American Masters - Season 28
Season 28
Episodes
Salinger
Salinger is the first work to get beyond "The Catcher in the Rye" author's meticulously built wall: his childhood, painstaking work methods, marriages, private world and the secrets J.D. Salinger left behind after his death in 2010. The film interviewed 150 subjects, including Salinger's friends, colleagues and members of his inner circle.
Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth
"Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth" is the first film biography of writer and activist Alice Walker. Most famous for her seminal novel "The Color Purple" for which she won a Pulitzer Prize, Walker was raised in poverty in the rural South during the violent and seismic social changes of mid-20th century America. Women, poverty and civil rights became the inherent themes in her writing.
A Fierce Green Fire
American Masters: A Fierce Green Fire is the first big-picture exploration of the environmental movement, spanning 50 years of activism. Chronicling the largest movement of the 20th century, the film tells vivid stories about people fighting - and succeeding - against the odds, from the Grand Canyon to Love Canal, from the oceans to the Amazon. A film by Academy Award-nominee Mark Kitchell.
Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself
Co-founder of The Paris Review, George Plimpton (1927–2003) was a fascinated journalist who lived fully, strangely and incredibly. With George Plimpton's own narration, the film includes extensive archival footage of his sport stunts and participatory journalism gigs, and interviews with friends, family and contemporaries.
Tanaquil Le Clercq: Afternoon of a Faun
Tanaquil Le Clercq (1929–2000) was a star ballerina with the New York City Ballet who greatly influenced choreographers George Balanchine (her husband) and Jerome Robbins (her friend). Filmmaker Nancy Buirski spotlights Le Clercq's ballet career, influence on dance, and her struggle with polio, which paralyzed her at the height of her fame.
Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning
Her photograph Migrant Mother is one of the most recognized and arresting images in the world, a portrait that came to represent America's Great Depression. Yet few know the story, struggles and profound body of work of the woman who created the portrait: Dorothea Lange. Directed and narrated by Lange's granddaughter Dyanna Taylor.
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work takes the audience on a year-long ride with Joan Rivers in her 76th year of life; it peels away the mask of an iconic comedian, laying bare both the struggle and thrill of living life as a groundbreaking female performer.
The Boomer List
The baby boomer generation (1946-1964) has significantly and uniquely changed our world. The year 2014 marks an important shift in American culture, as the last boomers turn 50. American Masters: The Boomer List tells the story of this influential generation through the lives of 19 iconic boomers. Directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.
Bing Crosby Rediscovered
Bing Crosby (1903-1977) was the most popular and influential multi-media star of the first half of the 20th century. For more than three decades, through radio, film, television and records, he reigned supreme. For this new documentary, Crosby's estate granted American Masters access to the entertainer's archives, including never-before-seen home movies, Dictabelt recordings, photos and more.
Recently Updated Shows
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Seth Meyers, who is Saturday Night Live's longest serving anchor on the show's wildly popular "Weekend Update," takes over as host of NBC's Late Night — home to A-list celebrity guests, memorable comedy and the best in musical talent.
As the Emmy Award-winning head writer for "SNL," Meyers has established a reputation for sharp wit and perfectly timed comedy, and has gained fame for his spot-on jokes and satire. Meyers takes his departure from "SNL" to his new post at "Late Night," as Jimmy Fallon moves to The Tonight Show.
Mysteries of the Abandoned
Some of the world's most incredible engineering projects now lie in ruins. These deserted places are home to extraordinary mysteries and untold secrets, and we revisit them to understand how they were built, and why they were abandoned.
They were once some of the most advanced structures and facilities on the planet, standing at the cutting-edge of design and construction. Today they are abandoned, dangerous, some of them even deadly. From uninhabited cities to empty factories, these long-forgotten engineering marvels are scattered around the globe. Science Channel uncovers why some of the world's most advanced architectural achievements were eventually left behind in the all-new series Mysteries of the Abandoned.
Each of the six, hour-long episodes of Mysteries of the Abandoned features stories behind engineering wonders, why they were built, and the reasons they were eventually left to crumble. Each story recalls the people who originally designed the structure, their historical significance, and why they were ultimately no longer of use. The premiere episode explores California's Goat Canyon Trestle railway, known as the 'Impossible Railroad,' that required the biggest wooden trestle bridge in the world; Ukraine's Duga, the notorious anti-ballistic missile radar, known as the 'Russian Woodpecker,' that still stands in within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone; and the Grand Goulets Road in the French Alps, an astonishingly narrow and perilous mountain passageway.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert brings his signature satire and comedy to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the #1 show in late-night. Featuring bandleader Jon Batiste with his band Stay Human, the Emmy Award-nominated show broadcasts from the historic Ed Sullivan Theater. He talks with an eclectic mix of guests about what is new and relevant in the worlds of politics, entertainment, business, music, technology, and more. Stephen Colbert took over as host, executive producer, and writer of The Late Show on Sept. 8, 2015.
Colbert is best known for his work as a television host, writer, actor, and producer, and lest known for his charity work teaching English as a second language on Tunisian date farms. Before joining the CBS family -- and being officially adopted by network president Les Moonves -- Colbert helmed The Colbert Report, which aired nearly 1,500 episodes and required Stephen to wear nearly 1,500 different neckties. The program received two Peabody Awards, two Grammy Awards, and several unwelcome shoulder massages. It won two Emmys for Outstanding Variety Series in 2013 and 2014, both of which appear to have been lost in the move. Colbert is pronounced koʊlˈbɛər, according to Wikipedia. His understudy is William Cavanaugh, who will be hosting The Late Show approximately one-third of the time. Good luck, Bill!
Real Time with Bill Maher
Real Time with Bill Maher includes an opening monologue, roundtable discussions with panelists, and interviews with in-studio and satellite guests. Politico hailed Maher as "a pugnacious debater and a healthy corrective to the claptrap of cable news", while Variety noted, "There may not be a more eclectic guest list on all of television".
Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch
There are some places on earth where the land just seems different, and Blind Frog Ranch in eastern Utah is one of those places. Locals say the land is cursed. That it's trying to hold on to something. From Aztec treasure to caverns of gold and silver to lost Mormon mines, legends surround Duane Ollinger's 160-acre ranch in Utah's Uintah Basin. But Duane isn't concerned with the lore. After discovering a system of seven underground caves that run through his property, he is singularly focused on finding what's hidden in them - no matter what the cost.