PBS

Any documentary that includes Grandpa Al Lewis has to be worth watching. For someone who didn't grow up in New York, Coney Island didn't have too much reality until watching this program. Looking at the wonders of Luna Park, Dreamland, and Steeplechase Park, this is clearly the origin for the super amusement parks of today--Disney (including Epcot) and Universal Studios. The structures were massive and impressive, probably even more so than the great Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1892, show more but they were flimsy and not built to last, as a series of fires demonstrated. Their developers were visionaries, however.

The crowds at the parks and on the beaches of Coney Island are staggering. Like the busiest day at Disney--only worse. But the parks started closing. Dreamland never recovered from a fire. Luna Park shut down around 1947, and Steeplechase in the 1960s. Wars, the Depression, television, and the increasing lure of Manhattan all took their toll. But it was marvelous while it lasted, and you can at least get a hint of what it was all about by watching this. show less

Patty Hearst called herself an "urban guerrilla" — hardly the occupation her parents and billionaire grandfather, media mogul William Randolph Hearst, envisioned for her. But Hearst's story was more sensational than anything her grandpa's editors could have dreamed up. Kidnapped in 1974 by radical militants, held in captivity for months and then converted to the cause, Hearst became an emblem for a country mired in severe political turmoil. Robert Stone's vivid, stylish and painstakingly show more researched document examines the Hearst kidnapping from a variety of angles, documenting the militant group's success in using the mass media as a mouthpiece and the unruly feed-the-hungry programs it forced the Hearst family to create. It even includes surveillance footage of Patty wielding a gun in a bank robbery. Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst isn't just the tale of a freakish crime; it's the story of a country forced to watch dissent, radicalism and class warfare on the nightly news. Death to the fascist insect! show less

During the Great Depression, between 1936 and 1940, one sports figure captivated fans unlike any other has in such a way since. Whether on newspaper columnist Walter Winchell’s top ten newsmakers of 1938 list, as the subject of newsreels, radio programs and a film, or the image on scores of licensed advertising products, one athlete surpassed his contemporaries. And he wasn’t even human. The racehorse Seabiscuit offered racing fans and the general public a hero to root for with whom they show more could identify—overworked, ungainly, plain, with a hard-luck life who fought to prove he was the best at what he could do.
Inspired by Laura Hillenbrand’s best-selling book, Seabiscuit: An American Legend, this PBS documentary captures visually the story she has so richly told in print. Director Stephen Ives tells the quintessentially American story of triumph over adversity through archival film footage, black-and-white photographs, newspaper clippings, advertisements, radio broadcasts, and color home movies. He covers automotive magnate Charles Howard’s purchase of Seabiscuit for $8000, laconic trainer Tom Smith’s unorthodox training style, and journeyman jockey Red Pollard’s personal disasters and affinity for Seabiscuit. Ives includes on-camera interviews with and comments by Hillenbrand (senior creative consultant), former jockey Farrell Jones, writer Gene Smith, sportscaster Jack Whitaker, trainer Leonard Dorfman, jockey agent Gelo Hall, Red Pollard’s friend Helen Luther, and Pollard’s daughter Norah Christianson.
Seabiscuit had an unfashionable pedigree and an undistinguished racing career at ages two and three. With Howard, Smith, and Pollard the horse began to win races at age four, improving with each race. The west coast press lauded him as the “hard luck hero for a troubled nation” while the east coast racing establishment dismissed him as unworthy of notice. Because Howard raced Seabiscuit almost every week across the country, racing fans got to see him in action at the racetracks in addition to the newsreels shown in movie theaters and the weekly radio broadcasts of races. The newspapers played up his connections’ two biggest goals—winning the prestigious Santa Anita Handicap and competing in a match race with Triple Crown winner War Admiral. Seabiscuit lost his first Santa Anita Handicap because Pollard did not see an approaching horse; unknown until Hillenbrand revealed it in her book, Pollard was blind in his right eye. Had the racing commission known, he would have lost his license and livelihood. Unable to explain why he lost, Pollard quietly accepted the accusations of incompetence and vowed not to make the same mistake again. Pollard, anxious to ride additional horses, unfortunately chose the wrong times and mounts to race and was badly injured just before the Santa Anita Handicap and again before the match race. While Pollard recovered, his friend George Woolf replaced him as Seabiscuit’s jockey and trounced War Admiral at their match race in November 1938; Seabiscuit was finally named 1938 Horse of the Year. Failing to capture the Santa Anita Handicap in several attempts, the seven-year-old Seabiscuit eventually won the 1940 race after a year’s rest and recuperation from which most turfmen did not think he would return to the races.
The PBS documentary conveys the excitement of the races, and with well-chosen interviewees captures the flavor of the times, particularly the personalities of Pollard and Seabiscuit, with less attention focused on Charles Howard and taciturn Tom Smith. Strongly covered is the subcontext of the Depression and how Seabiscuit galvanized the hopes and dreams of the downtrodden. The interviewees add personal information about Pollard and a first-hand account of the match race. Rather than this documentary being about the interrelations among the owner, trainer, jockey, and horse, it focuses on the main actors on the stage—Pollard and Seabiscuit.
There is no story without drama, tension, and adversity overcome, and the story of Seabiscuit has it all. This is a good biopic of a great horse but in fifty-four minutes it only hits the highlights. It is a good visual introduction to this racing star; for a more in-depth analysis viewers will want to read Hillenbrand’s book. show less

This is a thoroughly enjoyable, but greatly simplified overview of Greene's book on string theory. The book includes a great introduction to both Einstein's theories and to Quantum Mechanics before launching into its history and future forecast for string theory, whereas the TV series spends more time on the preliminaries and only touches on string theory, which makes sense. Greene is a great host--his abilities clearly extend beyond writing and teaching. The graphics used to illustrate show more things are very good--although a bit over the top at times. Highly, highly recommended, as is the follow-up PBS series. show less