Series in preparation for future public TV seasons, as of fall 1998
Winter 1999 | Spring 1999 | Summer 1999 | Fall 1999 | Sometime in 1999 | 1999 or 2000
Winter 2000 | Spring or Summer 2000 | Fall 2000 | Sometime in 2000 | 2000 or 2001
Winter 2001 | Spring 2001 | Fall 2001 | Sometime in 2001 | 2003
Air dates to be determined | About this surveyCurrent's seventh annual survey, originally published Oct. 12 and Nov. 9, 1998. Compiled by Karen Everhart Bedford with assistance from Joellen Perry and Steve Behrens. 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."
Winter 1999
America at Work (w.t.)
Producing station: Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Budget: $1.2 million. Executive producer: Steven Segaller. Funders: PBS for R&D; production funding pending. Beginning with slavery and the craft guilds of colonial America, this series traces the history of American labor through the present day. Anticipated air date: Winter 1999.
Body & Soul
Producing organization: Beacon Productions, Inc., Watertown, Mass. Distributor: PBS Plus. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: production/post-production. Executive producer and host: Gail Harris. Producers: Susan Bredhoff Cohen, Eric Neudel, Drew Pearson, Adrienne Leiceseter Smith, Paul Stern. Major funders: Daniels Printing. Explores connections between physical health and emotional/spiritual well-being, and the things we can do to achieve a better balance in today's hectic world. Companion book to be published in January. Anticipated air date: Winter 1999.
Cook-off America
Producing organization: Marjorie Poore Productions, San Francisco. Distributor: National Educational Telecommunications Association. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: production. Executive producers: Marjorie Poore, Alec Fatalevich. Major funders: Weber-Stephen Products Co., Colavita, Celebrity Cruises. The best regional American foods from festivals and cook-offs—Gilroy garlic, Memphis barbecue, Maine salmon. Blue-ribbon winners are demonstrated and served hot and fresh. Anticipated air date: Winter 1999.
Crucible of Empire: The Spanish American War (w.t.)
Producing organization: Great Projects Film Co., New York. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: postproduction. Budget: $900,000. Executive producers: Daniel Polin and Kenneth Mandel. Producer: Daniel Miller. Major funders: CPB, NEH, PBS, MacArthur Foundation. Examines the event that transformed the U.S. into a world power from the vantage points of American, Philippine and Cuban participants. Anticipated air date: Winter 1999.
Facing the Truth (w.t.)
Producing organization: Public Affairs Television, New York. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: editing. Budget: $1 million. Executive producers: Judith Davidson Moyers, Judy Doctoroff O’Neill. Producer/director: Gail Pellett. Major funders: W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and Mutual of America Life Insurance Co. Reports on the extraordinary story of South Africa—a nation engaged in telling the truth about its past with the hope of creating a new moral order for its future. Anticipated air date: Winter 1999.
Fifty Years War
Producing organizations: WGBH, Boston, and the BBC. Episodes: 2 x 150. Status: postproduction. Executive producer: Zvi Dor-Ner. Series producer: Norma Percy. The Arab-Israeli conflict, its politics, its wars, its violence, and the difficult search for peace. Anticipated air date: Winter 1999.
The Great American Craft Club
Producing organizations: Krause Publications and David Larsen Productions, Menomonee Falls, Wis. Expected distributor: National Educational Telecommunications Association. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: preproduction. Budget: more than $100,000. Executive producer: Julie Stephani. Major funders: Krause Publications. A how-to series featuring home decorating and crafts. A book, craft club and magazine will complement the series. Anticipated air date: Winter 1999.
I’ll Make Me a World
A production of Blackside Inc., Boston, in association with WNET. Episodes: 3 x 120. Status: seeking postproduction funds. Executive producers: Jac Venza for WNET; Henry Hampton for Blackside. Major funders: Ford Foundation, NEH, CPB/PBS Challenge Fund, NEA, Lila Wallace/Reader’s Digest Fund. Examines 20th century African-American music, literature, visual arts, theater and dance. Anticipated air date: Winter 1999.
Media Matters
Producing organization: ATV Associates in association with Great Projects Film Co., New York City. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $1 million. Executive producer: Arnold Labaton. Senior producer: Daniel G. Polin. Major funders: Ford Foundation, PBS. Investigates how the news media cover the stories in the headlines. Hosted by Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Alex Jones. Anticipated air date: Winter 1999.
The Mississippi: River of Song
Producing organizations: Smithsonian Productions, the Filmmakers Collaborative, Waltham, Mass., and KajimaVision Productions, Tokyo. Presenting station: South Carolina ETV. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $2 million. Executive producer: Paul Johnson. Producer/director: John Junkerman. Writer: Elijah Wald. Major funders: Hitachi, CPB, PBS, NEA. Explores the richness and vitality of American music at the end of the 20th century, capturing 50 performances recorded by 500 musicians from communities along the Mississippi River. Features a wide range of musical styles, from Ojibwe powwow drummers in Minnesota, to the renowned brass bands of New Orleans. Educational outreach planned via the Internet, posters and music educators. Companion book to be published by St. Martin’s Press, and a two-disc CD set distributed by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Anticipated air date: Winter 1999.
Money Moves
Producing station: KVIE, Sacramento. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: pilot completed. Budget: $400,000. Executive producer: Debby Everett. Senior producer: Corita Gravitt. Executive-in-charge: Jan Tilmon. Major funders: SAFE Federal Credit Union, Consumer Credit Counselors, Star Systems. Consumer finance series in a fast-paced, entertaining and informative format. Hosted by Jack Gallagher. Anticipated air date: Winter 1999.
Split Ticket
Producing organizations: WTTW, Chicago, and Calamari Productions. Distributor: American Program Service. Episodes: 39 x 30. Status: fundraising. Budget: more than $1 million. Executive producers: Karen Grau, Mark Lubbers. A weekly exploration of the human spirit that drives individuals and groups to hold themselves up to the public scrutiny that accompanies running for office or being a visible part of American political life. Anticipated air date: Winter 1999.
To Marry an English Lord
A coproduction of Oregon Public Broadcasting and Ardent Productions, U.K. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $1 million. Executive producer: Steven Segaller. Major funders: PBS. In the latter part of the 19th century, the world witnessed a social phenomenon: British lords crossing "the pond" to marry American money. A witty history hosted by Edward Windsor. Anticipated air date: Winter 1999.
Zoboomafoo
Producing organizations: The Earth Creatures Co. and Mangatsika, Toronto. Episodes: 40 x 30. Status: production. Executive producers: Leo Eaton, Martin Kratt, Chris Kratt. Producer: Cheryl Knapp. Major funders: PBS and CPB. A series for preschoolers that captures the moment of discovery when a young child meets an animal for the first time. A curious lemur puppet named Zoboomafoo joins hosts Chris and Martin Kratt and 10-year-old Jackie, who reports regularly on her efforts to help animals. Each episode features a story told through claymation. Outreach plans include a companion family activities workbook, a Ready to Learn training teleconference, and a web site. Anticipated air date: Winter 1999.
Zoom
Producing station: WGBH. Episodes: 40 x 30. Status: postproduction. Executive producer: Kate Taylor. Senior producer: Jonathan Meath. Major funders: National Science Foundation, PBS, CPB. A new version of the Emmy-winning children’s show of the 1970s. Features games, plays, science experiments and other activities, all based on contributions sent in by children across the country. Targets school-aged kids, six to 12 years old.
Ballroom Dance Champions: In Concert from the Imperial Palace in Vienna
Presenting organizations: WLRN, Miami, and Hanlon Ford Enterprises. Distributor: American Program Service. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: production. Executive producer: Gustavo Sagastume. The world’s greatest ballroom dancers perform in lavish costumes at the Imperial Palace in Vienna. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Digital Hollywood
Producing organization: Silliwood Studios. Presenting station: KCET, Los Angeles. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: production. Executive producers: Joel Bloom, Alan Bloom. Explores how technological advancements have affected virtually every facet of the entertainment industry, examining implications of emerging digital technologies. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Dr. Edward Hallowell Package (w.t.)
