KQED has dropped plans for a public TV documentary about pioneering Napa Valley winemaker Robert Mondavi after widespread newspaper reports that an organization funded largely by Mondavi had supplied the first and only seed money. Continue reading
Admired series disappears into copyright limbo Followup, 2008 The series contained so many musical clips that the producers apparently didn’t want to spend what it would take to extend their broadcast rights. For years, as a result, the series has … Continue reading
In many ways, Orlando Bagwell’s work announced his arrival as a notable creative talent years ago, when he and a handful of mostly inexperienced, young producers collaborated with Henry Hampton on Eyes on the Prize, the civil rights series that … Continue reading
After a seven-month investigation of the factual accuracy of ”Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II,” WNET announced Sept. 7, 1993, that some portions of the documentary were ”seriously flawed” and that the New York station would continue … Continue reading
The producer of Eyes on the Prize and other major PBS documentary series keynoted the PBS annual conference in San Francisco in June 1992. [He died in 1998.] I have warm memories of the last time I addressed this body. … Continue reading
Documentary-maker Ken Burns told why he’s continuing to work with public broadcasting at the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles in January [1992]. During a question-and-answer session, a writer asked him: “Ken, for this project, as well as … Continue reading
Marlon Riggs, who died in 1994, produced and directed the film Tongues Untied that aired in July 1991 on the PBS series POV, and a number of other films. He also taught at the University of California, Berkeley. This commentary … Continue reading
After 17 years in blissful obscurity, the Loud family is about to be put back into the public television fish bowl. WNET-TV in New York will rebroadcast on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day An American Family, the 1973 … Continue reading