Historical Programming Archives - Page 6 of 14

Go behind the scenes of NGC’s “Killing Jesus”

February 26, 2015 Lori Acken

I am seated near a bank of monitors in a maze-like casbah in Tamnougalt, a 400-year-old village in Morocco’s Draa River valley. Actors, crew members and locals mill about in cool, cramped hallways with rocky floors, clay walls and a tightly thatched ceiling that, now and then, releases a shower of dust that coats our hair and teeth. Flies and feral cats are omnipresent. And we’re all in the presence of Jesus. Actually, it’s my first day visiting the sets of National Geographic Channel’s Killing Jesus, its most ambitious film project to date and the third of the network’s films […]

Fascinating PBS series explores history of “The Italian Americans”

February 17, 2015 Jeff Pfeiffer

Thanks to a society largely dominated by pop culture, the view of Italian-Americans among most of their fellow citizens might fall within the realm of The Sopranos or The Godfather, or even Jersey Shore. While elements from each of these can be found in Italian-American society, there are, as with every other group, things that are perhaps less recognized and celebrated. The new two-night PBS series The Italian Americans, following in the footsteps of the network’s similarly themed Latino Americans and The African Americans, looks to give the full history of Italians in America. Each hourlong episode in the four-part […]

The Book Of Negroes: Novel and miniseries spin a tale of hardship and resilience

February 12, 2015 Eric Kohanik

Film director Clement Virgo admits that it took a while for him to warm up to Lawrence Hill’s award-winning 2007 novel, The Book of Negroes. “People kept saying to me, ‘You’ve got to read this book. It’s a great book,’” Virgo recalls. “But I just didn’t like the title of the book. I didn’t know what it meant. I had a personal aversion to that title.” Virgo eventually bought Hill’s book (first published in Canada, it was retitled in the U.S. as Someone Knows My Name) but was still reluctant to read it. “I put it on my coffee table […]

Ben Barnes: Sons of Liberty a “rough-and-tumble” version of early American history

January 25, 2015 Jeff Pfeiffer

The name Sam Adams may be familiar to most Americans nowadays as the name of a beer, but he was, of course, in real life one of the patriots instrumental in leading the American Revolution. He is one of the main characters followed in Sons of Liberty, the new scripted miniseries on History about the years leading up to that monumental event. The three-night, six-hour Sons of Liberty (named after the moniker the group of young freedom fighters gave themselves) chronicles the years 1765-1775. While the Revolution itself has been covered in many a film and TV series, these earlier […]

TCA: The Dovekeepers — here’s a first look at the CBS miniseries event! (video)

January 12, 2015 Lori Acken

The CBS miniseries adaptation of Alice Hoffman’s 2011 bestseller The Dovekeepers will premiere over two nights March 31 and April 1. Appearing with some of her cast at today’s Television Critics Association press tour, Roma Downey (who coproduced the project with husband Mark Burnett under their Lightkeepers Media umbrella) said the mini’s debut immediately following NCIS was chosen in part to capitalize on The Dovekeepers star — and former NCIS favorite — Coté de Pablo’s fan base. […]

OWN airing monthlong celebration honoring civil rights legends

January 3, 2015 Jeff Pfeiffer

Throughout January, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network will be airing a month of programs honoring civil rights legends as the 50th anniversary of the historic Selma to Montgomery marches led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. nears. On Jan. 4, at 9pm ET/PT, Oprah will host a special episode of Oprah Prime, celebrating the life of Dr. King and the Selma marches. The episode features a conversation with David Oyelowo, who portrays Dr. King in the new movie Selma, along with the film’s director, Ava DuVernay. The episode also looks at stories of those impacted by the march and their reflections on that time […]

Preview: Nat Geo’s ‘EAT: The Story of Food’

November 21, 2014 Lori Acken

National Geographic Channel’s three-night event is a tasty treat that’s good for you, too! It’s the most food-centric time of the year, and to celebrate (and give viewers a long overdue break from the myriad cooking shows and competitions that make up food TV) National Geographic is serving up a tasty dish of its own. Yes, National Geographic Channel. And no, it doesn’t entail eating weird things in order to survive the wild. Well, mostly. On Friday, the network debuts its frequently funny, endlessly fascinating six-part miniseries EAT: The Story of Food, from the same folks who brought you Werner […]

AHC special looks at the “Rise of the Berlin Wall”

November 6, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

This month marks the 25th anniversary of when the notorious Berlin Wall fell, in 1989. While many may recall the amazing scenes, not as many may remember the beginnings of the Berlin Wall in the 1960s. American Heroes Channel (AHC) will take a look back with the special Rise of the Berlin Wall, airing Nov. 6 at 10pm ET. From AHC: “On the morning of August 13, 1965, the citizens of Berlin woke to a chorus of pneumatic drills and tanks, only to discover that their capital had been physically divided by a barbed wire fence. While the majority of […]

National Geographic Channel reveals Killing Jesus cast

October 6, 2014 Lori Acken

Steven Moyer (True Blood), Kelsey Grammer (Cheers, Boss), Rufus Sewell (Hercules) and Emmanuelle Chriqui (Entourage) are among the cast of National Geographic Channel’s upcoming television event Killing Jesus, the network announced today. Slated to premiere in 2015, the film is based on the bestselling book by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard and will recount the political, social and historical conflicts during the Roman Empire that led to the death of Jesus of Nazarene, whom O’Reilly calls “the most famous human being who ever lived.” Killing Jesus marks the third O’Reilly/Dugard adaptation. Killing Kennedy, a 2014 Best Television Movie Emmy nominee […]

“The Roosevelts” is another winning documentary from Ken Burns

September 11, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

Ken Burns’ latest historical documentary (and certainly not the last; he said at a recent press conference that he is working on seven other films right now) is, according to Burns and collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward, the first project to intertwine the stories of Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt into one family history. The 14-hour film spans the years from 1858 (Teddy Roosevelt’s birth) to 1962 (Eleanor Roosevelt’s death), and airs seven consecutive nights. “Half [our] films have touched upon the Roosevelts, and for as long as we’ve worked together,” Burns told reporters, about how he and […]