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TV Talk: Ken Burns’ latest, ‘Leonardo da Vinci,’ highlights PBS’s fall; WQED-TV stitches together shorts

Rob Owen
| Friday, September 13, 2024 6:00 a.m.
Courtesy PBS
Presumed self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci, the subject of Ken Burns’ latest PBS documentary airing in November.

Ken Burns tackles his first non-American subject in the four-hour PBS documentary “Leonardo da Vinci” (8-10 p.m. Nov. 18-19, WQED-TV), exploring how the artist’s work inspired future generations.

PBS will air several election-themed programs, including its staple “Frontline” episode “The Choice 2024” profiling Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as they seek the U.S. presidency.

“Independent Lens” explores how the Electoral College works in “One Person, One Vote?” (10 p.m. Sept. 30). And “American Experience” unpacks the history of “The American Vice President” (8 p.m. Oct. 1).

Another “American Experience,” “Wilmington 1898: An American Coup” (9 p.m. Nov. 12) reveals a little-known race massacre and coup in Wilmington, N.C., where white supremacists overthrew a multi-racial government.

In addition to returning drama series “Ridley” (8 p.m. Sept. 15) and “Masterpiece: Van Der Valk” (10 p.m. Sept. 15), “Masterpiece” debuts two additional drama series.

“Moonflower Murders” (9 p.m. Sept. 15), actually a follow-up to 2022’s “Magpie Murders,” follows retired book editor Susan Ryeland (Lesley Manville, “The Crown”) as a murder at a British hotel that inspired one of the mystery novels she edited comes back into her life.

In “The Marlowe Murder Club” (9 p.m. Oct. 27), a trio of women amateur sleuths race to stop a serial killer’s deadly spree.

“Great Performances” will debut a tribute concert to the music of Patsy Cline (9 p.m. Nov. 22) along with “Henry Mancini 100th at the Hollywood Bowl” (9 p.m. Nov. 29).

“NOVA” premieres a new Wednesday night series on “The Solar System” (9 p.m. Oct. 2-30) and goes underground to explore “Lost Tombs of Notre Dame” (9 p.m. Dec. 18) discovered during the cathedral’s post-fire renovation.

“Nature” embeds with gorillas in “Silverback” (8 p.m. Oct. 23), mouse-eared bats in “Dracula’s Hidden Kingdom” (8 p.m. Oct. 30) and visits Namibia for “Lions of the Skeleton Coast” (8 p.m. Nov. 13).

Locally, WQED will debut a new Tamburitzans special (8 p.m. Nov. 30) but no new “Filmmakers Corner” episodes are scheduled for television at this time, per WQED president Jason Jedlinski.

Rick Sebak’s “We’re Lucky to Live in Pittsburgh” minisodes premiere as YouTube shorts and those will be edited together into half-hour quarterly shows with the first linear broadcast likely in December or January, Jedlinski said. Similarly, a new batch of “Cartoon Academy” segments will air as a new half-hour on TV in spring 2025.

Jedlinski said more videos that debuted on YouTube will be stitched together into 30-minute TV shows including recent features on the Morningside Women’s Bocce League, the Senior Jazz Connection and the Beaver Falls Car Cruise. No airdate for that half-hour program has been set.

Jedlinski said “Voice of the Arts” content that originated online will be excerpted for television along with some “Black Horizons” content from the WQED archives that’s been digitized. Jedlinski said once programs are scheduled for TV, they’ll likely air in the 8 p.m. Thursday time slot WQED has traditionally used to broadcast local shows.

“Our focus is building a digital, on-demand library of content made by Pittsburghers and about our region,” Jedlinski said. “Those will be prominently featured on our forthcoming streaming channel.”

WQED’s local streaming channel, which could also be carried over the air as a digital subchannel, will likely roll out in January.


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