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PBS Distribution will launch Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon’s documentary series on the life and works of Leonardo da Vinci next week at TV market Mipcom in Cannes.

Burns was Oscar nominated for “The Statue of Liberty” and “Brooklyn Bridge.” His series “The Civil War” won two Emmys. He also took Emmys for “Baseball,” “Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson” and “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.”

His latest series, “Leonardo da Vinci,” has already sold to broadcasters around the world, including the U.K.’s BBC, Germany’s Zdf Arte and Sky New Zealand.

The series will offer a comprehensive look at Da Vinci’s contributions to art, science and technology. Set against the rich and dynamic backdrop of Renaissance Italy, at a time of skepticism and freethinking, regional war and religious upheaval, the series brings the artist’s achievements to life through his notebooks,...

ESPN’s Michael Jordan docuseries “The Last Dance” has captured the attention of just about every basketball fan around the globe, except for documentarian Ken Burns.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Burns reveals that he hasn’t watched “The Last Dance” and he fundamentally disagrees with how it was made.

Michael Jordan’s production company, Jump 23, is listed as a partner on the series, meaning that he could have had some say in how it portrayed him. Burns said that he would “never, never, never, never” agree to a partnership like that on a documentary.

“If you are there influencing the very fact of it getting made, it means that certain aspects that you don’t necessarily want in aren’t going to be in, period,” he said. “And that’s not the way you do good journalism…and it’s certainly not the way you do good history,...

PBS and filmmaker Ken Burns announced today that The Roosevelts: An Intimate History will be available to stream on PBS.org and other PBS platforms beginning this Thursday, March 26. There will also be a broadcast of the series on participating PBS stations. Following this will be The National Parks: America’s Best Idea and The War. What airs this week on...

Bob Iger, Geraldine Laybourne, Seth MacFarlane, Jay Sandrich and Cicely Tyson are the five people chosen for induction into the 25th TV Hall of Fame. The Television Academy will host the 25th ceremony on January 28, 2020, at the Saban Media Center.

Iger is the current Chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company. He follows founder Walt Disney and former chairman Michael Eisner for induction. Laybourne led the team that originally founded Nickelodeon and Oxygen Media. MacFarlane is a five-time Emmy winner best known for “Family Guy.” Sandrich is a five-time Emmy winner as a director of such shows as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Cosby Show,” “The Golden Girls” and more. Tyson has won three Emmys in her career and is best known for her TV movies and miniseries.

SEECicely Tyson movies: 10 greatest films ranked from worst to best

The first induction was held in 1984 and it’s been...

Burns withholds notes and documentary footage about controversial case from New York City lawyers

Renowned Us film-maker Ken Burns has refused to comply with a subpoena served on him by New York City in connection with his film The Central Park Five, about a notorious miscarriage of justice.

Lawyers for New York are demanding to examine footage and notes that Burns and his team compiled during the making of their film as the city seeks to defend the actions of its officials in the aftermath of the horrific rape in 1989 of a jogger in Central Park.

Five black teenagers were convicted in 1990 for the attack, but they were cleared in 2002 after convicted murderer Matias Reyes confessed to the crime. The five subsequently launched legal action against the city for malicious prosecution, but the city has refused so far to settle.

Burns's documentary about the case, which premiered at the Cannes film festival earlier this year,...

Why would major Hollywood directors want to enter the sports arena by helming documentaries for the Espn series "30 For 30"? According to sports journalist, author, and executive producer Bill Simmons, it was a hard sell at first. "I don't know if people trusted Espn with creative documentaries like that," Simmons admitted. "The first five or six (directors) were the toughest ones. Once we got them, it was like dominoes... 'Oh, this is real! I want in on this!'". Espn, not known for contending at the primetime Emmys, is entering "30 For 30" into the Best Nonficiton Series race. Last year's champ was the PBS series "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" from filmmaker Ken Burns. "30 For 30" profiles major and minor sports figures covered by Espn in its first three decades. Among those hired to tell these stories were feature helmers Peter Berg, Barry Levinson, Frank Marshall, Ron Shelt...

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences awarded the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards on NBC tonight 8/29 in Los Angeles. The show was hosted by Jimmy Fallon and you can view a list of the major winners below. I gotta be honest... I was rooting for Dexter for best Drama, but I can't complain that Mad Men won again. After all it is a great show. Check out the list of winners below and let us know what you thought of the Emmy winners! 

Outstanding Drama

"Mad Men" - Winner

"Breaking Bad"

"Dexter"

"The Good Wife"

"Lost"

"True Blood"

Outstanding Comedy

"Modern Family"- Winner

"30 Rock"

"Curb Your Enthusiasm"

"Glee"

"Nurse Jackie"

"The Office"

Outstanding Actor in a Drama

Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad")- Winner

Hugh Laurie ("House M.D.")

