Status: R&D. Executive producers: Judith Davidson Moyers & Judy Doctoroff O’Neill. Tells the dramatic saga of the Chinese who came to America from its earliest settlement until the present.The Hudson River Story, w.t.
Producing organization: Public Affairs Television Inc. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producers: Judith Davidson Moyers and Judy Doctoroff O’Neill. Travels through time with a diverse array of storytellers as guides to the Hudson River’s cultural, historic and natural treasures.
The Legal Files
Producing organizations: Nancy Porter Productions and WGBH. Episodes: 5 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $3-4 million. Executive producer: Nancy Porter. Designed to educate Americans about their laws and legal system, the programs will focus on actual cases, proceedings, and practitioners to demonstrate how the law functions in our society and how the legal system deals with important issues facing it today.The New Americans, w.t.
Producing organization: Kartemquin Educational Films. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: production. Budget: <\>>$1 million. Major funders: CPB, PBS, MacArthur Foundation. Executive producers: Steve James, Gordon Quinn, Peter Gilbert. Producer/director: Indu Krishnan, Susana Aikin, Jerry Blumenthal, Barbara Kopple. Line producer: Gita Saedi. Ethnic minorities now make up one-fourth the U.S. population. The series will document three years in the lives of as many as six immigrants or immigrant families and will be close in spirit to Kartemquin’s previous work, Hoop Dreams. Web site: www.kartemquin.com.Nobel Centennial
Producing station: KQED, San Francisco. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: R&D. Executive producer: Peter Stein. A documentary commemorating the centennial anniversary of the Nobel Prize.Web site: www.kqed.org.Old Irish, w.t.
Producing organizations: Cafe Productions Inc., WNET, and Little Bird Television Ltd. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $1.3 million. Major funders: PBS, RTE (Ireland), WNET, SNET, D&S European Media Fund. Executive producers: Andre Singer, Bill Grant, James Mitchell. Series producer: Leo Eaton. Uses archaeology and myth to trace the history of ancient Ireland from 2000 B.C. through Celtic and early Christian times up to the Norman invasion of the 12th century.West Point, w.t.
Producing organizations: Driftwood Productions Inc., OPB. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: R&D, fundraising. Budget: $700,000. Executive producer: John Grant. The year 2002 marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. This special looks back at the history of West Point and the many fascinating individuals and stories that have been a part of that history.America at Work
Producing organizations: OPB, Boston Science Communications, The Colchester Group. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Budget: $2.3 million. Executive producer: David Davis. Series producers: Jim Nuzzo, Gino Del Guercio. A comprehensive history of work in America, from colonial times to the present. The programs examine the impact of slavery, immigration, unionism, and new technologies on the workforce, as well as the impact of work on the family.A History of God
Producing organizations: Nomadic Pictures and Maryland PTV. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $4 million. Executive producers: Danny Alpert, Karen Armstrong, Ted Lending. Based on the best-selling book by Karen Armstrong, this series takes viewers on a philosophical and historical journey, revealing evolving perceptions of God in Islam, Judaism and Christianity, their impact on history and relevance to contemporary culture.Enduring Questions, w.t.
Producing organization: Great Projects Film Co. Episodes: 5 x 60. Status: fundraising, production. Budget: $3 million. Producers: Kenneth Mandel, Daniel B. Polin. Examines the most frequently asked questions about the Holocaust, including, “Why didn’t the Jews resist?” Answer: They did.Italian and American, w.t.
Producing organization: International Cultural Program. Presenting station: Connecticut Public Television. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Budget: $100,000. Director: Catherine Tatge. Producers: Dominique Lasseur, Leslie Clark. Covers the period of the large Italian migrations to America, roughly 1870 to the present, examining the historical context for the migration, its effect on the emerging world market economies, and the cultural and economic transformation of America that attracted immigrants and that they helped fuel.Seven Summits
Producing organization: WGBH Science Unit. Episodes: 7 x 60. Status: development. Budget: $750,000. Major funder: NSF. Producers: Liesl Clark and David Breashear. Science adventure films that take viewers to the highest peaks in each of the seven continents. Accompanied by an ambitious web site.The Travels of Robert Louis Stevenson.
Producing organizations: Driftwood Productions Inc., OPB. Episodes: 1 x 120 or 2 x 120. Status: R&D. Budget: $500,000 per hour. Funder: PBS for R&D. Executive producer: John Grant. Producer: Jack McDonald. This documentary will focus on one of the world’s most popular and beloved writers. Stevenson wrote Treasure Island, Kidnapped, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as well as hundreds of other books and articles that chronicle his life and his travels to all corners of the world.Southwest Discovery, w.t.
