PBS America

[Calvert]

It's bloody brilliant, isn't it?

This Ken Burns chap makes the best documentaries ever.
Just finished watching Prohibition and it's immense.
He did a belter called The War combining some truly brutal footage and narrative of the European and Pacific theatres with four small American towns and the impact it had on the folks back home.
His documentary on the American Civil War was truly outstanding.

Man's a bally genius.

Is PBS publicly funded or is a private venture?
It's a gem of a broadcaster either way.

[Cal Alamein]

PBS America

PBS is indeed good. The right wing pukes would love for it to disappear forever. The govt kicks a decent amount but much of the funding comes from underwriters as well as contributions from local citizens.

In addition, Ken Burns also did a brilliant doc on Lewis and Clark, Baseball and Jazz while his brother did a great one on the Donner Party.

[Calvert]

PBS America

Cheers, Cal. Went a did a bit if Wiki there.
Burns is a card-carrying Democrat, apparently.
He's much younger that I thought he was.

New one about the Roosevelts coming soon.
Woo, and indeed, HOO!

It's what television can be.

[Flynnie]

PBS America

His brother also did an outstanding documentary on New York. It has a few flaws (as do all of the Burns docs) but the overall achievement is outstanding.

[matt j]

PBS America

I have a problem with anybody who still thinks George Will makes a good talking head about any subject at all.

But The Civil War, Baseball, and (most of) Jazz were quite good, I thought.

[Reed John]

PBS America

And yet George Will comes off as very sensible and even progressive in Baseball.

All of his docs feel kind of the same, but they're all very good and well worth it.

[Toby Gymshorts]

PBS America

Whilst I don't think they had a hand in the production, PBS America did broadcast the amazing documentary Jason Becker - Not Dead Yet here in the UK.

Regardless of your opinion of the man's music, the film is well worth seeing. Kudos to PBS for broadcasting a fairly niche piece which most channels wouldn't even consider.

[Reed John]

PBS America

Certainly, Burns' ouvre is a great way to understand America properly - the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I thought "not dead yet" was the title of Richard Pryor's biopic, no?

[Reed John]

PBS America

The Onion makes a good point.

[Incandenza]

PBS America

Ken Burns did a really good documentary on Frank Lloyd Wright that's worth checking out, and he was one of a few directors of a documentary on the Central Park Five case that came out last year.

I'm interested to know more on how you're watching these, Calvert--is it a channel over there? If so, what else is on there?

[Toby Gymshorts]

PBS America

Reed John wrote: I thought "not dead yet" was the title of Richard Pryor's biopic, no?

'I Ain't Dead Yet'.

[Reed John]

PBS America

Toby Gymshorts wrote:

I thought "not dead yet" was the title of Richard Pryor's biopic, no?

'I Ain't Dead Yet'.

Thanks for that clarification.

[ursus arctos]

PBS America

The PBS America website

Seems to aggregate programs from The American Experience (home of the Burns' documentaries), Nova (the US counterpart to Horizon), Frontline (the US counterpart to Panorama) and other PBS productions, including some Charlie Rose shows.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

PBS America

calvert the PBS channel on sky is great for a while, until you realise that there isn't that much on it other than ken burns shows, and they show them on heavy rotation.

mind you you still have a lot ahead of you. keep an eye out for the one about the building of the brooklyn bridge. It's fascinating.

[ursus arctos]

PBS America

That was Burns' first PBS documentary, and is great.

It draws heavily on David McCullough's The Great Bridge, which is very much worth reading.

[Calvert]

PBS America

calvert the PBS channel on sky is great for a while, until you realise that there isn't that much on it other than ken burns shows, and they show them on heavy rotation.

Well, I've just watched another excellent documentary called 1964 and it's not a Burns effort. Later on there would appear to be a very recordable programme about German Jews fleeing the Reich to work in Hollywood.

[Reed John]

PBS America

I thought you lived in Oklahoma. I've mixed you up with someone else.

[ursus arctos]

PBS America

Cal Alamein?

He lives in New Mexico, but went to Oklahoma.

Calvert is rather different.

[Incandenza]

PBS America

Try to watch Frontline if they show it, most of them are really great.

PBS does have it's problems, mind you...one of the Koch brothers is on the board of WGBH, the PBS station in Boston and one of the biggest PBS stations in the country (the way it works is that major cities have their PBS affiliates, which show national PBS programs, but also make their own programs, which might then be made available to other stations). PBS was going to air a documentary on the Kochs, but he apparently exerted a lot of pressure and PBS backed down and it hasn't been shown.

[Reed John]

PBS America

ursus arctos wrote: Cal Alamein?

He lives in New Mexico, but went to Oklahoma.

Calvert is rather different.

Oh, that's right.

[Reed John]

PBS America

Incandenza wrote: Try to watch Frontline if they show it, most of them are really great.

PBS does have it's problems, mind you...one of the Koch brothers is on the board of WGBH, the PBS station in Boston and one of the biggest PBS stations in the country (the way it works is that major cities have their PBS affiliates, which show national PBS programs, but also make their own programs, which might then be made available to other stations). PBS was going to air a documentary on the Kochs, but he apparently exerted a lot of pressure and PBS backed down and it hasn't been shown.

In the era of Netflix, youtube, and on-demand, that kind of fuckery doesn't matter as much as it used to.

[Toby Gymshorts]

PBS America

Reed John wrote:

I thought "not dead yet" was the title of Richard Pryor's biopic, no?

'I Ain't Dead Yet'.

Thanks for that clarification.

No worries (and apologies if that came across as a bit gruff). It's worth seeing too.