Dick Cavett (Courtesy of Daphne Productions) Emmy Award-winning television personality and talk show host Dick Cavett speaks with WNET Up Next host Elisa Lichtenbaum about Groucho & Cavett, an American Masters documentary exploring his profound and enduring friendship with iconic comedian Groucho Marx. The film, written, produced, and directed by R…

Julia Kots filming “Inez & Doug & Kira” in New York City. Filmmaker and co-producer Julia Kots speaks with WNET Up Next host Elisa Lichtenbaum about the making of Inez & Doug & Kira, her independent film about a bipolar woman who commits suicide and the impact of her death on her sister and her sister’s fiancé. The film, written, directed, edited, …

Oren Jacoby Oscar-nominated director Oren Jacoby speaks with WNET Up Next host Elisa Lichtenbaum about the making of On Broadway, his documentary that looks at the incredible way Broadway bounced back from the brink of bankruptcy and other challenges from the 1960s to the present. The film premieres on THIRTEEN — your New York City PBS station — on…

WNET Digital Innovators meeting. In observation of National Teacher Appreciation Week, WNET UP NEXT celebrates our local teachers with an in-depth look the WNET PBS Digital Innovators Program, which for the past two years has provided a unique online gathering place for 14 outstanding teachers from the tri-state New York City metropolitan region. T…

How do we maintain a sense of possibility and moral purpose in age of unbearable loss? What lessons of history or visions of tomorrow can help us today in contending with hate and injustice, the Covid-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, the attacks on democracy, and the lethal march of war? When facing personal or professional troubles, where do we tu…

Benjamin Franklin. In conjunction with the upcoming PBS premiere of Ken Burns’ four-hour biographical film BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, (Monday, April 4 and Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at 8 p.m.), WNET UP NEXT welcomes Walter Isaacson, creative consultant for the film and author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. “Just being interested in everything made him…

Shelagh Turner (LAURA MAIN), Dr. Turner (STEPHEN McGANN) discuss what he has learned about sickle cell in Call the Midwife Season 8. The acclaimed British series “Call the Midwife” comes back to PBS for its eleventh season on the evening of Sunday March 20th. To celebrate its return, WNET UP NEXT welcomes actor and author Stephen McGann, who portra…

20 Years of Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir celebrates the many years of televised Christmas concerts with the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra from The Conference Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. Boston’s GBH and PBS are presenting this two hour long retrospective hosted and narr…

In association with GBH‘s major multiplatform initiative “American Veteran,” WNET Up Next interviews author and Marine Corps veteran Phil Klay who is featured in the broadcast documentary, and is host of the podcast series “American Veteran: Unforgettable Stories” whose nine episodes are now being released on Apple Podcasts and Spotify on Tuesdays …

“The end of the sentence is not the end of the story….” In the current era of criminal justice reform, The Power of a Pardon examines the pardon and clemency process as it’s currently playing out in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Award-winning documentary filmmaker Jamila Paksima brings to WNET Up Next a behind the scenes look at the film and he…

What is mental illness? Where does it come from? How can it be treated? These are some of the questions being addressed in Mysteries of Mental Illness, a multiplatform initiative from GBH Boston exploring the story of mental illness in science and society. Denise DiIanni, the Senior Executive in Charge, visits WNET Up Next to share an in-depth look…

Over fourteen years ago, Holly Carter, a former print journalist and documentary filmmaker, created BYkids, a global movement that uses storytelling by film to inform, engage and inspire action. BYkids pairs accomplished filmmakers with teens from around the world to create personal documentaries that encourage understanding about universal issues …

Lesley Norman, The WNET Group Executive Director of National Programming, recently visited WNET Up Next to share news about several exciting program initiatives coming to WNET and PBS this spring. First up on the schedule is the four part My Grandparents’ War, which premiered on Sunday April 4th at 8:00PM and continues for three successive Sundays …

On the occasion of a recent rebroadcast of the five-part PBS series ASIAN AMERICANS, The WNET Group President & CEO Neal Shapiro engaged in a wide-ranging conversation with award-winning broadcast journalist Connie Chung. Born in Washington, DC to a large Chinese family, Connie shares with Neal memories of her childhood, her influential career and …

ASIAN AMERICANS is a five-part PBS documentary series produced by WETA that examines the role of Asian Americans in shaping American history and identity, exploring the impact of this group on the country’s past, present, and future. For a fundraising broadcast of the series, actor, author and activist George Takei was interviewed by series narrato…

“When you tune in you won’t know what it’s going to be about but you’ll know it’ll be worth your time and that you’ll be transformed after watching! It’s a medium that touches people and changes lives.” – Justine Nagan Now in its 33rd year of production, POV continues to present award-winning documentary films with a “point of view” on PBS. Executi…

In this time of global pandemic, WNET’s Kids’ Media & Education (KME) Department, led by Executive Producer and Director Sandra Sheppard, has provided expanded services to the community, particularly in the form of several instructional strands for school age children. In association with the New Jersey Department of Education and the New Jersey Ed…