Producing organization: American Program Service, Boston. Distributor: APS Premium. Episodes: 2 x 75. Status: pre-production. Executive producer: Francine Achbar. Producers: Sheryl Bourisk and Cynthia Fenneman. Major funders: APS Premium Service. A psychiatrist and lecturer at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Edward Hallowell, teaches viewers how to identify various forms of worry and turn negative, destructive patterns into positive action. Hallowell delivers concrete specifics, such as ten signs of a problem worrier, worry checkpoints and steps in overcoming worry. He also explores the topic of his upcoming book, Only Connect, showing how "connectedness" is the key to emotional health. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Great Composers
Producing organizations: WNET, the BBC, and National Video Corp. Episodes: 67 x 60. Status: completed. Executive producers: Kriss Rusmanis for the BBC, Jac Venza for WNET. Major funders: CPB/PBS Challenge Fund. Biographies on composers that give a strong sense of their personalities and the times in which they lived. Composers include Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Mahler, Tchaikovsky and Puccini. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Great Minds of American History
Producing organizations: WGBH and Unapix Entertainment. Episodes: 5 x 30. Status: completed. Executive producers: Steve Atlas and Tim Smith. Director: Mike Kirk. Features one-on-one conversations with five of the country’s most respected historians. Among those interviewed by journalist Roger Mudd are David McCullough, Stephen Ambrose, and James McPherson. Later installments of this series, Great Minds of Healing with Andrew Weil and Great Minds of Sports with Bob Costas, will be distributed in summer and fall of 1999. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Grilling Maestros
Producing organization: Marjorie Poore Productions, San Francisco. Distributor: National Educational Telecommunications Association. Episodes: 18 x 30. Status: postproduction. Executive producers: Marjorie Poore, Alex Fatalevich. Major funders: Weber-Stephen Products Co., Beaulieu Vineyards. Combines equal parts food, fire and expertise from three grilling maestros—Chris Schlesinger, Marcel Desaulniers and Fritz Sonnenschmidt—in beautiful Napa Valley setting. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Hostage
A coproduction of Brook Lapping Associates (U.K.) and Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 3 X 60. Status: postproduction. Co-executive producers: Brian Lapping and Stephen Segaller. Major funders: Channel 4, PBS, other international broadcasters. Definitive account of the "decade of madness" in the 1980s, when Islamic militants seized 50 hostages. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Mandela
Producing organizations: Kirk Documentary Groups, Films2People, Unapix Entertainment. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: R&D. Budget: $1.3 million. Executive producers: David Fanning, Michael Kirk. Producer: Indra De Lanerolle. Executive in charge: Tim Smith. Major funders: PBS, Unapix Entertainment. A definitive biopic uncovering the life of Nelson Mandela for television, in the same vein as the presidential bios of The American Experience. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Marcia Adams: More Cooking from Quilt Country
Producing organizations: Marcia Adams Kitchen in association with Maryland PTV (MPT). Distributor: American Program Service. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: postproduction. Executive producer: Marcia Adams. Coordinating producer for MPT: Beth Nardone. Major funders: Replacements Limited, Oneida, the Fremont Co. Marcia Adams returns to the Amish countryside and to public TV with favorite recipes and crafts inspired by Amish traditions. Shot both on location and in Marcia’s home kitchen. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Prairie Potter
Producing organization: MidEarth Productions Inc., Winnipeg. Distributor: National Educational Telecommunications Association. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: scripting. Budget: $65,000. Executive producer: Kevin Dunn. Dennis Hart, a ceramics instructor and distributor, shares his secrets on designing, creating, finishing and marketing wheel-thrown, functional pottery. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Rocks with Wings
A coproduction of Shiprock Productions, New York, and Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: postproduction. Budget: $1.1 million. Executive producer: David Davis. Producer: Rick Derby. Major funders: Ford Foundation, CPB, PBS. An inspiring eight-year story of the Lady Chieftains, a girls’ basketball team in the Navajo Nation. Team members learn the value of both winning and losing in their quests to become state champions. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Savor the Southwest
A coproduction of KAET, Phoenix, and A La Carte, San Francisco. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: postproduction. Budget: $350,000. Executive producer: Jillian Robinson. Producer: Geoffrey Drummond. Major funder: Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation. Featuring host Barbara Fenzl and top Southwestern chefs, this series celebrates the region’s lore, history and culture as reflected through cuisine. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Travels in Mexico and the Caribbean with Shari Belafonte
Producing organizations: Small World Productions, Seattle, in association with American Program Service (APS) and Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB). Presenting station: OPB. Distributor: APS. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: production. Budget: $650,000. Executive producers: John Givens and Nelsa Gidney. Producers: Pat Larson, Sandra Nisbet, Patty Conroy, Shari Belafonte. Funders: underwriters being sought. In the style of Travels with Rick Steves, this series will visit the beautiful Caribbean, including Mexico, the Virgin Islands, and Jamaica. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Voyage to the Milky Way
Producing organizations: Thomas Lucas Productions in association with PBS and Devillier Donegan Enterprises (DDE). Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $1 million. Executive producer: Thomas Lucas. Major funders: PBS and DDE. Explores our long-range future in space, as now being planned by major space agencies and entrepreneurs around the world. The first episode examines current plans for colonizing and exploring our solar system; the second shows that long-distance space flight is no longer just a sci-fi subject. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Weir Cooking in the Wine Country
Producing organizations: Now Weir Cooking, A La Carte Communications. Presenting station: KQED, San Francisco. Distributor: American Program Service. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: post-production. Executive producer: Linda Brandt. Major funders: Beaulieu Vineyards, Calphalon, Peloponnese. Chef Joanne Weir uncovers the hidden bounty of California's Napa Valley by demonstrating food and wine pairing, and a hands-on approach to home cooking. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Wild Europe
Producing organizations: Green Umbrella, SVT, NHK, WGBH. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: postproduction. Executive producers: Peter Jones, Denise DiIanni. Producers: Dan Freeman, Nick Upton, Nigel Ashcroft, Mags McCree. Part natural history, part travelogue, the series explores the best and most dramatic examples of six distinct habitats and the animals who live there—grasslands, marine, mountain, arctic, cities and the Mediterranean "cradle" of European civilization. Tells the story of how wildlife survived throughout the continent’s rich human history. Filmed by top European wildlife filmmakers. Anticipated air date: Spring 1999.
Wild Indonesia
Producing organizations: Tigress Productions in association with PBS and Devillier Donegan Enterprises (DDE). Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $1.6 million. Executive producer: Andrew Jackson. Major funders: DDE and PBS. Award-winning cinematographers capture Indonesia’s natural diversity and ancient cultures in a journey to one of the world’s last wild frontiers.
America’s National Parks
A coproduction of Encounter Video, Portland, and Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $175,000. Executive producer: Eve Krzysanowski. Executive-in-charge: David Davis. Producer: Dennis Burkhart. Major funder: PBS. Stunning cinematography and time-lapse sequences coupled with a spare, poetic script and vibrant score capture the diversity and splendor of the seasons in America’s wilderness. Funding for an educational re-version also being sought. Anticipated air date: Summer 1999.
Childwise, featuring Dr. T. Berry Brazelton
Producing organization: New Screen Concepts, Stamford, Conn. Presenting station: KERA, Dallas. Distributor: PBS Plus. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: scripting. Executive producers: Hank O’ Karma for New Screen Concepts; Rick Thompson for KERA. Major funder: Procter & Gamble. Showcases the special relationship that Dr. Brazelton has developed with American parents over his five decades and a scientist and clinician. To accurately reflect the full range of current thinking on child development and parenting, each episode will include other pediatric development specialists. The series will take pediatrics out of the doctor’s office and into the community, capturing new trends in clinical and preventive work. Anticipated air date: Summer 1999.
Collector’s Guide (w.t.)
Producing station: KVIE, Sacramento. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: R&D. Executive producer: Jan Tilmon. A hybrid how-to and appraisal series for novice as well as expert collectors. Anticipated air date: Summer 1999.
Creole Cooking with Leah Chase
Producing organizations: WYES, New Orleans, and Leah Chase/Don Roussell Productions, New Orleans. Distributor: American Program Service. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: fundraising. Budget: $300,000. Executive producers: Beth Utterbach and Jim Moriarty. Major funder: Lawry Foods. Leah Chase prepares easy-to-follow recipes that follow the themes of her popular Creole cooking techniques, developed from her 50 years experience as executive chef of Dooky Chase’s restaurant in New Orleans. Anticipated air date: Summer 1999.
Cut Up and Cook
Producing organizations: WYES and Yes Productions, New Orleans. Distributor: American Program Service. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: pre-production. Budget: $360,000. Major funder: L.E. Phillips Family Foundation. A practical guide to today’s meat counter, hosted by husband-and-wife team Merle and Neva Ellis. Anticipated air date: Summer 1999.
Immortal Fortress
Producing organizations: Combat Camera Film, New York, and KBYU, Provo/Salt Lake City. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: postproduction. Budget: $150,000. Executive producer: Sterling VanWagenen. Producer: Dodge Billingsley. Flush with its recent victory over Russia, no nation typifies the cult of the warrior more than Chechnya. Takes viewers on a dangerous journey in search of the country’s most celebrated warrior, Shamil Baseyev. Anticipated air date: Summer 1999.
Savage Seas
A coproduction of Granada Television and WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: production. Executive producer: Beth C. Hoppe. Series producer: Liz McLeod. Major funders: PBS/CPB Challenge Fund. A series on earth’s great oceans, featuring stories of shipwrecks, shark attacks, solitude, storms and survival. Anticipated air date: Summer 1999.
Stealing Time: The New Science of Aging
Producing organizations: Rubin Tarrant Productions, Boston, in association with PBS and Devillier Donegan Enterprises. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: completed. Budget: $1.5 million. Executive producer: John Rubin. Producers: Judy Hallet, Jon Palfreman, Joe Seamans. Major funders: PBS and DDE. Tackles the age-old quest for immortality by examining recent scientific breakthroughs that have led scientists to believe that the rate of aging can actually be decreased.
American Girls
Produced by Carol Cassidy, Atlanta. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $669,342. Producer/director: Carol Cassidy. Major funder: Independent Television Service. Explores what it means to be a young girl growing up in America today. At ages nine and ten, they’re skipping and grinning little girls; but by 15, they’re sullen, submissive and quiet—convinced that they’re awkward, ugly and fat. Through ITVS’s Community Connections project, an outreach campaign will build on work done with Cassidy’s earlier program, "Baby Love," which dealt with similar issues. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
America’s Heartland
Producing station: KVIE, Sacramento. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: piloting and production fundraising. Budget: $1.5 million. Executive producer: Corita Gravitt. Magazine series about agriculture in America, following the success of California Heartland, now entering its third season. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
An American Love Story
Producing organizations: American Playhouseand Zohe Film Productions, New York. Presented by Playhouseand Independent Television Service. Episodes: 10 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $2.5 million. Executive producers: Barbara Ludlum, Lindsay Law. Producer/director: Jennifer Fox. Major funders: American Playhouse, ITVS, NEA, CPB, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Fisher Foundation. A real-life documentary series about a couple—a black man and a white woman—who have struggled for 30 years against racial stereotypes and societal prejudices that have tried to divide them. Chronicles 18 months in the everyday life of the Wilson-Sims family as they work, cope with illness, struggle with money issues and raise their biracial children. This series will be broadcast as part of the Television Race Initiative. Educational outreach planned, as well as a companion book, CD and possibly videocassettes. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
And Crown Thy Good: Varian Fry and the American Rescue Committee.