Producing station: KERA, Dallas. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: research and pre-production. Major funders: Phillips Petroleum Company and others. Executive producers: Rick Thompson. Producer: Ginny Martin, Rob Tranchin. Provides a cultural, geographic and historical perspective of Texas in each program, “Rio Grande,” “The Alamo: The Battle for History” and “Roy Bedichek: Adventures With a Texas Naturalist.”Shakespeare, A Documentary Life, w.t.
Producing organization: Maya Vision International, Ltd. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: scripting. Budget: $1.9 million. Major funders: PBS, Itel. Executive producer: Leo Eaton for the U.S. Producer: Rebecca Dobbs. As a historical detective, Michael Wood searches for the real William Shakespeare.War Crimes Tribunals: Nuremberg to the Present, w.t.
Producing organization: Stone Soup Productions. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: research and fundraising. Budget: $1 million. Executive producers: Ruthie Sakheim. A history of war crimes tribunals and the origins of international law that defines war crimes, the use of forensics in investigating them, the psychology of perpetrators and survivors, the role of the U.N. and the political agendas behind these tribunals.1900 House
Producing organization: Wall-to-Wall Productions. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 5 x 60. Status: production. Executive producers: Beth C. Hoppe. Experimental history in which a British family lives for three months in a 1900 house just as a family in 1900 would live and dress.Adventures in Flight
Producing organizations: WGBH Science Unit in association with the National Air and Space Museum. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: development. Budget: $3.6 million. Executive producer: Paula Apsell. A continuing series about aviation adventures from the past and into the future, some featuring re-creations shot aboard vintage air craft.American Novel
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 6 x 120. Status: pilot production and scripting. Major funders: NEH and NEA. Executive producers: Susan Lacy. Producer: Michael Epstein. Documentaries on the modern American novel with one novel at the center of each program.Ancestors in the Americas
Producing organizations: ITVS, National Asian American Telecommunications Association. Expected distributor: NAATA. Episodes: 3 x 6. Status: in production. Budget: $621,000. Major funders: ITVS, PBS and MacArthur Foundation. Executive producers: Loni Ding. Explores hidden histories and economic, social, cultural and legal relationships between 19th century Chinese immigrants and the array of people and issues they encountered in America.Arena America
Coproducing organizations: WNET and the BBC in association with Winstar. Episodes: 10 x 60. Status: development. Executive producers: Anthony Wall for the BBC, Margaret Smilow for WNET. Series of documentaries featuring some of the most controversial and famous cultural icons of the twentieth century—from Elvis Presley to Woodie Guthrie, to the popular song “My Way,” to the historical documentary, “The Chelsea Hotel.”Building the American Dream, w.t.
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: scripting. Major funders: NEH & NEA. Executive producers: Susan Lacy. Producer: Peter Foges. Looks at the ways in which architecture, industrial design and urban planning express and effect American culture.Changing Stages
Coproducing organizations: the BBC and WNET. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: pre-production. Executive producers: Andrea Miller for the BBC , Jac Venza for WNET. Sir Richard Eyre, one of the world’s leading theatre directors, explores the story of the theatre and this century through the work of American and British writers, directors and actors.Chant
Producing organizations: Art Line Films, La Sept/Arte, and ET1, in association with WNET. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: post-production, last program is in pre-production. Executive producers: Olivier Mille. Producer: John Walker. Traces the roots and origins of the music of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and explores the many cultures where these musical forms have spread.Chicago
Producing organizations: WGBH and WTTW. Presented by the American Experience. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: development. Production team to be determined. A history of Chicago.Cyberchase
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: pilot completed. Major funders: Picower Foundation for series; NSF for pilot. Executive producers: Sandra Sheppard, Kristin Martin. Executive-in-charge: Ruth Ann Burns. An animated adventure series designed to engage children ages 8-11 in the fun and challenge of math.Coming of Age in Appalachia
Producing organizations: David Sutherland Productions and WGBH. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: David Sutherland. Long-form documentary portraits of four 16-year-old boys from the Appalachian region, as they make their way through high school and out into the world.De Tocqueville’s America
Producing station: OPB. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Budget: $2 million. Executive producer: Janet Tobias. At the start of a new century, this series takes de Tocqueville’s original observations and prisms into modern America, examining if and how our original values have changed.The Dutch
Coproducing organizations: TV Matters and WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: William R. Grant. Series producer: Stephen Stept. Explores the people, major events, landscape, culture, industry and history of the Dutch.Endgame in Ireland
Producing organizations: Brook Lapping Productions and WGBH. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: in development. Budget: $930,000. Major funders: PBS and WGBH Program Venture Fund. Executive producers: Zvi Dor-Ner and Brian Lapping. In the wake of the Good Friday agreement, this program looks at the recent history of the Irish conflict from the 1960’s to the present.The Edge, w.t.