Create TV, now in existence for more than 15 years, is a joint venture of WNET, Boston’s WGBH and American Public Television (APT). It serves its audience an entire channel devoted to public media’s most popular lifestyle and how-to shows in the genres of food, home and garden, travel, arts and crafts, and fitness. Naima Smith, Create TV Program Ma…

Miles Davis, Round Midnight Recording Session. June 1956. Photo: Don Hunstein/Sony Music Archives. Updated January 31, 2022. In conjunction with the broadcast premiere of American Masters‘ presentation of Stanley Nelson’s film Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool in 2020, WNET Up Next paid a visit to New York’s famed Apollo Theater. During an Apollo Open…

In the midst of a hectic holiday season, WNET Up Next pauses to take a look at Live From Lincoln Center with Producer Douglas Chang. The iconic series premiered on PBS in 1976 and has presented an amazing array of concerts, ballets, and theatre pieces from Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts here in New York, winning 17 Emmy Awards and two Peabo…

This month, WNET Up Next features Executive Producer/Project Director Eugenia Harvey and Producer Maya Navon to learn more about the Multiplatform Initiatives unit. In addition to producing content for Chasing the Dream, an initiative on income inequality, poverty and opportunity, the unit also publishes content for Peril and Promise: The Challenge…

n the final of a trio of episodes devoted to the THIRTEEN Celebrates the Summer of ’69, WNET Up Next puts the spotlight on the 50th Anniversary of the iconic Woodstock Music Festival. Community Engagement’s Jasmine Wilson takes us behind the scenes of THIRTEEN’s Summer of ’69 project and outlines the station-wide collaboration that made it all happ…

WNET Up Next continues its collaboration with Community Engagement and THIRTEEN Celebrates Summer of ’69 initiative, which is being featured on-air, online and in the community. This month, the podcast dives into the 50th anniversary of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission and the first moon walk. WNET’s Senior Director of Community Engagement Chris Czajka ref…

In conjunction with WNET”s Summer of ’69 celebration, WNET Up Next launches a three-episode series with a focus on the Stonewall riots. Stonewall is the shorthand for the celebrated Greenwich village event which propelled the struggle for gay rights to a new level of activism and national consciousness. First, host Tom Stewart talks with WNET’s Sen…

Women War & Peace II is a follow up to Women War & Peace, a series of films originally broadcast on PBS seven years ago. The series demonstrates how women have been involved in shaping some of the most significant international stories of recent years, and in the process risking their lives for peace and changing the course of history. Recently, Co…

ALL ARTS, WNET’s new broadcast and streaming platform dedicated to arts and culture has just had it’s premiere as a broadcast entity. In this episode of WNET UP Next, host Tom Stewart is joined by Diane Masciale, Executive in Charge and Joe Harrell, Senior Director. Diane details the history of the development of the service, which goes back severa…

WNET and PBS have recently added Amanpour & Company to their stable of daily news and public affairs series. The one-hour program, presented by PBS stations every weeknight, can also be streamed the following day at PBS.org and Passport. Featuring award-winning CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour, who is based in London, the s…

Stephanie Carter, the Executive Producer of the very popular science-based PBS series “Secrets of the Dead” sits down with Tom Stewart to discuss the series and her career in public media. “Secrets of the Dead” will begin its new season on PBS on Wednesday evening October 3rd at 10PM. “The Woman in the Iron Coffin” is a fascinating story combining …

This episode of WNET Up Next is an Encore of an episode first heard in in 2016: Time for School: 2003-2016, produced, directed and co-written by Nina Chaudry, puts a human face on the issue of education for millions of children in developing countries. The film shines a light on this issue by telling the stories of five children: Nanavi in Benin; J…

Filmmaker Stanley Nelson joins WNET Up Next for a conversation with Tom Stewart about his multi-award winning career. Nelson’s latest film, Tell Them We Are Rising (www.hbcurising.com), a documentary which explores the role that historically black colleges and universities have played in American history and culture, premiered in late 2017 at the S…

In the final episode of a three part series devoted to the hosts of MetroFocus, WNET’s daily news and interview program, WNET Up Next’s Tom Stewart sits down with Jack Ford, whose earlier career as a trial lawyer and a law professor provided him with an exceptional avenue of training for the world of broadcast journalism. Jack was “discovered” afte…

WNET Up Next continues its focus on the three hosts of the daily news and interview program MetroFocus, as Tom Stewart sits down for a conversation with show host Rafael PiRoman. MetroFocus recently celebrated its 500th episode as a a daily broadcast under the leadership of Executive Producer Dave Brown. Rafael relates how his background as both a …

In the first of a three-part series devoted to the hosts of WNET’s MetroFocus, Jenna Flanagan sits down with WNET Up Next’s Tom Stewart for a lively conversation about her career in journalism and the things that make MetroFocus a unique on-air and online news service to the viewers of Thirteen, WLIW-21, and NJTV. Born on New York’s Long Island, Je…

