Ken Burns' 12-hour documentary 'The American Revolution' will premiere on PBS in November
This is the most excited I have been about a television event in at least ten years, if not longer. There are a few decent documentaries about this period, but not many, and certainly not many when compared to the glut of television created around the Civil War. There aren't many solid movies either.
It's a fascinating time in the history of our country. Power was seized by a loud, but idealistic band of rebels, who then organized and pressed war against the greatest military power of its time in order to establish our great republic. (And yes, America is still great, even if we have lost our way for the moment thanks to our present leadership.) It is actually quite amazing that America emerged victorious in the end.
This is a story that is ripe to be told by someone with Ken Burns' vision and I can't wait to see what he has put together. I bet it will wind up being the definitive account.
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | July 4, 2025 7:35 PM
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Hmm. Will it be full of slow pans over etchings of battles while a down tempo version of “Yankee Doodle” plays?
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | July 4, 2025 2:05 AM
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Ken Burns deploys the same shtick every time.
Better idea: read the first 2 parts of Rick Atkinson’s The Revolution Trilogy,
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | July 4, 2025 2:06 AM
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Another opus from the Aaron Sorkin of documentary filmmaking.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | July 4, 2025 2:06 AM
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He has a few detractors I see.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | July 4, 2025 2:10 AM
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What a foolish binary r2 creates, as if you can’t read Atkinson’s books AND watch Ken Burns’ doc.
Will it blow r2’s mind to learn that Atkinson was very heavily involved in this current “schtick” by Burns?
I love Burns’ documentaries. I love Atkinson’s books. Both fantastic learning experiences.
Of course Burns is very progressive, especially on race issues. That has earned him some detractors — amongst racists.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | July 4, 2025 2:17 AM
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Burns and Atkinson discuss the documentary.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | July 4, 2025 2:19 AM
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[Quote] He has a few detractors I see.
Or one deranged one who is beginning a long weekend.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | July 4, 2025 2:20 AM
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Burns may be progressive but I don’t care about that. His style is the same. Why reinvent the wheel? To be interesting. That’s why.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | July 4, 2025 2:27 AM
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R3 Is this the famously progressive guy who interviewed one black person (Barbara Fields) in his Civil War documentary series while giving the Lost Cause / Nathan Bedford Forrest apologist Shelby Foote the most screentime among his talking heads?
Framing his detractors as motivated by racism is absurd. Some of us are motivated by his somnambular aesthetics and naive view of American history.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | July 4, 2025 2:28 AM
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I’m going to watch. I remember a lot about the Boston end of things thanks to many school field trips but I’m a little hazy on the Philadelphia/Valley Forge stuff.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | July 4, 2025 2:33 AM
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Documentaries that cover a time before photographs and recorded material were around really have their work cut out for them.
This one will probably have too many talking heads, though thankfully Burns doesn't go in for dramatic re-enactments (my pet peeve in current documentary filmmaking)
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | July 4, 2025 2:33 AM
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It will air just in time for the US to start working on the sequel.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | July 4, 2025 2:34 AM
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Took him long enough. He's covered everything else.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | July 4, 2025 2:41 AM
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The people who should see it won't.
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | July 4, 2025 2:51 AM
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After all, R16, all PBS funding should be cut.
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | July 4, 2025 2:55 AM
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[Quote] Framing his detractors as motivated by racism is absurd.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | July 4, 2025 4:56 AM
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I love documentaries, but I've never had the attention span for Ken Burns. I think I did watch the Dust Bowl one as it was only 2 episodes. The Da Vinci one intrigued me...has anyone seen that one?
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | July 4, 2025 5:32 AM
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It was good, R20. How was yours?
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | July 4, 2025 5:49 AM
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Be careful r21. You might be talking to a vet.
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | July 4, 2025 5:54 AM
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Any vet with an ounce of self-reflection knows Vietnam was a bullshit war.
| by Anonymous | reply 23 | July 4, 2025 5:57 AM
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R21, the comment was clearly directed at Burns's documentary.
| by Anonymous | reply 24 | July 4, 2025 5:59 AM
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True, R23, but if you say that out loud as a non-veteran they might start shouting at you about how their friends died in front of them. I was on the receiving end of that once.
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | July 4, 2025 7:12 PM
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Will it incorporate Nikole Hannah-Jones’ 1619 Project claim that the Revolutionary War was motivated to preserve slavery of blacks?
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | July 4, 2025 7:35 PM
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