Producing organization: Chambon Foundation, Los Angeles. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: production. Producer: Pierre Sauvage. Major funders: CPB, Roy and Niuta Titus Foundation. An account of the most successful private American-led rescue effort during World War II: in 1940-41 in Marseille, France, Varian Fry and his colleagues helped save 2,000 artists, intellectuals and anti-Nazi refugees. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Animal Minds
A coproduction of WNET, Green Umbrella and the BBC. Presented by Nature. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: production. Executive producer: Fred Kaufman. Producers: Peter Jones, Paul Reddish. Major funders: PBS, Ford, Canon, Park Foundation. Investigates animal thinking, animal intelligence, animal emotions and consciousness. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
The Border (w.t.)
Producing organizations: KPBS, San Diego; Espinosa Productions, San Diego; KUAT, Tucson; KNME, Albuquerque; Galan Productions, Austin. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $450,000. Executive producer: Paul Espinosa. Producers: Hector Gonzalez, KUAT; Matthew Sneddon, KNME; Hector Galan. Major funder: CPB. Uses character-driven stories to portray life along the U.S.-Mexican border and illustrate the evolving relationship between the two countries. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Breaking Bread with Father Dominic
Producing organizations: KETC, St. Louis, and Lark International. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: fundraising. Budget: $280,000. Executive producer: Mark J. Buckley. Combines bread-making and preparation of simple fare with feature stories on various abbey kitchens and ethnic bakeries. Hosted by Benedictine monk. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
California Wine Adventure
Producing station: KVIE, Sacramento. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: fundraising. Budget: $640,000. Executive producer: Jan Tilmon. A lifestyle magazine on wine, food, entertainment and travel. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Challenging Art
Producing station: WGBH. Episodes: 3 x 60, 1 x 90. Status: production. Budget: $3.3 million. Executive producer: Jill Janows. Major funders: PBS/CPB Challenge Fund, NEH, NEA, Ford Foundation, Knight Foundation. A documentary series and outreach project exploring once-controversial, now-classic works—Manet’s Olympia, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn; 1920s jazz; and Hollywood movies from the era of production codes. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Cutting the Cord
Producing organizations: WTTW, Chicago, in association with Quest Productions. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: fundraising. Budget: $1.1 million. Executive producer: Fred Schneider for WTTW. Producers: Bill Jersey and Pierre Valette for Quest Productions. Examines how welfare reform is being implemented throughout the country, looking at six central stories that, taken as a whole, reveal the disparate ways communities, businesses, governments and individuals are transforming the welfare culture in America. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Death: A Personal Understanding
Producing organization: Sleeping Giant Productions, Toronto. Distributor: Annenberg/CPB. Episodes: 10 x 30. Status: postproduction. Budget: $1 million. Executive producer: Jim Hanley. Major funder: Annenberg/CPB Project. Through a moving array of case studies and expert interviews, this series examines societal and individual issues in illness, bereavement, loss, and death rites in North America. Texts from Allyn and Bacon. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Digital Divide: Technology and Our Future
Producing organizations: Studio Miramar, San Francisco. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $1,250,000. Executive producer: David Bolt. Associate producer: Coleen Wilson. Producers: David Brown, Debra Chasnoff, Helen Cohen, Lorna Thomas, Sue Ellen McCann. Major funder: Independent Television Service. Examines the role computers play in deepening societal divisions, exploring how technology intersects with social divisions or race, gender and class, and how lack of access to computers threatens to widen these gaps in dramatic new ways. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
The Dow, The Footsie, and the Hang Seng Gang
Producing station: Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $1.4 million. Executive producer: Stephen Segaller. Major funders: PBS. Bob Cringely does for the world of money what he did for the personal computer in Triumph of the Nerds—takes viewers on an anecdotal tour of the world of money, commodities, wealth and debt. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Dragon Tales and A Parenting Show (w.t.)
Producing organizations: Children’s Television Workshop, New York, and Columbia TriStar Television. Episodes: 40 x 30 (Dragon Tales), 13 x 30 (Parenting Show). Status: production. Budget: $19.5 million. Executive producers: Nina Elias Bamberger, Jim Coane. Producers: Jeff Kline, Richard Raynis. Major funders: CPB and Kellogg’s Rice Krispies. Dragon Tales, an animated adventure series, encourages children to pursue challenges and develop self-confidence. Parenting Showcombines humor and interactive features with solid, practical parenting information. Web site, outreach campaign, print and radio components also to be developed.
The Educated Traveler: Learning from the Masters (w.t.)
Producing organizations: The Educated Traveler, Asti-Trevi Productions, Pangoline Pictures. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: fundraising and scripting. Budget: $1.9 million. Executive producers: Ann H. Waigand, Gina Minervini. Producer: Kevin Bachar. A cultural travel series that takes actor Harry Anderson on learning vacations around the globe where he actively participates in special-interest activities--from tango dancing in Argentina to marble sculpting in Italy--taught by experts in each field. Companion travel guidebook series to be published. Outreach plans call for an interactive web site and materials for classroom use. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
A production of Florentine Films, Walpole, N.H., and WETA, Washington, D.C. Episodes: 2 x 90. Status: postproduction. Budget: $1.6 million. Executive producer: Ken Burns. Producers: Ken Burns and Paul Barnes. Major funders: General Motors, Pew Charitable Trusts, PBS/CPB Challenge Fund, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Helen and Peter Bing, Empire State Tourism. Part of Ken Burns’ American Biographiesproject, this documentary profiles Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, activists who spent much of their lives fighting for women’s rights, including a constitutional amendment to grant women’s suffrage. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Eyewitness Traveler (w.t.)
A coproduction of DK Vision, London, and Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D, pilot in production. Budget: $1.2 million. Co-executive producers: Stephen Segaller and Simon Jollands. Uses innovative imagery, 16 x 9 digital footage, and animated 3-D graphics to allow viewers to experience the world’s regions through the eyes of the people who live there. Based on the Eyewitness books. Pending funding, online resources and enhanced TV will be developed for educational uses. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
First Person Singular: Beverly Sills
Producing organization: Lives and Legacies Films. Presenting station: South Carolina ETV. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $600,000. Executive producers: Stan Zuckerman and Tim White. Producer/director: Peter Rosen. Beverly Sills presents a first-person narrative account of her development and career as a leading opera star, her transformation into an arts executive, and her present role as chairperson of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Fokus Deutsch
A WGBH coproduction with Inter Nationes and the Goethe Institute. Distributor: Annenberg/CPB. Episodes: 24 x 30. Status: completed. Executive producer: Michele Korf. Producer: Fred Barzyk. Project director: Christine Herbes-Sommers. Major funder: Annenberg/CPB Project. Introduces viewers to the German language on three levels, using a fictional story, a set of German mini-dramas, and cultural, historical and personal documentaries. McGraw-Hill will publish an extensive print component. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Go Wild in the Kitchen
Producing organizations: WTVS, Detroit, Lark International and Wild Harvest Productions. Distributor: American Program Service. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: fundraising. Budget: $470,000. Executive producer: Jay Nelson. Producer: Jerry Chiappetta. A cooking series centered on wild game and fresh ingredients with sportsman and master chef Milos Cihelka. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Halls of Fame
Producing organization: Lark International. Presenting station: WTVS, Detroit. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: Jay Nelson. Travelogue series featuring halls of fame—from the unusual to the venerable. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Intimate Strangers: Unseen Life on Earth
A production of Baker & Simon Associates, Pasadena, and the Microbial Literacy Collaborative in association with Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $3.2 million. Executive producer: Peter Baker. Series producer: Julio Moline. Producers: Marlo Bendau, Carl Byker, David Mrazek, Mark Ritts and Cynthia Crompton. Major funders: American Society for Microbiology, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Annenberg/CPB Project, CPB. An extensive look at microbes—from their potential to help solve humanity’s biggest problems to the microbial threat of infectious diseases. Shot in wide-screen digital format to be up-converted for simultaneous release in HDTV. OPB is reversioning the series into a 12-part telecourse. An extensive outreach campaign is being developed, as well as a web site, viewer’s guide and companion book. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home
Producing organization: A La Carte Communications, San Francisco. Presenting station: KQED, San Francisco. Distributor: American Program Service. Episodes: 22 x 30. Status: post-production. Executive producers: Geoffrey Drummond and Nat Katzman. Major funders: Kendall Jackson Wineries, Land o' Lakes Butter, Eatzl's Markets and Bakeries, Meyer Faberware Cookware, Oxo International. The celebrity duo of Julia Child and Jacques Pepin presents the techniques, tastes and recipes at the heart of home cooking. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Masterchef
Producing organization: West 175 Enterprises, Seattle. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 13 x 30. Executive producer: John McLean. A national competition for amateur chefs. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Millennium Minutes
Producing organizations: Great Projects Film Co., New York, and Medici Foundation. Episodes: 50 x 60 seconds. Status: production/fundraising. Budget: $2 million. Executive producer: Kenneth Mandel. Major funder: NEH. People and events during the past 1,000 years that have had a major impact on our civilization, including the first novel by Lady Muraski in 11th century Japan, Gutenberg’s Bible, the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Conference, the election of Nelson Mandela. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Mobil Masterpiece Theatre’s American Collection
Producing organizations: WGBH’s Masterpiece Theatreunit and ALT Films, Los Angeles. Episodes: 9 of various lengths. Status: The Americanis in production; other installments are in various stages. Executive producers: Rebecca Eaton for WGBH; Marian Rees for ALT. Major funders: CPB, PBS, Mobil Corp. An anthology of original American dramas, adapted from literary works. Henry James’ The American, which is likely to be the lead program, is a WGBH-BBC coproduction. WGBH has also commissioned Mark and Livy, the story of the tragic lives of Mark Twain and his wife Olivia. ALT Films will produce "Song of the Lark," based on a novel by Willa Cather, and "Cora Unashamed," adapted from a novella by Langston Hughes. Extensive educational outreach to English teachers is planned. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Mollie Katzen’s Classic Kitchen (w.t.)