Jon Hamm ("Mad Men")

Kyle Chandler ("Friday Night Lights")

Matthew Fox ("Lost")

Michael C. Hall ("Dexter")

Outstanding Actress in a Drama

Kyra Sedgwick...

The 2010 Emmy Awards were a bit surprising -- very few of the favorites actually took home the hardware. Did your favorites win?

Here is the complete list of Emmy winners from the Sunday, Aug. 29 telecast, followed by the list of Creative Arts Emmys, which were given out Saturday, Aug. 21:

Drama Series:

"Breaking Bad"

"Dexter"

"The Good Wife"

"Lost"

"Mad Men"

"True Blood"

Best Comedy Series:

"30 Rock"

"Curb Your Enthusiasm"

"Glee"

"Modern Family"

"Nurse Jackie"

"The Office"

Lead Actress in a Comedy:

Lea Michele, "Glee"

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "The New Adventures of Old Christine"

Edie Falco, "Nurse Jackie"

Amy Poehler, "Parks and Recreation"

Tina Fey, "30 Rock"

Toni Collette, "The United States of Tara"

Lead Actor in a Comedy:

Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory"

Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

Matthew Morrison, "Glee"

Tony Shalhoub, "Monk"

Steve Carell, "The Office"

Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"

Lead Actor in a Drama:

Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"

Michael C. Hall,...

Los Angeles – The Betty White phenomenon keeps getting bigger.White won an Emmy Award for best guest actress in a comedy series for her turn as "Saturday Night Live" host. The honor came Saturday at the creative arts ceremony that is precursor to the main Aug. 29 Emmy show.The trophy is the fifth prime-time Emmy received by the 88-year-old White, according to the TV academy. Her previous honors came for classic sitcoms including "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "The Golden Girls."So far this year, besides the "SNL" gig, White made a splash with the new TV Land sitcom "Hot in Cleveland," scored with a clever Super Bowl commercial and played a mad librarian on ABC's sitcom "The Middle."She did not attend Saturday's ceremony, which included presenters Jane Lynch of "Glee," Elizabeth Mitchell of "Lost" and Christina Hendricks of "Mad Men."Neil Patrick Harris was a presenter and winner,...

All those minor Emmy Awards that aren't announced during the Emmy Telecast (scheduled to air on Sunday night) were handed out over the weekend, and I have to admit, I've never paid any attention to them before. It was only because Betty White and Neil Patrick Harris were winners that it even entered my radar. But, there are some kind of cool categories here, like best dramatic score, which went to stupid boring overcooked "24." And who knew they gave Emmys for best costumes in a variety show and that Jimmy Kimmel's show, of all shows, would be among the winners?

Also, Jeff Probst won best reality show host, as he's done every single year the category has been in existence (he actually deserves it, I'd argue. He's the perfect host: Affable, inoffensive, and doesn't inject him into the show). John Lithgow got a much deserved Emmy for his turn on "Dexter,...

Will "The Pacific" sweep the technical awards or will the miniseries share some of the love with its sister HBO program, the moving biopic "Temple Grandin," starring Claire Danes?

It's Saturday, Aug. 21 and time for the Creative Arts Emmys, held a week and a day before the Primetime Emmy Awards telecast. It's the awards event that honors the people behind the scenes who deserve recognition, but apparently didn't make the cut to be on the already overflowing live event.

The winners:

Best Casting of a Drama Series: "Mad Men"

Best Casting of a Movie/Mini: "The Pacific"

Best Casting of a Comedy Series: "Modern Family"

Best Prosthetic Makeup for Series, Movie or Mini: "The Pacific"

Best Makeup for Movie or Mini (Non-Prosthetic): "The Pacific"

Best Makeup for a Single-Camera Series, Movie, Mini or Special (Non-Prosthetic): "Grey's Anatomy" for episode "Suicide Is Painless"

Best Makeup/ Multi-Camera (Non-Prosthetic): "Saturday Night Live...

Can it be Awards Season already? The Primetime Emmy nominations were announced today, and the lion's share of the nods went to American: The Story of Us, from Nutopia and History; Deadliest Catch, from Original Productions and Discovery Channel;  Life, from Discovery Channel, BBC, Skai and Rti Spa; and The National Parks: America's Best Idea, from Florentine Films, Weta and PBS. Two docs about political figures--By the People: The Election of Barack Obama and Teddy: In His Own Words, about the late Senator Edward Kennedy--took a total of five nominations ...

