Inside PBS Blog

Will you work with an experienced outside producing team who brings a fully developed (but not completed) project to you or will you require them to work with one of your stable of American Experience veteran producers to complete the project?

TV history relies more and more these days on re-enactments of the past. Why do you think this is necessary? What do you think is the "right" amount of historical re-creation? Is seeing historians talk on camera considered "too boring"? Is it possible to do too much re-enactment?

Given the uncertainty about the viability of broadcast television, the economy in general and PBS's in particular, what changes do you forsee in the way historical documentaries will be presented in order to find, and keep, an audience?

Dear Mr. Samuels:
This is just to say a simple thank you for the finest effort I've seen on American television. American Experience is the only program I make a serious effort not to miss. The series on the presidents was particularly outstanding. But even those pieces that may not intrigue me at first glance ("The Lobotomist" for example), turn out to be wonderful pieces of television that engage and challenge, raising serious moral and ethical questions that have relevance today.
As a historian and former journalist who covered Hurricane Katrina, I particularly appreciated the piece on the 1927 flood. It provided immense historical context for those of us still wrestling with the impact of Hurricane Katrina.
Even the American Experience theme and closing music is outstanding. The introductoiry and closing segments, believe it or not, are emotional for me, a reminder of how much I love this country. Thank you for putting your love on film for us to enjoy.
Paul South
New Orleans

Amercian Experience is one of my favorite shows - I'll start with that.

My question is this: "Who does the research?" Do you use a specific team or is it based solely or somewhat on the subject matter?

If it's fair to ask a second question: How do you choose topics?

Thanks.

Chris Boggs, CPCU, ARM, ALCM, LPCS, AAI, APA

We are losing the surviving founders of all of the major post-WWII global institutions very quickly. Is anyone trying to do a major series looking back at the origins of the UN/Bretton Woods/FAO/UDHR etc. and how they have worked and failed along the way?

Mark Ritchie

As a scholar, is it difficult to reconcile the ever-changing politically motivated interpretations of history with the basic facts of history?

As a visual artist, I wonder where our brush and pen are? Our camera? We are living in a time during which there are so many voices, I imagine the Tower of Babel, and so few are documenting our times. As the economy of this great country continues to mire in the mud, we still do not have the visual impact of the coffins brought home from war; the faces of those who have lost their jobs on the edge of retirement; the children who are forced out of their homes because a parent(s) can no longer pay a mortgage which should have never been written. Where are the artists who once defined our times by mirroring hardships in photographs, copper etchings, paintings, sculpture? We are all in this great country of ours walking down a very long and dangerous road with pitfalls and cliffs. As an artist, I want to find the points of light, the beacons of hope who are making it against all odds - the new entrepreneurs. As an author, I want to scribe the collective thoughts along the way (notebooks, emails, blogs, social networks) as I began these thoughts in my book (now entering its third printing), "Re-Rooting: Life's Journey." I hope to inspire creativity once again in those who are looking and cannot find a spark of hope in the midst of chaos. As a photographer, I hope to capture as some of the greatest in the past did, this time we are in. We seem not to have learned from the past. I would love an opportunity to talk about the American Spirit with you. It is what we must muster in order to survive this debacle we have found ourselves in. Let's chat about the possibilities to bring about change through our collective voices - our audible and visual voices.
Florida Artist & Author Joanelle Mulrain
www.greatblueheronstudios.com
Jacksonville, FL

Who wrote the theme music for "American Experience"? Does the piece have a title? I like both the music you started using in 2008 and the older theme.

How come the episode on the Garfield assassination has never been for sale?

What do you think are some of the trends rippling throuh today's American Experience? What will this new generation bring to the table as the babyboomers retire.

Nick

New York, NY

P.S. Love the show, keep up the good work.

When will you add a Presidential Profile of Calvin Coolidge?

I'm a Canadian who very much enjoys American Experience. Do you take suggestions for shows? I have a few ideas.