Producing organizations: Maryland PTV and Mollie Katzen Productions, Kensington, Calif. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: fundraising. Budget: $650,000. Executive producers: Mollie Katzen, John Potthast. Producer: Torri Randall. A new series featuring vegetarian cookbook author Mollie Katzen preparing her favorite recipes from the Moosewood Cookbookand Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
New York
A coproduction of Steeplechase Films, New York, WGBH and WNET. Episodes: 5 x 120. Status: in production while seeking additional funding. Executive producer: Ric Burns. Producer: Lisa Ades. Major funders: NEH, Ford Foundation. A visual history of events and personalities in the world’s most dynamic city, New York. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Open Road, U.S.A.
Producing station: KVIE, Sacramento. Episodes: 6-8 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $975,000. Executive producer: Jan Tilmon. A travel magazine—getting around the country in an RV to traditional and non-traditional locations. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
PBS Hollywood Television
Producing station: KCET, Los Angeles. Episodes: 4 x 90. Status: R&D, fundraising. Executive producer: Mare Mazur. Funders: PBS/CPB development grant. A quarterly series of 90-minute to 2-hour programs of compelling, entertaining teleplays filmed on KCET’s soundstages. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
People Power (w.t.)
Producing organizations: York Associates Television and WETA, Washington, D.C. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $2.4 million. Executive producer: Jack DuVall. Series producer: Steven York. Executive-in-charge: David McGowan. Chronicles the history and evolution of nonviolent conflict in this century, from the 1905 Russian revolution to contemporary Burma. A web site and outreach activities are planned. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Poets, Poets Everywhere (w.t.)
Producing organization: Public Affairs Television, New York City. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: production. Budget: $750,000. Executive producers: Judith Davidson Moyers, Judy Doctoroff O’Neill. Producer/directors: Catherine Tatge and Dominique Lasseur. Major funders: Herb Alpert Foundation, Mutual of America Life Insurance, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Documentary special on the largest poetry event in North America—the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Recipes 1-2-3
Producing organizations: KTCA, Twin Cities, and Marc Summers Productions, Los Angeles. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: Catherine Allan. Inspired by Rozanne Gold’s cookbook, fabulous recipes that use just three ingredients. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Sam Clemens and Mark Twain
Producing organization: Espiritruth Films, Potomac, Md. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $1 million. Executive producer: Sandra Wentworth Bradley. Major funders: NEH, CPB. Definitive look at Mark Twain’s life. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Smithsonian HDTV Specials (w.t.)
Producing organizations: WETA and Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Episodes: 4 x 30. Status: in development. Budget: $1.2 million. Executive-in-charge at WETA: Phylis Geller. A series of HDTV specials on touring exhibitions and permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Treasures of the Library of Congress (w.t.)
Producing station: WQED, Pittsburgh. Episodes: 3-4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: James C. Rogal. A series of history specials using the collections of the Library of Congress as points of departure. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Two Lives
Producing organizations: Lark International, Irish Television (RTE), BBC/Scotland, BBC/Wales. Presenting station: WTVS, Detroit. Episodes: 8 x 30. Status: six programs completed; production and fundraising for others. Budget: $850,000. Executive producers: Jay Nelson for WTVS; David Blake for RTE. Executive editor: Michael Colgan. An international coproduction of original dramas, including teleplays by crime novelist Elmore Leonard and Irish writer Roddy Doyle. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Witness to Yesterday
Producing organizations: The Film Works, Ltd. Presenting station: WGBH. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: production and postproduction. Budget: more than $300,000. Executive producer: Victor Solnicki. Producers: Barry Cameron, Bill Imperial. Funder: PBS. Presents lively, probing and dramatic dialogues between the host, Patrick Watson, and actors portraying exciting historical figures. Anticipated air date: Fall 1999.
Young Heroes
Producing organizations: Protocol Entertainment and Unapix Entertainment, New York. Presenting station: South Carolina ETV. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: pilot completed, fundraising. Budget: $4.55 million. Executive producers: Tim Smith, Veronica Young, Steve Levitan. Pilot funding by the Annenberg Public Policy Center and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Tells the stories of ordinary kids throughout history who accomplished extraordinary feats.
On the Trail of Mark Twain with Peter Ustinov
A coproduction of Granada Television and WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: production. Executive producer: William Grant. Series producer: Bill Jones. Director: Michael Waldman. Major funders: PBS. Sir Peter Ustinov writes and narrates a recreation of Twain’s global journey to four continents, crossing three oceans. Anticipated airdate: sometime in 1999.
Wild TV
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: pilots completed; seeking additional production funds. Executive producer: Fred Kaufman. Producer: Susan Lee. Funders: National Endowment for Children’s Educational Television, Environmental Protection Agency, for R&D; Phillips Petroleum Corp., Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, National Science Foundation. A hip, irreverent series on the outdoors for kids and their families.
Between the Lions
Producing organizations: WGBH and Sirius Thinking, Ltd. Episodes: 40 x 30. Status: scripting and fundraising. Budget: $19 million. Executive producer: Judy Stoia. A daily, half-hour series targeted to four-to-seven-year-old viewers that is the centerpiece of a multimedia initiative to promote literacy. The series blends animation, puppets and live action with skits, songs and guest celebrities, leading young viewers into an imaginary library where books, words and letters come to life. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
Bill Nye Prime Time Specials (w.t.)
Producing organizations: KCTS, Seattle, and Lark International. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $1.8 million. Major funder: National Science Foundation. Executive producer: Elizabeth Brock. Bill Nye—scientist, comedian, teacher and author—looks at the science of sports, love and getting smart. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
Boxhead Man (w.t.)
A coproduction of KCTS, Seattle; Culp Productions, Seattle; and Lark International. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: fundraising. Major funder: Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Executive producer: Elizabeth Brock. Creator/producer: David Culp. Dr. Seuss meets Timothy Leary in a fanciful series of poetic videos for kids. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
Child Soldiers
A coproduction of Electric Pictures, Wildfilm Australia, and Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: fundraising. Budget: $1 million. Executive producers: David Davis and Andrew Ogilvie. Director: Peter DuCane. A sobering investigation into the world of children transformed into soldiers, and the personal, political and societal impact of this phenomenon. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
Class in America (w.t.)
Producing organizations: Center for New American Media, New York; Midnight Films, Austin; and WETA, Washington, D.C. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $2 million. Major funders: PBS/CPB Challenge Fund, MacArthur Foundation. Executive producers: Louis Alvarez, Andrew Kolker and Paul Stekler. Executive-in-charge: David McGowan. A wide-ranging look at how social class affects American life, in the free-wheeling style of "Vote for Me." Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
The Decalogue (w.t.)
Producing organizations: Sandra Itkoff and WGBH, Boston. Episodes: 10 x 60. Status: research and fundraising. Budget: $7.8 million. Executive producer: Sandra Itkoff. Series coproducer: Beth Levison. Distinguished documentary filmmakers examine the relevance of the Ten Commandments to contemporary American morality. Producers include Errol Morris, Spencer Nakasako, Albert Maysles & Susan Froemke, Ofra Bikel, Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman, Deborah Hoffmann and Jon Else. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
Feinstein & Friends
Producing organizations: WYES-TV, New Orleans, and Easting Down Productions, Los Angeles. Episodes: 26 x 60. Status: research. Budget: $2 million. Executive producers: Paul Block and Randall Feldman. A weekly music/talk show hosted by Michael Feinstein. Musical stars perform and discuss their life in music. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
First Impressions: Nurturing Babies’ Minds
Producing station: KERA, Dallas. Status: R&D. Executive producer: Sylvia Komatsu. Producer: Yolette Garcia. Major funders: MacArthur Foundation, Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. A multi-episode, two-year programming and research project intended to galvanize efforts of medical experts, educators and child-care advocates in a national campaign about the brain potential of infants and young children. Components will include public TV broadcasts, educational materials, online information, and other tools for parents and caregivers. Partners in this project include the Families and Work Institute, Family Communications Inc., Jim Lehrer, the Children’s Television Workshop and other leading public television producers. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
The Florida Story: 500 Years on the Frontier (w.t.)
Producing organization: Florida Public Broadcasting Service, Tallahassee. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: scripting. Budget: $2.8 million. Major funders: Florida Department of Education, Florida Secretary of State. Executive producer: Jim Moran. Series producer: Larry Goldin. A television history of Florida with companion book and CD-ROM for middle and high school students. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
Hopes on the Horizon (w.t.)
Producing organization: Blackside Inc., Boston. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: scripting. Budget: $2.2 million. Executive producer: Henry Hampton. Major funders: Ford Foundation, Kellogg Foundation. A media project that highlights the ways Africans influenced the expansion of democracy in the 1990s. The project will include a two-hour documentary special, produced with African producers; international educational outreach, in partnership with the Association of African Universities and others; and a companion radio documentary. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
Justice, Justice: Jewish-Black Collaboration for Civil Rights 1930-1988
Producing organization: Lumiere Productions, New York. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising/ pre-production. Budget: $2.3 million. Executive producer: Calvin Skaggs. Series producer: David Van Taylor. Senior producer: Marco Williams. Major funders: PBS/CPB Challenge Fund, Samuel Rubin and Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundations, New York Council for the Humanities. Documents the ups and downs of Jewish-Black collaboration over the decades, highlighting the coalition’s key role in social-justice movements. Extensive outreach will translate the historical investigation into practical lessons for today. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
A Kalahari Family
Producing organizations: Kalfam Productions and Documentary Educational Resources, Watertown, Mass. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $675,000. Major funders: CPB, NEH, Rockefeller Foundation. Consulting producer: Terry Rockefeller. Producer/director: John Marshall. Associate producer: Cynthia Close. Through a nearly 50-year film record of the Ju/hoansi (Bushmen) of Namibia, filmmaker John Marshall tells the story of two families meeting in the Kalahari desert—one is living its last days as hunter-gatherers and the other, the Marshall family, prosperous Bostonians, were searching for them. The series looks into our human past and forward at our common aspirations and obligations. Plans include a web site with curricular material and other electronic media for classroom use. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
Millennium Day Broadcast
Producing organizations: WGBH and the BBC. Episodes: 25 hours. Status: production. Executive producer: Zvi Dor-Ner. An around-the-clock, around-the-world celebration of the new millennium. Anticipated air date: New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, 1999.