Now that we’re in the midst of another exciting fall season in the arts, WNET Up Next sits down with Joan Hershey, Editorial Director of NYC-ARTS, WNET’s weekly program devoted to arts and culture. A long time producer of arts programming for WNET, Joan shares with host Tom Stewart an inside look at the series, its on-air talent, and how it all com…

For many years children’s programming has been an integral part of PBS’ service to the public. Under the leadership of Director & Executive Producer of Children’s and Educational Media Sandra Sheppard, WNET has for many years been one of the system’s leading providers of content designed to serve children, teachers and parents On this episode of WN…

In conjunction with the PBS presentation of Michael Wood’s six hour documentary, The Story of China, WNET Up Next looks at China and Chinese-Americans through the personal lens of Yue Ma, a native Chinese and currently the Director for Collections and Researach at New York City’s Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA). MOCA, which began 37 years ago b…

Michael Kantor, Executive Producer of the acclaimed PBS series American Masters sits down with WNET Up Next to talk about the new season. A highlight of this years’ programs is the Chefs Flight, a grouping of stories about four of Americas’ most outstanding culinary figures of the 20th and 21st centuries: James Beard, Julia Child, Jacques Pepin and…

“Treasures of New York” is an eclectic series of documentary films exploring the compelling history of the New York area and celebrating some of its most vibrant cultural institutions, landmarks and personalities. This edition of WNET Up Next features members of the series’ creative team in conversation with Tom Stewart discussing several upcoming …

In the second of a two part series, WNET Up Next continues its look at the Public Media initiative “The Talk – Race in America” featuring a conversation with award winning Director and Supervising Producer Sam Pollard. In the first episode, we heard about “The Talk” from the perspective of Executive Producer, Julie Anderson After outlining the mean…

In this episode of WNET Up Next, the focus is on The Talk – Race in America, a two-hour film that premiered in 2017. In the first of a two-part WNET Up Next series, Executive Producer Julie Anderson discusses the meaning of “The Talk”, which refers to the conversation African-American families have with their children, particularly boys, on how the…

David Zabel, Executive Producer of Mercy Street shares his thoughts on the series and his career as a writer-producer of television drama. Mercy Street is now in it’s second season; the first season received an overwhelmingly positive response, as it marked the first PBS dramatic series to be be presented in many years with an American cast and the…

David Horn, WNET’s Director of Performance and Arts Programming and Executive Producer of Great Performances returns to the podcast to discuss several new productions from his portfolio, particularly The Wars of the Roses and Theater Close-Up. The Wars of the Roses is a three-part film adaptation of Henry VI, Parts I & II featuring Tom Sturridge, S…

The film “Military Medicine: Beyond the Battlefield” is the first documentary produced by NJTV to receive a nationwide airing on PBS. The film, hosted by ABC news correspondent Bob Woodruff, covers military medical advances and technology from the battlefield to the return home. Executive Producer and Writer Sally Garner and Producer Ally Gimbel ta…

Ed Hersh, Producer of “Chasing the Dream: Poverty & Opportunity in America” is the featured guest on this edition of WNET Up Next. “Chasing the Dream” is the umbrella title for an ongoing and sustaining look at the issues of poverty and economic opportunity that currently face the United States. Instead of being merely a single program, a series, o…

In a Special Author Series Edition of WNET Up Next, MetroFocus anchor Rafael Pi Roman and author David Reid talk about the latter’s new book, “The Brazen Age, New York City and the American Empire: Politics, Art, and Bohemia”. The book focuses on the New York of the late forties, from the end of World War II to the Korean War. Reid writes about the…

Scott Davis, the Executive Producer of PBS Newshour Weekend shares a backstage look at the three-year old program which originates at WNET in New York. Scott has had an award-winning career in television news and documentaries including stints with Larry King, Phil Donahue and Bill Moyers, as well as production roles in several noted PBS news and d…

This episode features a conversation with Lois Vossen, the Executive Producer of the documentary series Independent Lens. In the interview, recorded with Tom Stewart on May 20th, 2016, Lois explains the goals and mission of the series, its parent organization ITVS, and its special position in the world of public media. Independent Lens is dedicated…

Ken Burns talks with Tom Stewart about his new film on the life of Jackie Robinson and recounts the personal history that’s led to his over forty-year career as a filmmaker. We learn about the elements that comprise his style, what he refers to as the “the authentic application of technique” and hear about his collaborators such as cinematographer …

WNET, in association with Independent Lens and Fork Films, recently hosted a screening and followup discussion of “The Armor of Light” at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City. The film, the directorial debut of activist and filmmaker Abigail Disney, follows Evangelical pastor and anti-abortion activist Rev. Rob Schenc…

Filmmaker Abigail Disney returns to public media with The Armor of Light. In this conversation with WNET’s Tom Stewart, Ms. Disney takes us behind the scenes of the creation of this documentary, her film directing debut. It tells the stories of longtime anti-abortion activist and Evangelical minster, Rev. Rob Schenck and Lucia McBath, whose teenage…