Historical Programming Archives - Page 8 of 14

NGC re-airing Vladimir Putin documentary

March 6, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

In light of current events in Russia, National Geographic Channel (NGC) has decided to re-air a two-hour documentary special called Russia and The West: Putin Takes Control on March 12. The program originally aired in 2012, just prior to Vladimir Putin reclaiming control of the Russian presidency for his second tenure. NGC says that Russia and the West is, “a look back at the story of Vladimir Putin. Putin’s top colleagues – and the Western statesmen who eventually clashed with him – tell the inside story. Putin began his career as a KGB spy, but when he became President of […]

Rachel Maddow to host “Why We Did It,” new MSNBC special about Iraq War

February 28, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

Last year, MSNBC aired a successful documentary special about the Iraq War called Hubris: Selling the Iraq War, hosted by Rachel Maddow and based on the book by Michael Isikoff and David Corn. That program documented the false public case for the war. Now, MSNBC will be airing a new, related program called Why We Did It, which the network says will “show a whole new, never-before-told story of what was happening behind that public case.” Newly obtained documents from the U.S. and abroad, as well as interviews with key players involved in the planning process and invasion, will feature […]

A “Bountiful” Life: Vanessa Williams and Cicely Tyson take The Trip To Bountiful from Broadway to TV

February 21, 2014 Lori Acken

Shortly after The Trip to Bountiful wrapped its celebrated Broadway run last October, cast members Cicely Tyson and Vanessa Williams, director Michael Wilson and producer Hallie Foote (daughter of Bountiful’s scribe Horton Foote) took a trip of their own — to Atlanta to begin work on Lifetime’s film adaptation of the production. Set during the final years of the Jim Crow South, Bountiful chronicles spirited elderly widow Carrie Watts’ (Tyson) mission to escape the stifling Houston apartment of her overprotective son Ludie (Blair Underwood) and his prickly wife Jessie Mae (Williams) and make a final visit to Bountiful, her beloved […]

NGC special looks at the real-life Monuments Men

February 4, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

In advance of George Clooney’s film The Monuments Men, hitting theaters this Friday, Feb. 7, National Geographic Channel is airing a one-hour special looking at the real-life escapades of the people actually involved in saving cultural treasures in Nazi-occupied Europe near the end of World War II. The program, called Hunting Hitler’s Stolen Treasures: The Monuments Men, is billed as a documentary companion to the feature film, and premieres Feb. 5 at 8pm ET/PT on NGC. “Art is the soul of a society; it represents the very best things that we have achieved, and to go after that art and […]

Black History Month 2014 TV programming

January 30, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

Here is some of the notable TV programming airing in recognition of Black History Month 2014. All times are Eastern; please check back for updates and additions. PBS Black Culture Connection (BCC) — Ongoing. Along with its on-air programming commemorating Black History Month 2014, PBS.org offers the BCC online extension, featuring black films, stories and discussion. It’s a digital partnership with the Because of Them, We Can campaign, which aims to educate and connect a new generation to heroes who paved the way. Black History Month on BIO.com — Ongoing. BIO.com has a number of videos on its site celebrating […]

Military Channel becoming American Heroes Channel in March 2014

January 9, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

Discovery Communications announced today that its Military Channel will be changing its name to American Heroes Channel (AHC) starting Monday, March 3, 2014. A release says that the rebranded network will “expand on the Military Channel’s promise to honor the great defenders of our freedom, while providing a rare glimpse into major events that shaped our world and the trailblazers and unexpected advocates who made a difference.” Discovery says that American Heroes Channel will feature an expanded mix of programming targeted to a primarily male audience of P25-54. The first year of AHC will include 17 new series and specials, […]

PBS special traces Lincoln’s pioneering use of technology and his Gettysburg Address

November 19, 2013 Jeff Pfeiffer

Nov. 19, 2013, marks the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address. Though Lincoln stated during his speech that “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here” his brief, approximately 270-word address has lived on to be remembered as one of the great speeches in American history. Through his address, Lincoln reaffirmed the meaning and purpose of the American democracy, and made his case that preserving the union was the only end that could justify the horrors of the war and slaughter of thousands in the fields and forests around Gettysburg, Pa., during the Civil […]

The Challenger Disaster movie on Science Channel Nov. 16

November 12, 2013 Ryan Berenz

The Challenger Disaster movie on Science Channel: Science Channel’s first dramatic feature dramatizes the inquiry into the cause of the 1986 space shuttle Challenger explosion through the eyes of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (William Hurt). Feynman cut through red tape to uncover breakdowns in the governmental, scientific, design and engineering communities that oversaw the space program. The 1986 explosion of space shuttle Challenger and the loss of its crew is one of the indelible moments in American history — a sobering gut-punch to America’s space program and a disillusive lesson that the most complex machine ever built is still […]

Killing Kennedy’s Rob Lowe on how “every president today talks like” JFK

November 8, 2013 Jeff Pfeiffer

Rob Lowe stars as John F. Kennedy in National Geographic Channel’s film Killing Kennedy (Nov. 10). But to hear his analysis, it isn’t only actors who find much to emulate in the beloved 35th president of the United States. “Every president today talks like him,” Lowe told reporters at a press conference this summer. “They all just are, like, excuse me, bad actors who found the greatest one who ever was and do their variation of that performance, every single one of them. And I don’t want to call any of them out by name, but I could if we were […]

Killing Kennedy movie interviews: Rob Lowe, Ginnifer Goodwin, Will Rothhaar

October 31, 2013 Jeff Pfeiffer

“I love history,” Rob Lowe tells me, “because you know somebody didn’t make it up. It actually happened.” Sometimes, those historical events that actually happen are tragic in nature, occasionally to the point of impacting an entire nation. Such was the case with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963 — 50 years ago this month. As not only a student of history, but particularly as an admirer and voracious studier of Kennedy and the whole “Camelot” era, Lowe was drawn to his starring role as the iconic president in Killing Kennedy, premiering Nov. 10. The […]