Historical Programming Archives - Page 7 of 14

9/11 anniversary TV programming 2014

September 5, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

Sept. 11, 2014, marks the 13th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Once again, a number of television specials will air around this time to remember the events of 9/11, and their lasting impact on the United States, and the world. 9/11 Anniversary TV Programming 2014 (All Times Eastern; Titles in ALL CAPS Indicate Premieres) Stopping the Second 9/11 — Sept. 7 at 12pm on National Geographic Channel. This real-life international drama recalls the summer of 2006, when as many as 18 conspirators planned to simultaneously blow up almost 10 airplanes by bringing hydrogen peroxide-injected soda bottles-turned-bombs onto […]

ABC To Celebrate Schoolhouse Rock With Primetime Special

August 27, 2014 Kellie Freeze

Just in case you finally got the words from Conjunction Junction and I’m Just a Bill out of your head, ABC is bringing beloved Schoolhouse Rock songs to TV in a one-night-only primetime special. The alphabet network announced yesterday that the special The ABC’s Of Schoolhouse Rock, will even dare to countdown the 5 best songs from the cartoon series. I think it’s preposterous to even try to rank them, it’s like picking your favorite child. But I had to choose, here’s my vote for #1. (I’ve always wondered if the voice of the boy is the same kid who […]

We talk Who Do You Think You Are? with EP Dan Bucatinsky

August 20, 2014 Lori Acken

On tonight’s all-new episode of TLC’s Who Do You Think You Are? beloved actor Kelsey Grammer explores his grandmother’s lineage in a deeply emotional journey that leads him westward across America. It’s the kind of episode the show’s co-executive producer Dan Bucatinsky says fascinates him most. “I love the episodes that touch on tent poles in history, stuff we studied in text books in school but didn’t have a personal connection with — like the Salem Witch Trials with Sarah Jessica Parker,” says Bucatinsky, the entertainment-industry multi-hyphenate who brought the addictive genealogy series to America with his longtime business partner Lisa Kudrow […]

The Knick: Cinemax presents a lively look at race, sex and medicine in 1900s New York

August 1, 2014 Lori Acken

At the turn of the 20th century, New York City’s Knickerbocker Hospital was deeply in flux. As the wealthy patrons who once filled its beds — and its bank account — fled its urban locale for loftier boroughs, replaced by a teeming brew of racial and cultural disparities, the doctors and nurses at the “The Knick” struggled to stay atop the city’s burgeoning medical community. This is the world from which director Steven Soderbergh’s engrossing new fact-meets-fiction Cinemax series The Knick, which premieres Friday, emerges. Created by the veteran writing team of Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, the 10-episode drama sprung […]

‘The 90s: The Last Great Decade?’ three-parter premieres July 6 on NGC

July 3, 2014 Lori Acken

National Geographic Channel Takes An In-Depth Look At The Era That Brought Us Televised Warfare, The World Wide Web, Vanilla Ice And Springer. If the 1980s were America’s technicolor candy land, filled with shoulder pads and parachute pants, MTV and the Brat Pack, the 90s was the decade that grew us up a little and connected us a lot, in ways that both thrilled and horrified us. With television cameras in places they’d never gone before — courtrooms, war zones, emerging crime scenes — the line between news and entertainment blurred and then nearly disappeared, while, in the White House, […]

Don Wildman talks a new season of Monumental Mysteries on Travel Channel

June 13, 2014 Lori Acken

Before I can even ask him a single question, Travel Channel’s intrepid Monumental Mysteries host Don Wildman quizzes me about my current location. When I tell him Milwaukee, he offers up a fascinating story about the underground caverns throughout the Midwest that German immigrants used to age and cool the first icy, refreshing pilsner beer Americans had ever quaffed. A fast trip to Google afterward reveals he’s spot-on. The Miller Brewing Co. in my hometown sports 160-year-old, man-made caves some 60 feet below ground. That’s just the kind of guy Wildman — the son of a history teacher dad and […]

D-Day 70th anniversary TV programming

May 27, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

This year marks the 70th anniversary of D-Day — June 6, 1944 — the historic date when Allied forces invaded France during World War II to begin the liberation of Europe from Nazi rule. To commemorate the event, several networks will feature specials about the massive — and deadly — operation that ultimately served as the beginning of the end for the Third Reich. Along with documentaries and movies, you can likely expect news networks to feature coverage of the D-Day 70th anniversary ceremonies taking place in France, and featuring a number of world leaders. We will update news coverage […]

President Obama to introduce History’s “The World Wars” event series

May 23, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

Premiering this Memorial Day, May 26, History’s three-night event series The World Wars is a look at the years 1914-45 — three decades of devastating war that changed the course of the world. History has announced that President Obama will introduce night one of the six-hour series. Other notable figures included in the series to offer insights are Sen. John McCain, Gen. Colin Powell, British Prime Minister John Major, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and more. Narrated by Jeremy Renner, The World Wars looks back at the war years through the eyes of the powerful men of the time — Roosevelt, Hitler, […]

Historian Simon Schama: “Too much obligation to have perfect balance” in history filmmaking today

April 1, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

Historian Simon Schama’s latest series, The Story of the Jews, concludes tonight on PBS. It’s a wonderful program, not just for the many fascinating and informative elements in it, but also for Schama’s presentation of the history. His guiding us through the series recalls old-school hosts in that it’s him, the history, and his passion for the topic first and foremost. Nothing is particularly spiced up with CGI, and it’s the historical facts, and Schama’s expertise with presenting them in an educational yet emotional way, connecting with audiences as he would with a classroom, that makes the show. His presentation […]

TURN: AMC’s captivating new drama reveals America’s first spy ring

March 17, 2014 Lori Acken

At a January press conference, British actor Jamie Bell was asked what he learned about the American Revolution as a schoolboy — years before he signed on to play Culper Ring spy Abraham Woodhull in AMC’s new, fact-based drama TURN. Bell offered a wry smile and a brief response. “They taught us that we lost,” he said. Later, discussing the series in an airy Pasadena restaurant, Bell admits he finds the relevance of most period dramas questionable, but TURN — based on historian Alexander Rose’s 2006 book Washington’s Spies about a little-known group of childhood friends who risked everything to help George […]