Music City
Producing organization: West 175 Enterprises Inc., Seattle. Episodes: 26 x 60. Status: development. Executive producer: John McEwen. Talk and music series featuring music from the 1950s to the ‘90s—rock, jazz, rap, country and classical. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
The Search for African-American Routes
Producing organizations: WYES-TV, New Orleans, and Lancit Media, New York. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: research. Budget: $3 million. Executive producers: Randall Feldman and Cecily Truett. Features locations of historical interest to African-Americans plus education, outreach and website. Hosted by LeVar Burton. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
The Secret Formula
A coproduction of Red Hill Productions, Los Angeles, and Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: preproduction. Budget: $525,000. Major funders: Turner Productions for R&D, PBS. Executive producer: David Davis. Producer: Carl Byker. Depicts the lives of the people who built the Coca-Cola "empire" and the far-reaching effects this elixir has had on history and cultures around the world. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
Settin’ the Woods on Fire: The Life and Times of George Wallace
Producing organizations: Midnight Films, Big House Productions and WGBH. Presented by The American Experience. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: postproduction. Budget: $1 million. Producers: Paul Stekler and Dan McCabe. Executive producer for American Experience: Margaret Drain. Major funders: NEH, American Experience, the Southern Humanities Media Fund, various state humanities councils. Four times governor of Alabama, four times a candidate for president, he was feared as a racist demagogue and admired as a politician who spoke his mind. A lightning rod for controversy, Wallace both reflected and provoked tensions in American society for more than four decades. This biography traces the rise of the firebrand politician from his roots in rural Alabama to the assassination attempt that transformed him. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
They Came for Good—A History of Jews in the U.S.
Producing organization: Amram Nowak Associates Inc., New York. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $2.5 million. Major funders: NEH, CPB. Producers: Amram Nowak and Manya Starr. A comprehensive history of Jews in America from the time of their first arrival in 1654 to the present. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
Turbulent Skies
Producing station: KCET, Los Angeles. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: scripting. Executive producer: Blaine Baggett. An in-depth look at the often tumultuous 90-year history of commercial aviation.
Vis a Vis
Producing organizations: Yerosha Productions, Inc., for Internews Network. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: research and fundraising. Budget: $2 million. Executive producer: Kim Spencer, San Rafael, Calif. Series producer: Steven Law-rence. Senior Producer: Dale Riehl. Major funders: CPB, the Soros Documentary Fund. People from different parts of the world meet through digital video links to explore common issues. Anticipated air date: Winter 2000.
The Alamo: The Battle for History (w.t.)
Producing station: KERA, Dallas. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: Sylvia Komatsu. Producer: Rob Tranchin. Looks at how different generations and cultures have interpreted the battle of the Alamo, and the relationship between myth and history. The programs will also examine how we look at and use history, and how it changes over time. Anticipated air date: Spring 2000.
The Aleutians (w.t.)
A coproduction of TV New Zealand, Dunedian, N.Z., and Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: R&D. Budget: $800,000. Major funder: TV New Zealand. Executive producers: Neal Harraway and David Davis. Producer/directors: Michael Single and John Booth. A natural history special on one of the most starkly beautiful island chains in the world. Stretching across the Pacific Ocean, the Aleutians have developed a habitat—and a mystique—all their own. Filmed for 16x9 DTV format. Anticipated air date: Spring 2000.
English Composition: Writing for an Audience
Producing organization: Berkow and Berkow Inc., Chico, Calif. Distributor: Annenberg/CPB Project. Episodes: 26 x 30. Status: 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. Texts from McGraw-Hill. Anticipated air date: Spring 2000.
Free to Dance
Producing organizations: WETA, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the American Dance Festival. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $2.4 million. Major funders: Ford Foundation, NEA, NEH and CPB. Executive producers: Charles and Stephanie Reinhardt. Producer: Davis Lacey. Celebrates African-American contributions to modern dance, highlighting works from the 1920s-1990s, and weaves the influence of African-American dance through the tapestry of American culture. Anticipated air date: Spring 2000.
Going to Hell . . . with Greg Palmer.
Producing organization: Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: R&D and fundraising. Budget: $750,000. Executive producer: David Davis. A witty exploration of Hell through history, myth, literature, scripture and art. Examines how varying notions of Hell have shaped the world’s cultures. Anticipated air date: Spring 2000.
Great Lodges of the National Parks
A coproduction of WW West Inc., Bend, Ore., and Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D and fundraising. Budget: $1.4 million. Co-executive producers: John Grant and Don Compton. Shot in vivid digital 16x9, this series features the beautiful lodges located in national parks and forests, and includes archive footage of construction dating to the beginning of the century. Educational materials to include an online educators’ guide and video reversioning, pending funding. Companion book. Anticipated air date: Spring 2000.
Iran: After the Revolution
Producing organizations: York Associates Television, Washington, D.C., and WETA, Washington, D.C. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $2 million. Executive producer: Richard Thomas. Series producer: Steven York. Executive-in-charge for WETA: David McGowan. An intimate portrait of the Iranian people and their lives today, two decades after they deposed the Shah. A web site is planned. Anticipated air date: Spring 2000.
Moods (w.t.)
Producing station: WETA, Washington, D.C. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $1.1 million. Executive producer: Richard Thomas. Executive-in-charge for WETA: David McGowan. A documentary series exploring the normal emotional ups and downs as well as abnormal psychology. Hosted by Dr. Kay Jamison. Project includes a web site and outreach activities. Anticipated air date: Spring 2000.
Pets ’n’ Vets
Producing organization: WGBH Science Unit. Episodes: 13 x 30. Budget: $1.3 million. Status: partially funded. Major funder: American Veterinary Medical Association. Based at a Boston animal hospital, this weekly series uses veterinary medicine as a window on the relationship between animals and people. An interactive web site planned. Anticipated air date: Spring 2000.
Piano 300 (w.t.)
Producing organizations: Maryland PTV and Smithsonian Productions. Episodes: 2 x 90. Status: fundraising. Budget: $2.25 million. Executive producers: Karen Loveland and Wes Horner. Senior producer: Jim Arntz. Celebrates the 300th anniversary of the invention of the piano with an all-star performance gala and a documentary "biography" of the world’s greatest music machine. Anticipated air date: Spring 2000.
The Presidents: In Their Own Words
Producing organizations: Kunhardt Productions, Mt. Kisco, N.Y., and WNET. Episodes: 10 x 60. Status: production. Major funder: New York Life. Executive producer: William R. Grant. Programs using the presidents’ own words to reveal the human story at the heart of political history—through speeches, diaries, letters and through the remembrances of others. Anticipated air date: Spring 2000.
Rio Grande (w.t.)
Producing station: KERA, Dallas. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: research and fundraising. Executive producer: Sylvia Komatsu. Producers: Ginny Martin and Rob Tranchin. Journeys through New Mexico and Texas to the Gulf Coast on a quest to discover the true heart of the Rio Grande. Focuses on ordinary people with extraordinary stories that echo the complex history of the Southwest.
Season by Season with Michael Chiabello
Producing station: KQED, San Francisco. Episodes: 20 x 30. Status: fundraising. Budget: $750,000. Executive producer: Peter L. Stein. Italian cuisine and home entertaining from the seasonal kitchen of Michael Chiarello of the Napa Valley's Tra Vigne Restaurant. Anticipated air date: Spring 2000.
Greetings from Texas
Producing organization: KLRU, Austin, and the Center for Documentary Studies at the University of Texas. Episodes: 8 x 60. Status: fundraising/production. Budget: $2 million. Executive producers: Paul Stekler and Mary Beth Rogers. Documentaries about life in and around the Lone Star state, including stories about a football team at a juvenile detention center, accordion music on the Mexican border, and a truck-holding contest in a small East Texas town.
Adventures in Flight
Producing organization: WGBH Science Unit. Episodes: 4 x 60. Budget: $3.6 million. Status: partially funded. The first season in a continuing series about great aviation adventures, past and present, many featuring recreations shot aboard vintage aircraft. Focus for season one is aviation pioneers. Plans call for a major web site. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
All Kinds of Minds (w.t.)
Producing station: WGBH. Episodes: 6 x 30. Status: fundraising. Budget: $5.7 million. Executive producer: Michele Korf. Broadcast series and two video libraries, supported by print and interactive media applications, to foster broader and deeper understanding of individual differences in learning and functioning, at home and in school. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
The Blues Project
Producing station: KCET, Los Angeles. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: research and scriptwriting. Executive producer: Blaine Baggett. Explores the blues, a uniquely American musical form, from its origins to contemporary expressions. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
Building Big (w.t.)
A coproduction of the WGBH Science Unit and Production Group Inc. Episodes: 5 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $6.9 million. Major funders: National Science Foundation, NEH, PBS/CPB, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. Executive producer: Larry Klein. Executive-in-charge: Paula S. Apsell. Examines the largest, most complex and awe-inspiring structures of our time. Each program focuses on a single structure, delving into its history while illustrating how modern technologies have advanced its design and construction. The series will accompanied by an array of educational outreach activities. David Macaulay, renowned author and illustrator, serves as series host and project consultant. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
California and the American Dream
A coproduction of Independent Producer Services, Berkeley, Calif., and Oregon Public Broadcasting in association with KPBS, San Diego. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: pre-production and fundraising. Budget: $2.6 million. R&D funders: the California Council for the Humanities and the Gerbode Foundation. Executive producers: David Davis and Rhyena Halpern. Series producer: Jed Riffe. In digital 16x9 format, this series sketches the many icons, legends and movements in California history that have shaped American culture and mythology, including the Gold Rush, Hollywood’s stars and Silicon Valley. Includes a digital videodisc (DVD), with new web downloads for a full year. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
Contrasting Perspectives: The World Views of C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud (w.t.)
