Thursday , March 28 2024
Mr. Burns finishes his documentary this week. It's like taking candy from a baby.

PBS Primetime Programming for The Week of September 30

Well, we’re halfway through Ken Burns’s brand new über-epic.  What do you think so far?  Is it good?  Are you enjoying it?  Is it everything that it ought to be?  I’m not going to tell you my opinions — maybe in a future week, but not right now. I certainly don’t want to spoil Burns's work for you, and I’m pretty sure that giving my opinion will spoil it.  If I were to tell you that the United States wins the war, that would kind of destroy the whole thing, wouldn’t it?  Oh man, I just ruined it didn’t I?  

 

Sunday, September 30:

8:00 – 10:30PM

The War – “FUBAR.”   The fifth part of Ken Burns’s six year in the making 14 hour documentary looking at World War II and the stories of people from 4 different areas of the United States:  Waterbury Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and Luverne, Minnesota.     

10:30PM – 1:00AM

The War – “FUBAR.”   The fifth part of Ken Burns’s six year in the making 14 hour documentary looking at World War II and the stories of people from 4 different areas of the United States:  Waterbury Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and Luverne, Minnesota.    

 

Monday, October 1:

8:00 – 10:00PM

The War – “The Ghost Front.”   The sixth part of Ken Burns’s six year in the making 14 hour documentary looking at World War II and the stories of people from 4 different areas of the United States:  Waterbury Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and Luverne, Minnesota.    

10:00PM – 12:00AM

The War – “The Ghost Front.”   The sixth part of Ken Burns’s six year in the making 14 hour documentary looking at World War II and the stories of people from 4 different areas of the United States:  Waterbury Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and Luverne, Minnesota.    

 

Tuesday, October 2:

8:00 – 10:30PM

The War – “A World Without War.”   The seventh part of Ken Burns’s six year in the making 14 hour documentary looking at World War II and the stories of people from 4 different areas of the United States:  Waterbury Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and Luverne, Minnesota.    

10:30PM – 1:00AM

The War – “A World Without War.”   The seventh part of Ken Burns’s six year in the making 14 hour documentary looking at World War II and the stories of people from 4 different areas of the United States:  Waterbury Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and Luverne, Minnesota.    

 

Wednesday, October 3

8:00 – 9:00PM

Wired Science.  This brand-spanking new series brought to you by Wired magazine.  This season will present 10 episodes that will look at new discoveries and… the future.  Wired is all about science and tech and nerddom, and, with any luck, this magazine show will be the exact same. 

9:00 – 11:30PM

The War – “A Necessary War.”   The first part of Ken Burns’s six year in the making 14 hour documentary looking at World War II and the stories of people from 4 different areas of the United States:  Waterbury Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and Luverne, Minnesota.    

 

Thursday, October 4:

8:00 – 9:00PM

The This Old House Hour – Episode TBA. It’s This Old House and Ask This Old House. It’s like maintenance… for your home. Wait, no, that’s exactly what it is. That doesn’t mean it’s not awesome though. Seriously, The This Old House Hour is one of the finest home improvement hours on PBS. No joke.

9:00 – 10:00PM

Antiques Roadshow – “Chicago (Hour Three).”  Forget about it, Jake, it’s Chi-town.  That’s right, isn’t it?  Chi-town?  Maybe they’ll have movie memorabilia at the roadshow this week.  That would be just plain fantastic.  Does a V.I. Warshawski one-sheet count as an antique?

10:00 – 11:00PM

The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight it. Think of this sort of as a complimentary piece to the Ken Burns epic.  This documentary focuses on the conscientious objectors who refused to fight in the Second World War.  Ed Asner narrates their story. 

 

Friday, October 5:

8:00 – 8:30PM

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal #4714. Another whole week has gone by and good old Gwen Ifill and National Journal are here to fill us in. For the record, I like to pretend the National Journal is a sidekick, like Robin to Batman, Starsky to Hutch, or chocolate sauce to chocolate ice cream.

8:30 – 9:30PM

NOW #340. It’s the Emmy award-winning weekly newsmagazine. It looks at issues facing our democracy. The show is hosted by David Brancaccio. And, even better, they still send me e-mails (I think that makes me cool and them nice). Thanks, Now, you guys are awesome!

9:30 – 10:00PM

Bill Moyers Journal #1126 – It’s Bill Moyers. It’s his 1,126th journal (not really, but I’m not going to explain to you the way in which TV shows are numbered at this point in time, maybe later if you’re nice). He’s a good journalist so I assume this will be good journalism (at least the odds are it will).

10:00 – 10:30PM

Exposé: America’s Investigative Reports #216. Each episode in this series focuses on journalistic investigations and the people that went and did them. I think it’s a dying art in this country, we’re all far too interested in the cheap hit than the in-depth story.

10:30 – 11:00PM

Antiques Roadshow FYI– “112.”  This is a “magazine-style spin-off” of Antiques Roadshow.  They’re going to take a look at some past items that have appeared on the show, along with the owners, and do a whole “where are they now”  kind of thing.  Plus, there is going to be a little Halloween fun to be had as well, but that I don’t want to spoil.

 

Saturday, October 6

9:00 – 10:00PM

Austin City Limits – "Norah Jones.”  “Have you met Miss Jones?”  someone said as we shook hands.  She was just Miss Jones to me.  Then I said “Miss Jones, you’re a girl who understands I’m a boy who must be free.”  And all at once I lost my breath and all at once was scared to death…

 

And now the Ken Burns thing is over, and I’ve spoiled it all by telling you who won the war.  Listen, I’m really, really sorry.  I didn’t mean to do that.  I really hope it didn’t hurt your opinion of me or the war.  I tell you what though, I’m not going to spoil the results of World War III for you.  We’ll talk in 2137 when it’s all over.  We’ll be speaking Koozbanian at that point, not English, but we’ll talk then.

About Josh Lasser

Josh has deftly segued from a life of being pre-med to film school to television production to writing about the media in general. And by 'deftly' he means with agonizing second thoughts and the formation of an ulcer.

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