All the nominees for the 62nd annual Primetime Emmy Awards:

Outstanding Voice-Over Performance

H. Jon Benjamin, "Archer"

Dave Foley, "Disney Prep & Landing"

Seth Green, "Robot Chicken"

Dan Castellaneta, "The Simpsons"

Hank Azaria, "The Simpsons"

Anne Hathaway, "The Simpsons"

Outstanding Animated Program

"Alien Earths" (Ngc)

"Disney Prep & Landing" (ABC)

"The Ricky Gervais Show" - "Knob at Night" (HBO)

"The Simpsons" - "Once Upon a Time in Springfield" (Fox)

"South Park" - "200/201" (Comedy Central)

Outstanding Short-format Animated Program

"Adventure Time" - "My Two Favorite People" (Cartoon Network)

"Chowder" - "The Toots" (Cartoon Network)

"Disney Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil" - "Racing the Schoolbus" (Disney Channel)

"The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack" - "Tee Hee Tummy Tums" (Cartoon Network)

"Robot Chicken" - "Full-Assed Christmas Special" (Cartoon Network)

"Uncle Grandpa" (cartoonnetwork.com)

Outstanding Art Direction For A Multi-Camera Series

"The Big Bang Theory"

"Hell's Kitchen"

"How I Met Your Mother"

"The New Adventures Of Old Christine...

For the first time in nearly 40 years of broadcasting, PBS has signed on as a weekly Nielsen subscriber, a move that will allow the public television service to provide clients with a more accurate look into its audience deliveries.

PBS is not ponying up for overnight ratings, but the weekly Nielsen NPower data will offer sponsors a more timely read on programming performance.

Although PBS does not run traditional call-to-action advertising, it does solicit marketers to underwrite its programming expenses through sponsorships. Rather than a 30-second spot shilling a product or service, PBS sponsors are identified by short creative that runs immediately before and after the supported program.

In the past, sponsors backed PBS programs for a 52-week run. This spring, the broadcaster began accepting shorter commitments, some as brief as a week. The decision to loosen the sponsorship guidelines reflects clients' increasing desire for greater flexibility -- a phenomenon...

If you haven't checked out Ken Burns' documentary The National Parks: America's Best Idea on PBS yet, now you can actually buy it. The 12-hour series hit DVD and Blu-ray on Oct. 6, and offers a stunning look at our national parks, including Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, the Everglades, and the Gates of Arctic in Alaska.

When you think about it, it's truly amazing how these natural wonders have become part of our lives, even if we've never been to them. Burns covers 150 years of the parks, starting with the concept in the mid-1800s and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks, Andy Garcia, Sam Waterston and others.

The cool thing about the DVD / Blu-ray sets is that you get three hours of bonus material, including a making-of featurette, Musical Journeys Through the National Parks, Contemporary Stories and Outtakes.

Continue reading Exclusive DVD clip from The National Parks: America's Best Idea

 

Filed under: Programming,...

Last week's major release was a 70-year-old classic, and coincidentally today brings yet another iconic film that's actually two years older. "Snow White" was Disney's first animated feature, and appropriately enough it marks the launch of their new "Diamond Series" Blu-ray line. But blasts from the past aren't the only highlights of the week, as Jack Black and Michael Cera rock it old school in today's DVD Report.

"Year One" combines the talents of mega-producer Judd Apatow and legendary director Harold Ramis for a old-fashioned road trip through the ancient world. Starring Black and Cera as down-on-their-luck cavemen, the film draws together an eclectic cast from the comedy scene, including Paul Rudd, David Cross, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Hank Azaria and many others. "Year One" had an underwhelming response at the box office, but Sony is hoping this Blu-ray and DVD release will bring in new fans. Audio commentary with Raims, Black...

"The National Parks: America's Best Idea," the documentary from Paramount Home Entertainment, has just been filled with 22 clips. Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature’s most spectacular locales, "The National Parks: America’s Best Idea" is a six-part, 12-hour documentary series by Ken Burns and his longtime colleague Dayton Duncan on the history of America’s national parks. This is a story of people...

As I watched this masterpiece by Ken Burns on PBS my heart was touched at a deep level. As John Muir was quoted, "Without wilderness we risk losing our souls;" I wanted to cancel all my business appointments and drive out into "The Wild." John Muir was a master of pattern recognition. He created high levels of productivity in early American factories, and later built his wife's farm into a masterpiece of agriculture. But he could not resist what Emerson called, "The Great Intelligence." He was constantly drawn deep into nature to experience the ultimate pattern. He said, "Nature is an interrelated joyous web of being." Ken Burns shows how when he was away from "The Wild" he would wither, as we all do when we separate ourselves from this "joyous being." He talked...