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: seeking funding. Executive producer: Beth Hoppe. Technology specials, formerly titled Innovation, exploring topics like the sun, artificial intelligence and bionic humans.Finest Hour
Producing organizations: Brook Lapping Productions and WGBH. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $700,000. Major funders: PBS and WGBH Program Venture Fund. Executive producers: Zvi Dor-Ner and Brian Lapping. From May to December 1940, Hitler had all of Europe at his mercy and Britain stood alone. This series tells the story of that dark and dramatic time, when the destiny of the world hung in the balance.Gormenghast
Producing organizations: Space: the Imagination Station, BBC and WGBH. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: completed. Major funders: PBS. Executive producer: Michael Weering of the BBC. Producer: Estelle Daniel. Director: Andy Harris. Based on Mervyn Peake’s wartime gothic fantasy, starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers.Great American Places
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D, fundraising. Executive producer: William R. Grant. A cultural history exploring the flora, fauna and food of this country’s regions.Great Jewels of the World
Producing organizations: WNET and Ardent Productions. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: Jody Sheff. Producer: Edward Windsor. Explores the unique histories, legends and superstitions that surround some of the world’s most famous and beautiful jewels. Collections visited include: the British Crown Jewels, The Russian Jewels of the Kremlin, The Hyderabad Jewels and the Smithsonian Collection in Washington.Hispanics in America, w.t.
Producing organizations: New York Times Electronic Media Company and WNET. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: R&D. Executive producer: William R. Grant. Examines Hispanic American influence on American culture through the various waves of migration, and the culture, economic and political power of Hispanic Americans today.History of Basketball, w.t.
Producing station: OPB. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Budget: $2 million. Executive producer: Janet Tobias. Written by NPR’s Scott Simon, this series follows the evolution of basketball, from its birth in gyms and expansion onto the street courts of America, to its worldwide explosion dominated by revered athletes.The History of Skiing
Producing organizations: OPB, KUED in Salt Lake, the Scandinavian Channel, and 3BM TV. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D, fundraising. Budget: $1.6 million. Major funders: 50% of funding committed from Scandinavian broadcast sources. Executive producer: John Lindsay. Producer: Steiner Hybertson. Examines the history of skiing from its earliest days to the 2002 Olympics in Utah.The Human Blueprint
Producing station: WGBH Science Unit. A presentation of Nova. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: production. Budget: $1.5 million. Executive producer: Paula Apsell. Producer: Betsey Arledje. The Human Genome Project, the international effort to sequence all of the genes found in human DNA, will likely have enormous repercussions in all fields of science. This program focuses on the developments in genomics today and provides a basic understanding of DNA and its central role in defining life.The Kingdom of Israel
Producing organizations: OPB & Red Hill Productions. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D, fundraising. Budget: $2.4 million. Executive producer: David Davis. Series producer: Carl Byker. Co-producer: Mitch Wilson. Presents the story of the birth of ancient Israel, from its beginnings as a nation to its impact on world history and religion. Plans include a web site.Land of the Bible
Producing station: WGBH Science Unit.. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: in development. Executive producer: Paula Apsell. Explores the time, place and people of the Bible World, relying on history, archaeology and biblical scholarship to paint a textured portrait of the Holy Land and its changes over several thousand years.Latin Music in the USA
Producing station: WGBH. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: research. Executive producers: Elizabeth Deane and Hugh Thomson. Producer: Adrianna Bosch. Explores how Latin music came to the U.S. from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico and elsewhere and was reinvented, helping to shape a new American culture.Lives in Science, w.t.
