Selected press items featuring WNET.ORG, its programs, projects and services from the period Friday, May 22 through Thursday, May 28, 2009.
Of American Masters Hollywood Chinese CanWest syndicate writes, “Hollywood Chinese weighs in at the high end of the documentary scale. It’s not hard to imagine Hollywood Chinese itself being nominated for an Academy Award – it’s that compelling. Hollywood Chinese is the latest film in PBS’s luminous American Masters series. It was made with heart and real style by San Francisco-born Asian- American filmmaker Arthur Dong, an Oscar nominee for his documentary short Sewing Women. Hollywood Chinese is soft-spoken, ennobling and, at times, quite sad. And yet, it’s never mawkish or sentimental. It has more to say about the immigrant experience in two hours than an entire season’s worth of news programs made on the cheap. Hollywood Chinese has a lot to say, too, about the power of the movies, and why we’re drawn to them. This is the stuff dreams are made of. Hollywood Chinese is glorious.” The Times Picayune, Examiner, Daily Best, Boston Globe (“The documentary is smart, lively, and informative”) also have reviews, and the program gets the cover story in the Washington Post TV Week. Canwest News Service calls it “a reverent but bittersweet portrait of the history of Asian-American actors in American cinema.”
Press coverage soars for Great Performances In the Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams, with stories in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, TV Online, and the New York Daily News (“For Miranda, it’s a triumph to have the show — which he first wrote while a student at Wesleyan University — featured on Great Performances, a series better known for its spotlights on classical theater, ballets and operas. ‘I have a lot of friends who are actors who say the only way they got to experience Broadway at all was through PBS’ Great Performances,’ Miranda said last week, ‘so to be part of that tradition of getting a glimpse of what’s going on Broadway is really very special to me.’”) Broadway World writes: “This special will go down as the greatest commercial of all time for a Broadway musical, that took an enormous risk, moving from Off-Broadway to Broadway and running off with the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical. This special looks unlike anything that we’ve seen on PBS and a little bit of research told me why. The company that filmed it, Radical Media, are the people responsible for filming the HD last performance of RENT on Broadway. The show footage is glorious and the charismatic writer, Lin-Manuel Miranda is the freshest face to hit the boards in years.” Calling the program “dazzling,” Broadway World also raves, “This is a joy to watch, from start to finish and will send you to your CD shelf to throw on the cast album, as we watch the articles pile up next week about the jump in box office sales after this airs…GUARANTEED! Don’t Miss It!” The Daily News gives the documentary the cover of its TV book. All Headline News has a story as well. And this blog, this blog, this blog, and this blog also plug the program.
Martin Savidge and Worldfocus are profiled in Women’s Wear Daily. Charles Armstrong, the director of the Center for Korean Research at Columbia University, joined Martin Savidge on Monday’s Worldfocus to discuss the military and political significance of the nuclear test as well as the timing of the test just days after the former president of South Korea committed suicide. It was featured on The Huffington Post.
Blueprint America: Road to the Future continues to draw attention. The Oregonian reviewed the documentary stating: “It’s fast, it’s breezy, it condenses things. But it gets a lot of things, the most important things, right, and it’s worth a look.” BikeIndy writes “The program contains an excellent discussion on the influence of urban planning on bike commuting. Thank you to BikePortland.org for directing me to this excellent program.” Mayor Jacob Smith of Golden, Colorado posts his opinion urging residents to watch online: “I think the biggest weakness is that they don’t really acknowledge Denver’s investments in a light rail system and other multi-modal infrastructure (e.g., bicycle lanes and paths). That said, I think their overall story is pretty accurate: the Denver region has and continues to sprawl aggressively without any real sense of restraint.” Transport Gooru links to the documentary online. Mobilizing the Region, a blog of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign highlights Alexie Torres-Fleming’s segment in the documentary. A University of Connecticut engineering student highlights the documentary in his blog. New Urbanism in the News, this bike blog and this train blog also recommend the documentary. In a letter to the editor of the Star News, one viewer notes the problems Denver is facing highlighted in the documentary, so is the city of Wilmington, North Carolina. The Oregonian also notes the documentary is up online for those who missed it on-air. The Infrastructurist takes the New York Times review to task: “Who wants to disagree with a Times review. Doesn’t that mean you’re dumb or something? But let’s say this in defense of Blueprint: A piece of rhetoric can be effective for the precisely the same reasons that it’s unsatisfying to elite audience members. The show made the questions and precedents of transportation planning feel local and approachable and immediate, which is not a small civic accomplishment in a country that has been hideously misbuilt and is only in the earliest stages of realizing it. The show seemed to be trying to democratize a discussion that heretofore has penetrated the consciousness of a very small percentage of the population. So if that means going with slightly obvious symbols, then okay. And if you’re going to discuss a complex issue effectively with a general audience, you need tell a story–and a relatively snappy one. So if that means rounding off some corners, and trotting out symbols that might be a little stale, and steering clear of some of the more daunting questions around ‘solutions,’ then cheers to our friends at PBS.” Biking Toronto also chimes in, as does the Gotham Gazette, which notes: “As part of the Web feature, you can also read an analysis of the congestion pricing plan, view an extended interview with Sadik-Khan and read a post about federal stimulus funds and transportation projects in New York.”
Great Performances: Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood: Live From Madison Square Garden gets a photo highlight in the New York Times and reviews at Gibson and On TV Online Reviews.
“PBS will air the Royal Albert Hall concert presentation of the musical Chess on Wednesday, June 17,” notes Theater Mania.
The Examiner writes of Great Performances’ King Lear, “ . . .it is McKellen who triumphs here, making it well worth catching. Watch a preview here: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/king-lear/25-march-and-beyond/475.“
NOW on PBS Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa has a beautiful essay featured on the wowowow site created by Marlo Thomas, Liz Smith, Whoopi Goldberg, Lesley Stahl, Lili Tomlin, Candace Bergen, and others. In it, she talks about the impact of Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
The Bill Moyers Journal expose on healthcare gets noticed at Gather.
BroadwayWorld.com reports on WLIW21’s exclusive broadcast premiere of Broadway Profiles: The Women of Broadway Monday, June 8 at 8 p.m., noting how viewers can donate to the station and gain access to two special events: Mamma Mia’s eighth anniversary cast party, and a post-performance Q&A and meet-and-greet with the cast of the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play August: Osage County.
Bloomberg reports on Consuelo Mack WealthTrack’s exclusive interview with David Swensen, quoting from the program heavily. TheGuruInvestor.com also has a lengthy post about the show. CNBC and Reuters pick up last week’s release about the appearance.
