TCA Winter 2024 Press Tour
After a year of disruption in the entertainment and media industry, PBS returned to Pasadena for the Television Critics Association (TCA) Press Tour. PBS President & CEO Paula Kerger shared how our announcements will examine every facet of American life: from politics and history to science and the arts.
Kerger began by announcing several new shows and documentaries, including:
Two new documentaries from Ken Burns: THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION and LEONARDO DA VINCI.
A new three-part series that tackles the surprising and overlooked history of disco — the preeminent popular music of the 1970s.
And how PBS plans to celebrate significant and exciting milestones for our beloved shows like AUSTIN CITY LIMITS, NOVA and GREAT PERFORMANCES.
All of the announcements highlighted our robust commitment to examine every facet of American life: from politics and history to science and the arts.
After our exciting programming announcements, Paula Kerger took many questions, including those about Passport and our distribution strategy, bringing old “treasures” from shows like GREAT PERFORMANCES and AMERICAN MASTERS out of the archives, and why it’s important to partner with talent that are passionate about the project.
In our next panels, we saw how our award-winning news and public affairs series continue to set the standard for quality journalism. Following our executive session, FRONTLINE’s executive producer, Raney Aronson-Rath, took the stage to introduce “Crisis on Campus,” which will investigate this historic moment.
James Jacoby, producer and correspondent, Jerry Kang, Distinguished Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law, and Scott Michels from Retro Report joined Raney Aronson-Rath to discuss the history of student protesting on campuses, how social media has changed the information ecosystem for students, and their approach to covering divisive figures.
The WASHINGTON WEEK WITH THE ATLANTIC panel followed with Jeffrey Goldberg, the series moderator and Sara Just, the series senior executive producer. Jeffery Goldberg joined us remotely to talk about why he joined WASHINGTON WEEK, how he prepares for each panel (it includes lots of caffeine!), and fighting misinformation. Sara Just discussed the evolving strategy of election coverage and their overall approach to the weekly format.
After WASHINGTON WEEK WITH THE ATLANTIC, we switched gears to enjoy the delights and explore the stresses of fine dining with MENU-PLAISIRS — LES TROISGROS. This film was named Best Documentary by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the New York Film Critics Circle. It was also among the top 10 best films of the year according to the New York Times.
Frederick Wiseman, the producer and director and John Bredar, vice president, GBH National Programming joined us on-stage and talked about the difficulties of finding funding for documentaries, how Frederick Wiseman’s style is to observe and take the risk that you will film moments you need, and that he ate 70 times at Troisgros while filming!
Our next panel presented the upcoming MASTERPIECE “Alice & Jack,” with Victor Levin, series creator and writer, Andrea Riseborough, actor, “Alice,” and Susanne Simpson, series executive producer. Domhnall Gleeson, actor, “Jack” joined us remotely.
The actors, who have known each other in real life as long as the characters in the show, acknowledged that filming out of order was tricky, but Victor Levin noted that telling the story in this way added to the understanding of the weight of the emotions involved. Both actors were drawn to the realistic portrayal of love, and the MASTERPIECE team thought this contemporary love story was beautifully created, wonderfully acted and had fantastic writing. Victor Levin had the two actors in mind when writing the series and drew inspiration from other romance stories that played with time, like 500 Days of Summer.
After lunch, John Lithgow and Tamara Gould, the executive producer of ART HAPPENS HERE WITH JOHN LITHGOW, showcased the value and beauty of the arts for children.
John Lithgow lamented the decrease in funding for the arts in education, talked about the process for choosing the schools they visited, and how he wanted to be part of a show that was entirely joyful. While the students viewed him as “a passing curiosity” (and only recognized him as the voice of Lord Farquaad on Shrek), he appreciated their willingness to embrace him in their classroom and teach him new things.
We continued our discussion of the arts and their importance on public television with the panelists of GREAT PERFORMANCES “Purlie Victorious.” We had the pleasure of being joined by David Horn, the series executive producer, Kenny Leon, the Broadway show director and Leslie Odom, Jr., who plays Purlie. The panel discussed how the play is relevant to today’s audiences even though playwright Ossie Davis wrote it over 60 years ago, that it was the perfect play to adapt to be filmed, and how GREAT PERFORMANCES was Leslie Odom Jr.’s access to amazing performances happening all over America’s stages.