Producing station: WGBH Science Unit. A presentation of Nova. Episodes: 4 x 120. Status: pre-production. Budget: $5.9 million. Major funders: NSF. Executive producer: Paula Apsell. A continuing series of portraits of distinguished scientists, to be broadcast as regular features within the Nova schedule. Initial plans call for biographies of Galileo Galilei, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie and African-American chemist Percy Julian. The goal for the project is to produce one biography each season for at least a decade.Murdoch Dynasty
Producing organizations: Brook Lapping Productions and WGBH. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: in development. Budget: $600,000. Major funders: PBS and WGBH Program Venture Fund. Executive producers: Zvi Dor-Ner and Phillip Whitehead. Rupert Murdoch’s influence in today’s media is unparalleled, yet few people know the real story of his rise from obscurity to head the largest media empire in the world.The National City
Producing organizations: Florentine Films/Hott Productions and WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: scripting and fundraising. Executive producer: William R. Grant. Producers: Lawrence Hott and Tom Lewis. A history of Washington, D.C., a city whose political, geographical and cultural attributes are unique in American life. Project will include a companion book, web site and educational outreach.New Biology
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Major funders: Howard Stein for R&D. Executive producer: Beth C. Hoppe. Examines what is known about the genetic makeup of humans and how this knowledge is changing the ways we think about ourselves.Pets & Vets
Producing station: WGBH Science Unit. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: fundraising. Budget: $1-3 million. Major funders: American Veterinary Medical Association. Executive producer: Michael Barnes. Producer: Joe McMaster. Features real-life stories from the frontlines of veterinary medicine. Shot at Angell Memorial Hospital in Boston, this series follows selected cases unfolding at the hospital, travesl the U.S. and abroad in search of additional animal tales, and rides along with special rescue teams who help animals in distress. Hosted by Dr. Doug Brum, a staff veterinarian at Angell.Picassos’s Women
Coproducing organizations: WNET, ZCZ Film, and Channel 4 TV. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: development. Executive producer: Jac Venza. Producers: Waldemar Januszcak and Margie Smilow. Describes Picasso’s artistic journey, the succession of remarkable women he loved, and their impact on his art.Pioneer House
Producing organization: Wall-to-Wall Productions. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: TBD. Status: R&D. Executive producer: Beth C. Hoppe. An experimental history with a modern American family living in a “little house on the prairie,” and using only the technology available in households near the end of the 19th century.The Politics of Food
Producing organizations: OPB, Brook Lapping Productions, Film Australia. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Budget: $2 million. Executive producers: John Lindsay, Brian Lapping and Stefan Moore. A look at how food is used as an instrument of policy and politics.The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, w.t.
Coproducing organizations: Videoline, Quest Productions and WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: pilot production and fundraising. Major funders: NEH, Winthrop/Rockefeller. Executive producer: William R. Grant. Producers: Richard Wormser, Bill Jersey and Sam Pollard. A series about the African-American struggle for freedom from the end of the Civil War to the rise of the civil rights movement in the 1950s.The Secret Formula
Producing organizations: Red Hill Productions and OPB. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: R&D, fundraising. Budget: $750,000. Executive producer: David Davis. Series producer: Carl Byker. The story of the Coca-Cola Company and the impact it has had on America and the world.Time Detectives
Producing organizations: Engel Bros. Media and WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Major funders: WNET for R&D. Executive producer: Beth C. Hoppe. Series producer: Larry Engel. Exotic journeys into the past with archaeologists, paleontologists and anthropologists, who literally dig deep to take a trip back to another time.Venture
Producing station: WGBH. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: research, fundraising. Executive producer: Tom Friedman. The international scope of these documentaries aim to make business accessible and compelling at a time when rapid changes in economy are breeding anxiety, confusion and misunderstanding. Produced in partnership with the Harvard Business School.Wall Street
Producing organizations: Bright Lights and WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Executive producer: William R. Grant. Producers: James Gabbe and Stephen Stept. This series examines the history of international money.Warship
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D, fundraising. Executive producer: Beth C. Hoppe. Examines the role of technology and naval history in the balance of world power.Wild TV
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: seeking additional production funds. Major funders: NECET, EPA, Marilyn Simpson, Lasdan, Jacob Burns, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, NSF, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Willard T.C. Johnson Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Charitable Trust. Executive producer: Fred Kauffman. Producer: Susan Lee. Comedy Central meets MTV in this series on the outdoors for kids 8 to 12 and their families.Witness to Yesterday
Producing organization: The Film Works, Ltd. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: post-production. Major funders: PBS. Executive producer: Victor Solnicki. Producers: Barry Cameron and Bill Imperial. Host Patrick Watson engages in dramatic dialogues with historical figures, who will be brought to life by Canadian and international actors. Among those to be portrayed are Marie Antoinette, Machiavelli, Tecumseh, and Lenin.World Population
Producing station: WGBH Science Unit and Linda Harrar Productions. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: in development. Executive producer: Paula Apsell. Examines the growth of world population, efforts to control the growth and the social, economic and ecological effects of a population that has just exceeded 6 billion people.
Web page posted Nov. 17, 1999
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