TCA: PBS Announces Walt Disney Bio, ‘The Brain’ Series, Navy SEALS Story, And Season 4 Pickup For ‘Call The Midwife’
PBS chief Paula Kerger this morning made a slew of announcements from TCA Summer Press Tour 2014:
– Call The Midwife will be back for a fourth season. BBC announced in February it would produce a fourth season of the period drama about a group of nurse midwives working in the East End of London in the 1950s — only it will be set in the 60′s for the next season.
– American Experience will debut Walt Disney in the fall of ’15. The four-hour, two-night film will explore the life and the legacy of Disney. Directed and produced by Sarah Colt (Henry Ford, RFK) and written by Mark Zwonitzer (JFK, Triangle Fire), the film will feature rare archival footage from the Disney vaults, scenes from Disney films, interviews with animators and artists who worked on Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs and people who helped design Disneyland. In 1966, the year Walt Disney died, 240 million people saw a Disney movie, 100 million tuned in weekly to a Disney television program, 80 million bought Disney merchandise, and nearly 7 million visited Disneyland.
– PBS station sites will stream Ken Burns’ next docu-series, the 14-hour The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, in its entirety, starting the day after its broadcast premiere on Sunday, September 14. The docu marks the first time the Roosevelts’ individual stories have been woven into a single narrative and follows the family’s story for more than a century.
– New series The Brain With Dr. David Eagleman explores the “inner cosmos,” and will debut some time in 2015 as part of PBS’ Think Wednesday slate that also includes Nova and Nature. Six one-hour episodes hosted by the neuroscientist will tell the story of the inner workings of the brain and explain to viewers why they feel and think the things they do.
– Navy Seals: Their Untold Stories, a new documentary about the transformation of U.S. Navy frogmen into Navy SEALS, will premiere on Veterans Day, Tuesday, November 11. PBS said in its announcement that, despite widespread attention paid to the SEALS since they “eliminated” Osama bin Laden, the story of how these clandestine commandos evolved in response to changing threats from WWII to the “War on Terror,” and how their abilities shaped U.S. and world history, has remained untold. Navy Seals — Their Untold Story is part of the PBS Stories of Service initiative.
– Kristin Chenoweth will host the annual PBS Arts Fall Festival when it returns for its fourth season on Friday, September 26, debuting with Live From Lincoln Center’s 40th anniversary season with Sweeney Todd; The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street In Concert With The New York Philharmonic.
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