Producing organizations: Tatge/Lasseur Productions, New York, and Contrasting Perspectives, Inc. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: scripting. Budget: up to $3 million. Executive producer: Doug Holladay. Producer: Catherine Tatge. Based on the work and teachings of Harvard's Arman Nicholi, this series presents the opposite world views of two major thinkers of the 20th century, Lewis and Freud. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
Diversity in America (w.t.)
Producing organization: Children's Express, Washington, D.C. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: pre-production. Budget: $2 million. Executive producer: Eric Graham. Major funder: W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Presents children's perspectives on diversity in a primetime mini-series. Multimedia outreach to schools and an interactive web site are planned. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
Ecotravelers Guide
Producing organizations: KETC, St. Louis, and Lark International. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: fundraising. Budget: $1.5 million. Executive producer: Mark J. Buckley. Travel/adventure series on responsible travel that conserves environments and sustains indigenous cultures in the Americas. From exotic and challenging treks to family trips. Web site planned. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
Fever in the Earth (w.t.)
Producing station: KERA, Dallas. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: Sylvia Komatsu. Producer: Rob Tranchin. A history of the development of the oil industry in the United States: the booms and busts, characters and conflicts at the heart of the American dream. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
Golf: The Game of the Ages
Producing organizations: KCET, Los Angeles; Cappy Productions Inc., in association with Jack Whitaker. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producers: Blaine Baggett, Bud Greenspan, Jack Whitaker. Profiles the men and women who have contributed to the sport of golf, and chronicles how their accomplishments intertwined with the social, political, and cultural developments of their time. Narrated by golf journalist Jack Whitaker. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
Great Projects: The Building of America
Producing organization: Great Projects Film Co., New York. Presenting station: South Carolina ETV. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $5 million. Executive producers: Kenneth Mandel and Daniel B. Polin. Producers: Seth Kramer and Daniel Miller. Major funders: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Science Foundation, AT&T. An engineering biography of the United States, concentrating on public works and the engineers, politicians, builders and workers who created them. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
Holocaust Stories: Four Enduring Questions
Producing organization: Great Projects Film Co., New York. Episodes: 4 x various lengths. Status: fundraising, scripting. Budget: $3 million. Executive producers: Kenneth Mandel and Daniel B. Polin. Producer: Seth Kramer. Although more than a half century has passed since the end of World War II, questions about the Holocaust endure. Why did Hitler do it? Why didn’t the Jews resist? Why didn’t the Allies do more? Why did so many crimes go unpunished? Distinguished filmmakers will tackle each question. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
How We Die (w.t.)
Producing organization: Public Affairs Television Inc., New York. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $4 million. Executive producers: Judith Davidson Moyers and Judy Doctoroff O’Neill. Producer: Elena Mannes. Reports on how Americans of different backgrounds regard death, examines the movement to improve end-of-life care, and provides models of change. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
Jazz
A production of Florentine Films, Walpole, N.H., and WETA, Washington, D.C. Status: production. Budget: $13.5 million. Executive producer: Ken Burns. Producers: Davis Lacey, Lynn Novick and Peter Miller. Major funders: General Motors; PBS; NEH; CPB; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism; Pew Charitable Trusts; Arthur Vining Davis Foundations; NEA. Ken Burns explores this quintessential American art form—the music, the history, the "greats"—from the beginning of this century to today. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
The Kingdom of David (w.t.)
Producing station: Oregon Public Broadcasting. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Budget: $1.6 million. Executive producer: David Davis. Producer: Carl Byker. Romance, betrayal, spirituality and the horrors of war—the history of the ancient biblical empire under Kings Saul, David and Solomon, during Israel’s Golden Age. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
School: The Story of American Public Education
Producing organizations: Stone Lantern Films. Presenting station: KCET, Los Angeles. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: production. Major funders: NEH, MacArthur Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Spender Foundation, Knight Foundation, George Gund Foundation, Hillsdale Foundation, James Ford Bell Foundation. Producers: Sarah Mondale and Sarah Patton. Examines public school as an institution whose mission is to bridge differences and provide common knowledge and values for all people of the United States. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
Sweet Chariot: The Story of the Spirituals
Producing organization: Mojo Working Productions and Vanguard Films, New York. [Web site.] Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: research, fundraising. Budget: $1.3 million. Executive producer: Charles Hobson. Producer/director: Stanley Nelson. Conceptual producer and project director: Arthur Jones. Managing producer and director of music segments: Kaye Lavine. Major funders: National Black Programming Consortium, NEH, University of Denver. The history of African-American slave spirituals and their worldwide artistic, musical and cultural impact. Hosted and narrated by Bobby McFerrin. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
Texas History Project (w.t.)
Veras Communications and WETA, Washington, D.C. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $3 million. Executive producers: George Veras and Dan Rather. Executive-in-charge for WETA: David McGowan. Dan Rather hosts this series on Texas history and culture. Explores the Lone Star State’s Hispanic and Indian heritage, political traditions, and economic history. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
This Far by Faith
Producing organization: Blackside Inc., Boston. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $4.9 million. Executive producers: Henry Hampton and Terry Kay Rockefeller. Major funders: Annie E. Casey Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, PBS/CPB Challenge Fund, Ford Foundation, NEH. A lively and thought-provoking interpretation of the African-American religious experience, and of the largely unrecognized role that African-American religious communities have played in shaping the democratic ideals central to American life. Selected local outreach sites, including religious institutions and social service agencies, will receive a package of community outreach materials and a series viewing guide. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
Willoughby’s Wonders
Producing organizations: WGBH and the Judge Baker Institute, Boston. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: scripting/fundraising. Budget: $7 million. Executive producers: Judy Stoia for WGBH; Dr. Alvin Pouissaint and Dr. Susan Linn for the Judge Baker Institute. A live-action series for 6-11 year-old children and their families dealing with childhood mental health issues. Pilot episode featured actors Joe Morgan and Margo Martindale. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
Women of the West
Producing organization: Groberg Communications Inc., and KBYU, Provo/Salt Lake City. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: development. Budget: $750,000. Executive producers: Lee Groberg and Sterling VanWagenen. Profiles the lives of the women who helped settle the West from the 1840s through the early 1900s. Anticipated air date: Fall 2000.
Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of the American Century
Producing station: KCET, Los Angeles. Episodes: 2 x 90. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: Blaine Baggett. Follows the rise and fall of Woodrow Wilson and explains his moral vision within the context of ideas and emotions expressed by his generation.
Ardent Spirits: Alcohol Through the Ages
A coproduction of WNET, Film Odyssey Inc. and the Recovery Institute. Episodes: 5 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive-in-charge: Ward Chamberlin. Producer: Karen Thomas. Traces the role of alcohol through human history from Biblical times to the present—uses, abuses, mythology and lore. Anticipated air date: Sometime in 2000.
Australia: Beyond the Fatal Shore (w.t.)
A coproduction of WNET, the BBC, Australian Broadcasting and NVC Arts. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: production. Major funder: CPB/PBS Challenge Fund. Executive producer: Jac Venza. Robert Hughes explores the facts and myths of the history of the Australian people, their attitudes and social dynamics, through paintings, sculpture, poetry, monuments, architecture and literature. Anticipated air date: Sometime in 2000.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Producing organizations: Ambrica Productions, New York and Boston, and the Filmmakers Collaborative, Waltham, Mass. Presented by The American Experience. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: production. Budget: $1 million. Major funders: NEH, American Experience. Executive producers: Judith Vecchione and Margaret Drain. Producers: Sue Williams and Kathryn Dietz. A fresh examination of a still-controversial American legend—Eleanor Roosevelt, the favorite niece of one president, wife of another, charismatic and admired, also viciously caricatured. Her life story includes privilege, romance, tragedy and ground-breaking efforts for peace and human rights. Anticipated air date: Sometime in 2000.
Neighborhoods: The Hidden Cities of San Francisco
Producing station: KQED, San Francisco. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $1.4 million. Executive producer: Peter L. Stein. The dramatic history of three neighborhoods that help define America: the Fillmore, Haight-Ashbury and North Beach, by the team that produced "Chinatown" and "The Castro." Anticipated air date: sometime in 2000.
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow (w.t.)
A coproduction of WNET and Videoline/Quest Productions. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: production of pilot. Major funders: NEH, Winthrop/Rockefeller. Executive producers: Bill Grant and Richard Wormser. Other producers: Bill Jersey and Sam Pollard. Examines the African-American struggle for freedom during the period of segregation in the South, 1880-1954. Anticipated air date: Sometime in 2000.
Sister Wendy’s American Collection
Producing station: WGBH. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: research. Executive producers: Jill Janows and David Willcock. Sister Wendy’s personal tour of six great American art museums and the highlights of their collections. Anticipated air date: Sometime in 2000.
The Spirit of Enterprise
Producing organizations: Maryland PTV and Legacy Productions. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: research, fundraising. Budget: $2 million. Executive producers: John Potthast and David Osterlund. Writer: John Steele Gordon. Oral histories, archival images, music, and selections from historic diaries and journals tell the stories of American business history. The Spirit of Enterprise shows how the economic past shapes and illuminates the present.
The Legal Files
Producing organizations: Nancy Porter Productions and WGBH. Episodes: 8 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $5-6 million. Executive producer: Nancy Porter. This primetime series is the centerpiece of a national media initiative designed to educate Americans about their laws and their legal system. The documentary programs will be story-driven and dramatic, focusing on actual cases, proceedings and practitioners that illustrate how the law functions in our society and how the legal system deals with the important issues confronting it today. Anticipated air date: 2000 or 2001.
