An American Family at 50 (2024)

imagine… Russell T Davies: The Doctor and Me

imagine... follows celebrated British TV writer Russell T Davies as he prepares to return as the showrunner of Doctor Who – with two Doctors and bigger ambitions.

Dont Look Back

In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Bob Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists, and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan, and Alan Price.

The War Room

A behind-the-scenes documentary about the Clinton for President campaign, focusing on the adventures of spin doctors James Carville and George Stephanopoulos.

Lance Loud!: A Death in An American Family

Eldest son Lance, of the Loud family profiled on PBS in 1973, became the first openly gay man on television and a gay icon for his generation. When Lance entered hospice in 2001 with a terminal HIV and hepatitis C co-infection, he asked original filmmakers Susan and Alan Raymond to film a final episode of the series. Lance reflects upon his days with Andy Warhol, his band The Mumps, a career as a writer and the experience of being the first reality TV star. It is a celebration of life and a cautionary tale.

Lucy and Desi

Explore the unlikely partnership and enduring legacy of one of the most prolific power couples in entertainment history. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz risked everything to be together.

Making Kayfabe

Facing a mid-life crisis, a journalist discovers the regular folk moonlighting as indie wrestlers, who help him transform his childhood dream into reality as "Fake Nooz Neville."

Eurovision Secrets & Scandals

A revelatory documentary uncovering amazing stories about what really goes on behind the scenes at Eurovision. With contributions from former winner Cheryl Baker, former loser Andy Abraham and former host Jan Leeming.

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One

In Manhattan's Central Park, a film crew directed by William Greaves is shooting a screen test with various pairs of actors. It's a confrontation between a couple: he demands to know what's wrong, she challenges his sexual orientation. Cameras shoot the exchange, and another camera records Greaves and his crew. Sometimes we watch the crew discussing this scene, its language, and the process of making a movie. Is there such a thing as natural language? Are all things related to sex? The camera records distractions - a woman rides horseback past them; a garrulous homeless vet who sleeps in the park chats them up. What's the nature of making a movie?

Goodbye Television Centre

After 53 years Television Centre, the BBC's TV headquarters, is closing its doors and Michael Grade gathers together many of its best-loved faces to stroll down memory lane.

The Lovely Month of May

Candid interviews of ordinary people on the meaning of happiness, an often amorphous and inarticulable notion that evokes more basic and fundamentally egalitarian ideals of self-betterment, prosperity, tolerance, economic opportunity, and freedom.

Chronicle of a Summer

Paris, summer 1960. Anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch and sociologist and film critic Edgar Morin wander through the crowded streets asking passersby how they cope with life's misfortunes.

Warrendale

This ground-breaking cinéma-vérité classic documents five weeks in the lives of twelve residents of a home for emotionally disturbed children. It is the first in the form that King later described as actuality drama. All the action is spontaneous and undirected, with neither interviews nor narration. The theme is the outrage of life. The children asked the filmmakers, Why is it that whenever pictures of us are put in the papers, our faces are blacked out. What is so awful about us that we cant be seen? They wanted to be filmed so that they could be seen.

Come On Children

Five boys and five girls ages 13 to 19 live on a farm for ten weeks, to be filmed, and to see what might emerge for each of them personally.

Disclosure

An investigation of how Hollywood's fabled stories have deeply influenced how Americans feel about transgender people, and how transgender people have been taught to feel about themselves.

Live from New York: The First 5 Years of Saturday Night Live

A retrospective of the first 5 years of Saturday Night Live.

Hearse Life

A stylish exploration of funeral car history, sub-culture, and outrageous reactions.

Behind Your Radio Dial

Familiar radio voice Ben Grauer leads the viewer on a behind the scenes tour of the National Broadcasting Company studios -- both radio and television -- in Rockefeller Center and Hollywood. The original 25-minute film previewed by network execs and affiliates in the fall of 1948 was cut down to 20 minutes before its first broadcast, reportedly to excise high-profile stars and programs such as Amos 'n' Andy, Jack Benny, and Edgar Bergen that had since left NBC for other networks.

What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

A documentary exploring the legacy of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the reasons it went from the black sheep of Star Trek to a beloved mainstay of the franchise, and a brainstorm with the original writers on what a theoretical eighth season of the show could look like.

The Story of Soaps

This ABC/PEOPLE television special highlights the impact of the soap opera. In today's shifting television landscape, "The Story of Soaps" traces how female creators migrated from radio to television to become the dominant force in daytime for more than three decades. Today, the legacy of the soap opera continues all over prime time and reality t.v. An extensive look is taken at this iconic, impactful genre.