PBS announced a robust slate of new programming at the TCA Winter Press Tour while reaffirming its commitment to diversity.
(PBS)
What’s Happening:
- PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger made some big announcements today during a TCA press conference.
- In addition to a full slate of programming, listed below, PBS announced the first podcasts from PBS Digital Studios.
- It’s Lit! (February 2022) – Inspired by the popular YouTube series, It’s Lit! unpacks popular and classic literature and their authors.
- Eons: Mysteries of Deep Time (March 2022) – Inspired by another popular PBS Digital Studios YouTube series, explores prehistoric life on Earth.
- PBS and Firelight Media have also reaffirmed their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives through a $3.6 million commitment to the William Greaves Fund, which helps address structural challenges filmmakers face after completing their first films.
- A new long-term initiative to diversify public media was also launched with a commitment to elevating diverse voices and perspectives in production roles. This includes an Early-Career Filmmaker Mentorship Program, Executive Fellowship Program, and dynamic accountability and reporting structures.
PBS Programming Announcements:
- Making Black America: Through the Grapevine with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
- When: Fall 2022
- Description: A four-part series from executive producer, host and writer Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., will premiere in Fall 2022 on PBS stations nationwide. In this latest series from the acclaimed Harvard scholar and documentarian, Gates and director Stacey L. Holman chronicle the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people beyond the reach of the “White gaze.” The series recounts the establishment of the Prince Hall Masons in 1775 through the formation of all-Black towns and business districts, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, destinations for leisure, and the social media phenomenon of Black Twitter. Gates sits with noted scholars, politicians, cultural leaders, and old friends to discuss this world behind the color line and what it looks like today. Making Black America takes viewers into an extraordinary world that showcased Black people’s ability to collectively prosper, defy white supremacy and define Blackness in ways that transformed America itself.
- One Day in March
- When: May 2022
- Description: In March 2021, a 21-year-old white man murdered eight people, including six women of Asian descent, at three spas in Atlanta, Georgia. The shooting was a watershed moment in a year of increasing violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). For many, the tragic events became a galvanizing moment and inspired an emerging collective identity and new political clout for AAPI communities. The WNET Group, home to New York’s flagship PBS station THIRTEEN, today announced the production of One Day In March (w.t.), a new one-hour documentary that will chronicle the troubling escalation of hate and violence against AAPI people and spotlight the movement to turn anger into action.
- Becoming Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom
- When: Fall 2022
- Description: Executive produced by acclaimed filmmaker Stanley Nelson, PBS and Maryland Public Television (MPT) present two original documentaries that shed new light on the lives of a pair of towering figures in the struggle to end slavery: Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass.
- American Experience: Taken Hostage
- When: November 14-15, 2022
- Description: A new four-hour, two-part documentary film about the Iran hostage crisis— when 52 American diplomats, Marines and civilians were taken hostage at the American Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979. For the next 444 days, the world watched as the United States received a daily barrage of humiliation, vitriol and hatred from a country most Americans knew little about. The crisis would transform the U.S. and Iran and forever upend the focus and direction of American foreign policy. “Taken Hostage” is a film by Robert Stone. It is his ninth project for American Experience, following the critically acclaimed and award-winning film, “Chasing the Moon.”
- The Green Planet
- When: Wednesdays, July 6-August 3, 2022
- Description: A new five-part documentary series about Earth’s biodiversity told through the fascinating story of plants. As host Sir David Attenborough explains, “Every mouthful of food that we eat, every lungful of air that we breathe, depends on plants.” Using pioneering new filmmaking technology and the latest science, The Green Planet takes viewers from the deepest jungles to the harshest deserts, revealing the strange and wonderful world of plants as never before. Living secret, unseen lives, plants are often overlooked. Yet they are as aggressive, competitive and dramatic as animals— locked in life-and-death struggles for food and light, taking part in fierce battles for territory and desperately trying to reproduce and scatter their young. Produced in partnership with the BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit.
- Great Performances: Broadway’s Best – Company
- When: May 27, 2022
- Great Performances presents a documentary exploring the legacy of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s musical Company, part of the series’ fifth “Broadway’s Best” lineup. Filmed over two years, the broadcast takes an inside look at Tony-winning director Marianne Elliott’s creative process of bringing the reimagined gender-swapped production to Broadway during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a cast including Tony and Grammy winner Katrina Lenk, and two-time Tony and two-time Grammy winner Patti LuPone. Featuring rehearsal and performance footage, plus new interviews with Elliott, Lenk, LuPone, Sondheim and members of the original 1970 cast.
- The Story of Hip-Hop with Chuk D
- When: Fall 2022
- Description: The Story of Hip-Hop with Chuk D (w.t.) is a new four-part series currently in production for broadcast in Fall 2022. The series, developed by Chuck D and his manager Lorrie Boula traces the story of this globally influential art form over the past 40 years up to today. Chuck D, legendary artist, activist and co-founder of Public Enemy and Prophets of Rage, will also feature in the production.
- PBS Kids: Arthur
- When: February 21, 2022
- Description: Arthur, the iconic Peabody and Emmy Award-winning series based on the bestselling books by Marc Brown, will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a special marathon, including four new episodes, which culminate in a much-anticipated ending that gives a glimpse into what’s in store for the future of these beloved characters. The marathon will feature more than 250 episodes and movie specials back-to-back on the PBS KIDS 24/7 channel and livestream, as well as on the PBS KIDS YouTube channel from February 16 at 9:00 a.m. EST to February 21 at 5:00 p.m. EST. The four brand-new episodes will air on PBS stations (check local listings) and stream free on PBS KIDS on February 21, concluding the show’s 25th and final television season.
- New content from Arthur will continue rolling out in 2022 and beyond, including a podcast, video shorts that tackle timely and compelling topics, and digital games. The 25 seasons of Arthur (250+ episodes) will continue to be available on PBS KIDS.
- PBS Kids: Work It Our Wombats!
- When: Winter 2023
- Description: Work It Our Wombats! is a new animated series for kids ages 3-6 from GBH Kids and Pipeline Studios. Work It Our Wombats! stars Malik, Zadie, and Zeke—three energetic and creative marsupial siblings who live with their grandmother in her treehouse apartment complex. The playful trio will demonstrate computational thinking (CT) for preschoolers, a way of thinking that enables them to solve problems, express themselves, and accomplish tasks using the practices, processes and ideas at the core of computer science. Work It Our Wombats! is set to premiere on PBS KIDS in early 2023.