We celebrated the importance of being America’s largest classroom and 50 years of NOVA with our next panel on their upcoming show “A.I. Revolution.”
The panelists of “A.I. Revolution,” Julia Cort, series co-executive producer, Miles O’Brien, correspondent, Alexander Amini, Ph.D., postdoctoral researcher, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and Petrina Kamya, Ph.D., head of A.I. platforms, Insilico Medicine talked about the real benefits and drawbacks to the A.I. technology that will transform our world.
The panel acknowledged that one of the biggest problems with the latest advances is the data used to train the models — especially making sure data is attributable and safeguarded. However, Dr. Petrina Kamya noted that using A.I. to make the process for new drugs and pharmaceuticals is a great benefit to society. Miles O’Brien also discussed his very personal journey with A.I. and robotics as he adapts to his artificial limb. All panelists agreed that the future will be shaped by our actions now to avoid the worst potential impacts of artificial intelligence.
Our commitment to climate-focused programming is stronger than ever, and our next panel about HOPE IN THE WATER had a special spotlight on climate change through the lens of our vast oceans. Panelists Baratunde Thurston, Shailene Woodley, Executive Producer Andrew Zimmern and Editorial Executive Bill Gardner delved into how we can give nature a chance to heal itself, the ways we can invest in aquaculture to make sure we can feed ourselves sustainably, and expanding people’s ideas of what counts as seafood to ease the pressure on all systems of farming.
After a quick break, we jumped into A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FUTURE with executive producer Kathryn Murdoch, host and executive producer Ari Wallach, and editorial executive Bill Gardner to see what’s possible for a better tomorrow. The focus started with how we can be optimistic about the future and pivoted to the innovative things happening around the world that bring future generations into decision-making processes. All panelists are excited to change the way we think about the future and how we will get there.
As part of PBS’s deep commitment to arts programming, we were excited to showcase THE EXPRESS WAY WITH DULÉ HILL at Press Tour with Dulé Hill, actor and series host, Danny Lee, director and executive producer, Amythyst Kiah, Grammy nominated singer-songwriter and Sylvia Bugg, PBS’s Chief Programming Executive, General Audience Programming.
This show speaks to how PBS thinks about storytelling as through people’s lived experiences and the ways art can be part of the solutions to problems in our society and lift people up. During the panel, Dulé Hill and Amythyst Kiah talked about how art transformed their lives and how it feels when they perform. We finished with a reminder that we all have unique stories to tell.
We followed THE EXPRESS WAY with a unique story of isolation from loved ones filmed during the pandemic with INDEPENDENT LENS “Space: The Longest Goodbye.” We were grateful to have film participant and former NASA astronaut Dr. Cady Coleman on stage with her son and film participant Jamey Simpson, along with director Ido Mizrahy and series executive producer Lois Vossen on-stage to discuss the documentary.
Dr. Cady Coleman talked about how hard it was to be separated from her family while in space while also feeling a great sense of purpose for helping solve some of the greatest mysteries we face. The panel also discussed space tourism, how science-fiction depicts space, and the factors we need to consider if we send humans to Mars.
Our final panel of the day honored the legacy of THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS GERSHWIN PRIZE FOR POPULAR SONG with Bernie Taupin, co-honoree, Ken Ehrlich, executive producer and Charlie Puth, featured performer. The songwriters discussed their creative processes for writing and creating music, how they’ve grown and changed as artists, and lyricists they admire and respect.
Bernie Taupin also discussed his decades-long partnership with Sir Elton John, including how his early process of writing with him has evolved, how there is always something special about collaborating together, and how the songs they made together are timeless and reinvent themselves overtime.
We wrapped up the evening with a charming performance from Charlie Puth, who sang “ Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” and “Something About the Way You Look Tonight” from Elton John and Bernie Taupin. He finished his performance to standing ovation after ending with “See You Again.”