The Sound of the Century: When the Music Went Round
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: R&D completed. Executive producer: John Adams. Series project director: Barry J. Pavelec [spelling corrected]. Details the story of the invention and development of the phonograph record and the industry and cultural revolution it created. Anticipated air date: 2000 or 2001.
Evolution (w.t.)
Producing organizations: WGBH Science Unit, Clear Blue Sky Productions. Episodes: 8 x 60. Status: fully funded, pre-production. Budget: $8 million. Wide-ranging series on the theory of evolution, accompanied by a major web site, ambitious outreach program and companion trade book. Anticipated air date: Sometime in 2000.
Fire (w.t.)
Producing station: WGBH. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: development. Budget: $2.5 million. Executive producer and producer: Judith Vecchione. Director: Jon Else. Senior consultant: Stephen J. Fyne. The story of fire on earth—in wilderness and cities, through history and around the globe, in primitive hearths and internal combustion engines and atomic firestorms. Anticipated air date: Sometime in 2000.
A History of Tomorrow
Producing organization: Arcadia Pictures, New York. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: scripting, pre-production, seeking corporate underwriting. Budget: $2.8 million. Executive producers: Andrea Simon, Peggy Liss. Major funders: NEH, PBS, private foundations. People from around the world explore the historical context and spiritual resonance of the idea of the Millennium. Anticipated air date: Sometime in 2000.
Memoirs of a Secret Empire (w.t.)
Producing organizations: Lyn Goldfarb Productions Inc., Los Angeles, and ArrowBee Concept Ltd. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: R&D, fundraising. Budget: $1.5 million. Executive producer: Lyn Goldfarb. Producer: Deborah Desnoo (in Tokyo). A look at the unknown Japan of 1600-1913, three centuries of isolation ending with westernization. Anticipated air date: Sometime in 2000.
The Modern Ark
Producing organization: Lyn Goldfarb Productions Inc. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: fundraising. Budget: $1.2 million. Executive producer: Lyn Goldfarb. Co-producer: Vicki Croke. A vivid view of the radical changes occurring in today’s zoos, their fascinating and shocking history and their controversial future. Based on Vicki Croke’s book, The Modern Ark. Anticipated air date: Sometime in 2000.
The National City (w.t.)
Producing organizations: Florentine Films/Hott Productions and WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: scripting. Executive producer: William R. Grant. Producers: Lawrence Hott, Tom Lewis. The complex history of Washington, D.C., a city with unique political, geographical and cultural attributes. A book, web site and educational outreach programs are planned. Anticipated air date: Sometime in 2000.
The Rockefellers (w.t.)
Producing organization: WGBH. Presented by The American Experience. Episodes: 2 x 90. Status: production. Budget: $1.9 million. Executive producer: Margaret Drain. Senior producer: Mark Samels. Producers: Elizabeth Deane, Adriana Bosch. Major funder: American Experience. Few American families have been as powerful, as admired or as hated as the Rockefellers, and no family has been as rich. Three generations of a family that exerted unparalleled influence in business, government, art and education.
A History of God
Producing organizations: Maryland PTV, Nomadic Pictures. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D, fundraising. Budget: $2.75 million. Executive producers: Danny Alpert, Tod S. Lending, John Potthast. Based on the bestselling book by Karen Armstrong, this series tells the story of humankind’s visions of God, the impact on history and relevance to contemporary culture. Anticipated air date: Spring 2001.
Pacific Profiles
Producing organization: Pacific Islanders in Communications, Honolulu. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Budget: $300,000. Executive producer: Carlyn Tani. Producer: Carin Williams. An arts and culture series, formerly Pacific Beat, that will look at Pacific people at the forefront of cultural change. Anticipated air date: Spring 2001.
Ben Franklin
Producing organizations: KTCA, Twin Cities; Middlemarch Films, New York. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: research, fundraising. Executive producer: Catherine Allan. Three-part biography exploring the life, times and many contradictory sides of this most celebrated American. Anticipated air date: Fall 2001.
Dances of the Pacific (w.t.)
Producing organization: Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC), Honolulu, in association with Tatge/Lasseur Productions Inc. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D, fundraising. Budget: $3.2 million. Executive producer: Carlyn Tani. Co-executive producer: Sharon Tavares. Producer/director: Catherine Tatge. Major funder: PIC. Looks at dance, from New Zealand to Hawaii, as the heartbeat of a culture—more than a cultural curiosity or quaint entertainment. Anticipated air date: Fall 2001.
Dragonfly!
Producing organizations: KTCA, Twin Cities; National Science Teachers Association; Miami University of Ohio. Episodes: 13 x 30. Budget: $1.5 million. Executive producer: Richard Hudson. Major funder: National Science Foundation. Children’s series based on the successful new NSTA magazine, Dragonfly, featuring children 8-12 presenting their own scientific investigations and their collaborations with working scientists. The goal: a forum for children and scientists sharing their excitement in scientific discovery. Anticipated air date: Fall 2001.
Mark Twain
Producing organizations: Florentine Films, Walpole, N.H.; WETA, Washington, D.C. Episodes: 2 x 90. Status: pre-production. Budget: $1.7 million. Executive producer: Ken Burns. Producers: Ken Burns, Dayton Duncan. Major funders: General Motors, Pew Charitable Trusts, PBS/CPB, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Connecticut Tourism. A bio of Samuel Longhorn Clemens—steamboat pilot, journalist and writer of the masterwork Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Part of Ken Burns’ American Biographiescollection. Anticipated air date: Fall 2001.
The Spanish in the Americas (w.t.)
Producing station: KERA, Dallas. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Executive producer: Sylvia Komatsu. Multi-national series looks at the history and influence of Spanish settlement in the Americas, imprinting its language, literature, religion, architecture and food from the southern U.S. to Mexico and Central America, and the competition with England and France that determined the fate of the continent.
China in the Red (w.t.)
Producing organizations: Ambrica Productions, New York, and WGBH. Episodes: 1 x 120. Status: production. Budget: $1.2 million. Executive producer: Judith Vecchione. Producer/director/writer: Sue Williams. Project director/co-producer: Kathryn Dietz. Is China still communist? As its government races to dismantle huge state-run enterprises, citizens struggle with a dramatically changed reality. Intimate portraits of a society in flux, filmed over a three-year period. Anticipated air date: Sometime in 2001.
History of Texas (w.t.)
Producing station: KERA, Dallas. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Executive producer: Sylvia Komatsu. Examines Texas history from its Native American roots through its stages as a Spanish colony, a province of Mexico, an independent republic, a part of the Confederacy and a dynamic contemporary state. Anticipated air date: Sometime in 2001.
The Secret Life of the Brain
Producing organizations: David Grubin Productions, WNET. Episodes: 5 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producers: David Grubin and Beth C. Hoppe (WNET). Major funders: National Science Foundation, Pfizer, CPB/PBS Challenge Fund. Follows the stages of brain development from conception through advanced age; looks at knowledge gained from study of dysfunctional brain activity and the ongoing revolution in neuroscience. Print materials, training workshops and a web site are planned.
The Gulf Coast (w.t.)
Producing station: KERA, Dallas. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Executive producer: Sylvia Komatsu. Explores the life and culture of America’s "third coast," showcasing the natural history of the region. The series interweaves multiple stories of people, industry and nature to reveal the intricate balance of this vulnerable point between sea and land. Anticipated air date: Sometime in 2001.
Louisiana History (w.t.)
Producing organization: Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB). Episodes: 1 x 90, 5 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $600,000. Executive producers: Beth Courtney, Clay Fourrier. Producers: Tika Laudun, Al Godoy. Major funders: the State of Louisiana and LPB. Louisiana's history from pre-colonization until the present. Anticipated air date: 2003.
Native Americans in the 21st Century (w.t.)
Producing organization: Native American Public Telecommunications. Episodes: 4-6 x 60. Status: research and development. Budget: $5 million. Executive producer: Frank Blythe. Series producer: Phil Lucas. Major funders: the Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, CPB. A documentary exploring who Native Americans will be in America in the 21st century. Companion radio series planned for NPR, as well as educational outreach. Anticipated air date: Fall 2003.
The Texas Rangers (w.t.)
Producing station: KERA, Dallas. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: R&D. Executive producer: Sylvia Komatsu. Tracks the controversial history of the legendary Texas Rangers who—for some Americans—helped define the image of the rugged Westerner. But, for many others, they were ranging authoritarians who overstepped legal boundaries.
Africa: Land of the Sun
A coproduction of Magic Box Mediaworks, WNET and National Geographic Society. Episodes: 8 x 60. Status: research. Executive producers: Fred Kaufman, Jennifer Lawson. Producers: Jeremy Bradshaw, Andrew Jackson. A natural history and culture series exploring Africa. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
American Novel
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 6 x 120. Status: R&D. Executive producers: Susan Lacy, Lawrence Pitkethy. Major funder: NEH. Documentaries on the modern American novel with one novel at the center of each program. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Art for the Twenty-First Century
Producing organizations: WNET and Art 21. Episodes: 4-6 x 60. Status: piloting. Executive producer: Susan Sollins. Executive-in-charge: Jac Venza. Major funder: NEA. A mini-series of four annual programs that will introduce a broad, mainstream audience to 15-20 visual artists each season. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
The Box (w.t.)
Producing organizations: KCTS, Seattle, and Lark International. Episodes: 52 x 30. Executive producer: Jeff Gentes. Producer: Peggy Case. Resembling the dime-store photo booth, the video box travels to private worlds and records the thoughts and feelings of not-so-ordinary people. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Breaking the Maya Code
Producing organization: Night Fire Films, Venice, Calif. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: research. Budget: $1 million. Executive producer: David Lebrun. Major funder: NEH for research and scripting. Tells the story of the deciphering of the complex Maya Hieroglyphic script from the 16th century to the present. Based in large part on the 1992 book of the same title by Michael Coe, and supplemented by the latest discoveries in the field. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Buddhism in America (w.t.)