The documentaries I cover on reality blurred are those that, like the very best reality shows, tell the true, dramatic, entertaining stories of real people. So, while I had no doubt it'd be informative and interesting, I didn't plan to cover Ken Burns' latest documentary opus, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, which began its six night, 12-hour run on PBS last night. Then, in August, I heard Burns tell this story to TV critics.... keep reading » » read the full story and comment, or find the latest news about tv documentary

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We couldn't have picked a better time to start watching my advance press copy of Ken Burns' new PBS series on the national parks: We'd just visited Glacier Bay in Alaska. It may well be the ultimate gem of the National Park system, even though relatively few ever get up there to see it. One is left shaking one's head in disbelief after seeing this wondrous and still-pristine park, and how little man has intruded into it - unlike, say, Yosemite. Burns' 12-hour, 6-part series, aptly named, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, starts Sunday night on PBS and runs all next week. You should try to watch it in hi-def, but do watch it. This inspirational new series also about the right length, as opposed to two earlier Burns opuses, Jazz (Wynton Marsalis' and Burns' hyperextended homage to Satchmo) and...

The story of our National Parks has been co-opted by cable news fueled brouhaha's involving guns, drugs and drilling for oil. It is time to take back our parks. It is sometimes hard to stay optimistic about the future of America's Best Idea. But this optimist is ready and willing to jump on the bandwagon that is about to start rolling as a result of the National Parks Second Century Commission Report released today, and the new Ken Burns documentary, The National Parks: America's Best Idea. We have an opportunity today that may not repeat itself. Global recognition of climate change is finally a reality. We have an increasingly engaged citizenry and wide acceptance of our country's crisis in science education. To top it off, we have political will at the national level that we have not seen in a very...

The "Feel Free" Central Park concert Wednesday night was a blend of music, speakers, and clips from Ken Burns' film, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, which begins airing this Sunday on PBS and runs until sometime before Christmas. They really went all out -- huge stage with high-tech sound and lighting, cameras on cranes, a large screen with crystal-clear projection and a bunch of other expensive looking equipment. One of their sponsors was Montana (yes, the state), so I wouldn't expect less. The Counting Crows were excellent and had the longest set, which included favorites like Van Morrison's "Caravan" and the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends." But Carole King got the standing ovation. She played the piano while singing, "You've Got a Friend," her voice strong but not quite hitting the high notes of yesteryear. It was...

Newsday (McT) -- Reason To Watch: Ken Burns ("Baseball," "Jazz," "The Civil War") and longtime colleague-collaborator Dayton Duncan explore the national parks system. What It's About: At 12 hours, TV's most exhaustive historic survey, beginning in the mid-1800s, with the campaign to save Yosemite, and ending in 1980, when the system was largely completed. As always, Burns and Duncan are interested in stories, people and the essential idea of what it means to be an American; don't come here to learn how Carlsbad Caverns were formed. Sunday's Episode: Mostly covers the establishment of Yosemite and Yellowstone, with a starring role for John Muir,…...

This Sunday evening PBS will debut the first episode of famous documentary-maker Ken Burns' The National Parks: America's Best Idea. It's a 12 hour long epic story, divided into six parts. PBS will be sequentially airing one new episode each night over the week. If you are not aware who Ken Burns is, perhaps you are familiar with some of his documentaries. He is best known for The Civil War, a documentary that was revolutionary upon its release. To tell the story of one of the United States' most significant events, Burns used slow camera movement over still photos, interviews with historians, emotional music, and superb storytelling to captivate audiences and inspire unparalleled interest in American history. Using these same techniques, he continued his exploration of American identity with documentaries like Jazz, Baseball, and Thomas Jefferson. His technique of scrolling...

With this week's Price of a Movie, time travel to many fabulous places: our country's national parks, museums across the country, the 1930s, Oz, and the mind of the common man. Feel Free: A Celebration of the National Parks Did you know it's National Parks Week? To celebrate, and in conjunction with Ken Burns' latest PBS opus, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, the National Parks Conservation Association and PBS invite you to a very special event. Feel Free: A National Parks Celebration in Central Park will feature highlights the documentary (premiering September 27 on PBS) and musical acts by some fantastic performers. The live show will be shared via satellite to PBS affiliates and other partners assembled in various locations around the country. For more information, visi: www.feelfree.org. Scheduled to perform: Eric Benet, Gavin DeGraw, Jose Feliciano, Carole King, Alison Krauss and Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas and Peter Yarrow.

When Ken Burns' name is attached to a project, you better believe it's going to be good.

The man could make a nine-hour documentary about suburban lawn maintenance and keep you riveted for every minute. Burns' films on jazz and baseball, to name just a couple, stepped inside their subjects with a flashlight and explored every dark corner, making for a truly engaging watch. But for Burns' latest documentary, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, the filmmaker has called upon some musical pals to reveal the film in style.