Ken Burns documentary begins tonight

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By David Burke | Sunday, September 23, 2007 12:16 AM CDT | () comments

The man who made lengthy, monumental documentaries about subjects as diverse as the Civil War, jazz and baseball into popular television viewing is at it once again.

Ken Burns’ much-anticipated “The War” premieres across the country tonight on Public Broadcasting System stations. The 14½-hour series about World War II begins at 7 p.m. in the Quad-City region on PBS stations WQPT (Channel 24 from Moline) and KIIN (Channel 12 from Iowa City). It runs nightly through Wednesday and concludes with the final three chapters on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1-2.

WQPT general manager Rick Best said “The War” likely will stand among Burns’ best works.

“It’s going to be a very well-received program,” he said. “Of course, any time Ken Burns does something, it’s going to receive a lot of buzz right away. Stations are really looking forward to it.”

Although PBS stations do not record ratings the way commercial TV stations and networks do, “it’s reasonable to suggest (‘The War’) would draw more of an audience than the average series would,” Best added.

The series looks at not only what was happening overseas but also on the American home front. It examines the war’s effect on four U.S. cities — Waterbury, Conn.; Mobile, Ala.; Sacramento, Calif.; and Luverne, Minn. — and their residents.

“It’s not about the history of World War II per se, but the people who were in World War II and the impact it had on their lives and their families,” said Best, who had not seen the program as of early last week.

PBS is offering its member stations two versions of “The War,” one edited for raw language and the other unedited.

Best said WQPT will be showing both, with the edited version at 7 p.m. and the unedited film immediately following the first broadcast each night.

The language in question comes from the literal translation of the war-created acronyms FUBAR and SNAFU, he said.

PBS stations also were invited to produce companion programs for “The War,” he said.

Several introductions were made to veterans during a preview of “The War” at a WQPT-sponsored Stearman fly-in event earlier this month at the Davenport Municipal Airport, he said. Interviews will be conducted over the next few months with a tentative broadcast date set for sometime in December.

“We really want to tie it to the Quad-Cities as much as possible,” he said. “We want to know what the stories of our own veterans are, while they’re still here.”

David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.

Iowa WWII veteran interviews to air during TELEVISION breaks in ‘The War’

Iowa Public Television, or IPTV, has been recording the stories of the state’s World War II veterans as well as those on the home front for several years. They are available for viewing on the Web at iptv.org.

Some of the interviews will be used during breaks in the airing of Ken Burns’ documentary, “The War,” a seven-part series that begins at 7 p.m. Sunday on PBS stations, including WQPT in Moline and IPTV channels.

Mary Manning Bracken, programming and outreach coordinator for IPTV, said the interviews will be sent to the Library of Congress to be archived as part of the Veterans History Project.

The original documentary, “Iowa’s World War II Stories,” featured 27 interviews. IPTV has now done an additional 53, she said.

Although IPTV did not target any specific group in the most recent interviews, “There was some national conversation that Latinos had not been included in the (Ken Burns) documentary,” she said. “We thought it was a good idea in the interviews to make sure that voice was heard.”

Pressure from Latino groups, including the Hispanic congressional caucus, resulted in Burns adding footage to the original documentary to include the experiences of both Latino and American Indian servicemen, according to reports by The Associated Press.