Producing organizations: KCTS, Seattle, and Lark International. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: Gary Gibson. Producer: Lisa Hardmeyer. Examines the movement of Buddhism in America, exploring its migration from the fringes of American culture to its center. The series will illuminate the impact of Buddhism on America and vice versa. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Building the American Dream (w.t.)
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 5 x 60. Status: planning. Executive producer: Susan Lacy. Producer: Peter Foges. Major funders: NEA, NEH. Looks at the ways in which architecture, industrial design and urban planning express and affect American culture. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Buzz (w.t.)
Producing organizations: KCTS, Seattle, and Lark International. Episodes: 52 x 60. Status: research. Three teen girls share a mission—to restore order to the world through the megaton power of girls. This show examines issues important to teens—male and female—the environment, the future, music, sports, etc. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
By Nature’s Design (w.t.)
Producing organizations: KCTS, Seattle, and Lark International. Episodes: 2 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: Jeff Gentes. Explores nature’s designs and how these are reflected in structures fashioned by humans. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Cyberchase
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 13 x 30 (season one). Status: piloting. Executive producers: Sandra Sheppard, Kristin Martin. Executive-in-charge: Ruth Ann Burns. Pilot funders: National Science Foundation, Picower Foundation. Animated action-adventure series about a trio of kids in cyberspace. When sent on intriguing missions, they have to use math in real-world applications. Designed for kids aged 7-10. Project includes educational print materials for use at home and online activities. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Dinner with Nick Stellino
Producing organizations: KCTS, Seattle, and Lark International. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: Jeff Gentes. Nick Stellino travels to America’s major cities to host progressive dinner parties with top restaurant owners/chefs. Each show introduces four chefs, each creating just one course in his/her establishment. From appetizer, to salad, on through dessert, the party moves around town from restaurant to restaurant. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
The Dutch
Coproducing organizations: TV Matters and WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: seeking production funds. Executive producer: William Grant. Series producer: Stephen Stept. Explores the people, major events, landscape, culture, industry and history of the Dutch. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Extinctions
Producing organizations: KCTS, Seattle, and Lark International. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: Jeff Gentes. Transports viewers back in time to explore the three major eras that have ended in mass extinction, and speculates about the next one that lies ahead. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Go North Young Man
Producing organizations: New York Times Electronic Media Co. and WNET. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: R&D. Executive producer: William Grant. Examines Hispanic-American influence on American culture. Topics include the Spanish-American War, post-World War II Latin American migration, and the economic and political power of today’s Hispanic America. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization
Producing organizations: Atlantic Productions in association with PBS and Devillier Donegan Enterprises. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $2 million. Executive producer: Anthony Geffen. Major funders: PBS and DDE. In the fourth and fifth centuries B.C., the Greeks built an empire that stretched across the Mediterranean from Asia to Spain. They laid the foundations of modern science, politics, warfare, philosophy and art. This series recounts the glory, demise and legacy of the empire that marked the dawn of Western Civilization. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Handmade: American Style
Producing station: WETA, Washington, D.C.. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: in development, pilot completed. Budget: $1 million. Executive-in-charge: Phylis Geller. Producer: Jackson Frost. Explores the world of high-quality craft, covering the traditional craft media of clay, fiber, metal, glass and wood. Each program will be shot on location, focusing on a different region of the U.S. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Islam: Empire of Faith
Producing organization: Gardner Films in association with PBS and Devillier Donegan Enterprises. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: scripting. Budget: $1.6 million. Executive producer: Rob Gardner. Major funders: DDE and PBS. Tells the story of a dramatic and often-forgotten period of world history: the rise of Islam, after the fall of Rome and before the European voyages of discovery. In the span of generations, Islam spread from a small desert town on the Arabian peninsula to encompass more than half the known world. Across the spectrum of the arts, sciences and humanities, Islam was the crucible for the ideas of earlier empires and spawned one of the greatest intellectual diasporas in history. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Journey Into Amazonia
Producing organization: Icon Films in association with PBS and Devillier Donegan Enterprises. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $1.8 million. Executive producer: Harry Marshall. Major funders: PBS and DDE. Explores the intricate beauty of the Amazon wilderness, home to the greatest variety of species on the planet. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Joystick Nation (w.t.)
Producing organization: KCTS, Seattle, and Lark International. Episodes: 26 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: Jeff Gentes. Brings to life stories about the people and events behind Space Invaders, Pac Man, Super Marioand other celebrated video games. Based on the book of the same title by J.C. Herz. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
The Last Great American Places
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: R&D. Executive producers: Fred Kaufman, William Grant. Celebrates the natural wonders of this country by visiting its last great places: historical rivers, majestic mountains, "Great" lakes, etc. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Life Beyond Earth
Producing organizations: KCTS, Seattle, with Lark International in association with Devillier Donegan Enterprises. Episodes: 2 x 60 or 1 x 120. Status: postproduction. Budget: $1.4 million. Writer/creator/narrator: Tim Ferris. Producer: Linda Feferman. Major funders: PBS and DDE. Takes a comprehensive look at the breakthroughs in technology that make possible an accelerated search for extraterrestrials. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Millennium Minutes
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 60 x 60 seconds. Status: seeking production funds. Executive producer: Susan Lacy. Spots that feature the great moments of the 20th century that have been preserved in photography and motion pictures. Explores a different theme every week. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Napoleon
Producing organizations: David Grubin Productions in association with Canal Plus, PBS and Devillier Donegan Enterprises. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: scripting. Budget: $3.1 million. Executive producer: David Grubin. Major funders: PBS and DDE. For nearly two decades, Napoleon Bonaparte—soldier, emperor, lover, statesman—strode the world stage like a colossus. He was loved, despised, venerated and feared. From his birth in Corsica to his final exile on the godforsaken island of St. Helena, David Grubin’s Napoleonbrings this extraordinary figure to life. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
New Biology
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. Executive producer: Beth C. Hoppe. Funders: Howard Stein, for R&D. A series about what is known about the genetic make-up of humans and how it is changing how we think about ourselves. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Our Genes, Our Choices: A Socratic Seminar
Producing organizations: The Fred Friendly Seminars Inc., in association with the Century Foundation (formerly the 20th Century Fund). Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 3 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: Richard Kilberg. Producers: Barbara Margolis. Using the Socratic dialogue format, this series will address issues raised by genetics, such as civil liberties and privacy protections, medical decisions related to disease treatment, and personal issues, such as designing your own baby. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
The Press and the Public: A Socratic Seminar
Producing organization: The Fred Friendly Seminars Inc., in association with the Century Foundation. Presenting station: WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: Richard Kilberg. Producers: Barbara Margolis. A conversation about the rights and responsibilities of a free press. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Primal Contact
A production of WETA, Washington, D.C.; Mandalay Media Arts; and Beyond International. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: development. Producers: Jason Williams, Bill Morgan. An HDTV series examining the history of the earliest complex relationship between humans and animals from history to the present day. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Sahara (w.t.)
Producing organizations: Mandalay Media Arts in association with PBS and Devillier Donegan Enterprises (DDE). Episodes: 2 x 60 or 1 x 120. Status: postproduction. Budget: $1.2 million. Executive producer: Barry Clark. Major funders: PBS and DDE. Filmed in Super 35mm, this series captures life in the Sahara, the world’s largest desert, home to foxes that meow, cats that bark, lizards that swim through sand, and gazelles that never drink. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Secrets from the Russian Archives (w.t.)
Producing organizations: Invision Productions and Abamedia in association with PBS and DDE. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: production and postproduction. Budget: $2 million Executive producer: Bill Cran. Major funders: PBS and DDE. Features never-before-seen footage from deep within Russian’s film, photo and document vaults, revealing dramatic stories of 20th century Soviet history. Each program discloses a story of "what really happened" behind the Iron Curtain. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Seven Summits
Producing organization: WGBH Science Unit. Episodes: 7 X 60. Status: in development. Expeditions to the highest peaks on the seven continents, featuring director/cameraman David Breashears. Extensive web site to include online adventures of each expedition. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Simple Living (w.t.)
Producing organizations: KCTS, Seattle, and Lark International. Episodes: 13 x 30. Status: fundraising. Budget: $1.2 million. Executive producer: Jeff Gentes. Senior producer: Vivia Boe. Explores how to enjoy life more while cutting clutter, debt and waste. Wanda Urbanska will host. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Stage on Screen
Producing station: WNET. Episodes: 4 x 90 or 120. Status: R&D. Executive producer: Jac Venza. Funders: PBS for R&D. Four original drama specials to be based on new and classic works of theater, featuring the best of today’s writing, directing, and acting talent. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
A Thinking America
Producing organizations: KCTS, Lark International and the University of Puget Sound. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: Katie Jennings. Models the thinking process associated with a liberal arts education, seeking to inspire viewers to apply this sort of thinking to everyday life. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Touchstones: The Future of the Past
A production of Muse Film and Television and WETA, Washington, D.C. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producers: Karl Katz for Muse, Phylis Geller for WETA. Producer: Robert Ross. Explores the wonder and significance of man-made legacies of art and architecture worldwide that are seriously endangered by war, neglect and pollution. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
Triumph of Life
Producing organizations: Green Umbrella in association with PBS, WNET and Devillier Donegan Enterprises. Episodes: 6 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $5.5 million. Executive producer: Peter Jones. Producer: Nick Upton. Major funders: PBS, DDE and WNET. The story of evolution as it has never been told before: breakthroughs in the natural sciences and the art of wildlife filmmaking converge to provide a new vision of the epic forces that have shaped the creatures of the Earth. Anticipated air date: to be determined.
A Women’s Guide to Health
A coproduction of Alvin H. Perlmutter and WNET. Episodes: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Executive producer: Alvin Perlmutter. Studio-based discussion with host Nancy Snyderman on health issues of critical concern to women. Anticated air date: to be determined.
Web page revised Nov. 19, 1998
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