Frontline
Challenging Ideas
Troy and Darcy Schnack are officers in the US Army, with missions in Saudi Arabia and Iraq in their past, graduate school in their present (he at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, she at Boston College), and professorships at their alma mater West Point in their future. The Iowa natives also are passionate Frontline fans who think this year's A Company of Soldiers, Private Warriors, and The Torture Question stand out in a cluttered television landscape for "realistically, accurately, and succinctly portraying conditions on the ground as experienced at the individual soldier level." These Iraq War-themed Frontline documentaries, the couple adds, "have been very fair and balanced and provide a common ground from which to begin discussing this complex subject." In the first 20 days following the Torture broadcast, 31,000 viewers watched the film online, encouraging other active duty soldiers like the Schnacks, as well as veterans and civilians, to keep talking.
Einstein Examined
WGBH's partnership with the Boston Public Library for screenings related to Einstein's Big Idea drew crowds eager to watch and discuss the Nova docudrama. Those who missed the BPL events didn't miss out: the WGBH Forum Network (wgbh.org/forum), an online compendium of talks from around the region, curated a lecture series on the import and legacy of E=mc2.
Contemporary Masterpiece
Giving classic literature a contemporary voice has been a Masterpiece Theatre hallmark for 35 years. In 2005, critics praised Allan Cubitt's edgy script for Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking and its ability to help a brooding Rupert Everett "go against the usual interpretation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective . . . and bring nuance to the role . . . and new audiences to a reinvented Masterpiece."
Raising the Roof
The transformation of a boxy, contemporary-style house into a 21st-century home reminded This Old House viewer-renovators like Nicole and Kevin Kelly of Concord, MA that "we can count on the House team for expert, unbiased advice." The series that sparked an entire TV genre came home to Cambridge for its first modern project in 26 years.
Popular Passion
Antiques Roadshow simplifies the rarefied world of antiques and conservation, appealing to the passionate collector in all of us. No wonder, then, that it reigns as PBS's most popular show. "I go to museums all over the world," writes one viewer, "and thanks to Antiques Roadshow, I can appreciate what I'm seeing a lot more."
