TCA Winter 2023 Press Tour — PBS’s First Day
After three years of virtual meetings, the Television Critics Association returned to Pasadena, CA for in person TCA Press Tour.
PBS President & CEO, Paula Kerger, made multiple new programming announcements during her executive session, including:
PBS is making an unprecedented multiyear commitment to environmental and climate programming.
The award-winning PBS science series NOVA, produced by GBH, today announced the launch of a national campaign, CLIMATE ACROSS AMERICA, spotlighting how climate change affects communities across the U.S. and engaging audiences in productive conversations about innovative climate solutions.
Paula also revealed the first wave of content creators who will receive funding support to complete their films through the Open Call for Emerging Filmmakers. The announcement also included details on new measures as part of a larger Diverse Voices Initiative to support the careers of early and mid-career filmmakers from underrepresented communities to further diversify public media.
Two new programs are coming to PBS KIDS: WEATHER HUNTERS and LYLA IN THE LOOP
THE AMERICAN BUFFALO, a new two-part, four-hour film directed by Ken Burns, will premiere on Oct. 16 and 17. THE AMERICAN BUFFALO is the biography of an improbable, shaggy beast that has found itself at the center of many of the country’s most mythic and heartbreaking tales.
The WNET Group is bringing a new three-part series, AMERICAN HISTORIA with John Leguizamo, that follows the actor’s continued quest to uncover the history and often overlooked contributions of Latino people
PBS and AMERICAN EXPERIENCE announced two new documentaries that examine the deeply mixed legacy of America’s efforts to racially integrate public schools. “Boston School Battle (w.t.)” viscerally captures the class tensions and racial violence that met the city’s decision to use busing to end school segregation. The film is directed by Sharon Grimberg and Cyndee Readdean. “The Harvest” is a personal and powerful look at Leland, Mississippi’s attempts to desegregate its schools. The film is directed by Sam Pollard and Douglas A. Blackmon, one of the Leland students and the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II; both films are executive produced by Cameo George. Both films will premiere in Fall 2023.
After our exciting programming announcements, Paula Kerger took a series of questions from media journalists about Passport, how PBS competes in a market full of children’s programming and documentaries, and how we served teachers and kids during the beginning of the pandemic, among many others.
Following the executive session, PBS NEWSHOUR’s new co-anchors Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett took to the stage with Senior Executive Producer Sara Just. They discussed what an honor it is to be trusted with such an important, mission-driven institution, how their careers where shaped and grew and how the two weeks of their co-anchorship is going so far.
After PBS NEWSHOUR’s panel, we switched gears to celebrate this year’s Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song recipient Joni Mitchell with Annie Lennox, Herbie Hancock and producer Ken Ehrlich.
They discussed how the legendary Joni Mitchell influenced their musical careers and the inspiration she is to generations of aspiring female singer/songwriters. It was a delight to hear their journeys during this amazing session.
To celebrate Season Two of THE GREAT AMERICAN RECIPE, host Alejandra Ramos and judges Leah Cohen, Tiffany Derry and Graham Elliot chatted about how to critique contestants about their cherished family recipes (which can be tricky!), the complex and heartfelt stories that are told through food and the positive fan responses they have received about the show in-person and via social media.
Our next panel presented the new eight-episode documentary series, ICONIC AMERICA: OUR SYMBOLS AND STORIES WITH DAVID RUBENSTEIN, with Michael Boulware Moore, Sam Pollard, Melissa Rivers, David Rubenstein, and Nancy Yuen considered how our iconic national symbols have vastly different meanings to different people.
After ICONIC AMERICA, we dived into upcoming INDEPENDENT LENS documentaries with “Free Chol Soo Lee” and “Sam Now.”
Both panels touched on very moving topics, including the toll of incarceration on the human psyche and the impact of generational trauma.
The cast & one of the producers of MARIE ANTOINETTE sparkled on-stage as they broke down misconceptions about the famous French figure and her relationship with Louis XVI.
Our focus stayed on powerful women when the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE “The Sun Queen” panel took the stage to talk about biophysicist and inventor Mária Telkes. Cameo George, Olivia Meikle and Amanda Pollak explained how she was beset by rampant sexism and fought pitched battles with her boss and colleagues — all men — at MIT’s Solar Energy Fund. Despite these obstacles, Telkes persevered.
PBS DIGITAL STUDIOS announced three new shows coming to its YouTube channel, PBS VOICES this January and February.
The penultimate panel introduced some of the diverse talent powering new STEM, history and humanities content for PBS Digital Studios. We heard from Arthur Buckner, Taj Frazier, Ph.D., Dr. Tina Lasisi, Maiya May and Maribel Lopez, the head of PBS Digital Studios about the target audiences for their content, how series prepare episodes and cultivating human curiosity.
We wrapped the whole evening with incredible performances from Corbin Bleu and Nova Y. Payton performing Broadway classics featured in BLACK BROADWAY: A PROUD HISTORY, A LIMITLESS FUTURE.
