America's Public Television Stations
PBS
It has become conventional wisdom in our overstuffed entertainment ecosystem that a show must have name recognition to attract viewers. Have an idea for a science fiction series? Have you considered resetting it in the Star Trek universe? Thinking of a workplace comedy? Could it get its paper from Dunder-Mifflin?
Classics Revisited
There’s something arresting about the texture of I, Claudius. Watching the legendary BBC miniseries from 1976 that — with plenty of cynicism and snark — charts the conspiracy and coups of the first four emperors of the Roman Empire, you’re struck by the theatricality of the performances, the sets, and
PBS
The sixth episode of Atlantic Crossing opens with two American soldiers going off shift at the Opana Radar Site in Hawaii; one is anxious to get away, but the other wants to stay and improve his skills. He sees something unusual on the equipment, but when they contact their superiors,
PBS
Everyone needs that jerk of a friend to force you to celebrate your birthday when you'd rather be wallowing in the misery of the current state of the universe. I've got one (waves at the previous byline), you probably have one, and every vicar in Grantchester
PBS
The sixth installment of Patience, which is the show's Season 1 finale, “Pandora’s Box,” is a story of eco-terrorism and double agents where Metcalf nearly dies. This has been a fun season of television, and I’ll admit my perspective softened after interviewing writer Matt Baker and
PBS
Watching a sleeper hit become one of the most popular British shows that airs on PBS always feels a bit miraculous, like seeing a full double rainbow or a meteor shooting across the sky. That goes double if the first season of the show wasn't all that great,
PBS
Atlantic Crossing’s midpoint opens with a scene of a crowd outside the White House protesting America’s involvement in the war after the introduction of the Lend-Lease Bill. Inside, Eleanor Roosevelt reminds her husband that many Americans are disappointed in his actions, and he points out that many people
PBS
When James Norton attempted to pull a Dan Stevens on Downton Abbey and refused to sign on to return for Grantchester Season 4, it was deeply unfortunate timing. Much like Julian Fellowes with Stevens, the Grantchester production team assumed this was a ploy for money, and wrote a Season 3
PBS
The dead walk in the penultimate episode of Season 1 of Patience, “My Brother’s Keeper.” The episode uses a flash forward framing device where we start with the most outrageous scene: a body disappearing from the morgue. The corpse seems to have walked off the table rather than being
Exclusive
Like all the talent I’ve had the fortune of interacting with at Telly Visions, writer Matt Baker is a warm and generous interviewee. Lead writer on Season 1 of Patience, you no doubt also know him from his work on Hotel Portofino, Professor T, and Suspect, to name a
PBS
Since Great Performances rekindled its relationship with The Public Theater and its long-running Shakespeare in the Park summer festival series in the mid-2010s, the recording of the live show has been the endcap of the PBS series' TV season, arriving in early to mid-May. Those who couldn't
PBS
If PBS' announcement that Grantchester will end with Season 11 in 2026 feels like the end of an era, that's because it is. The last Masterpiece show still on the air that launched during the Downton Abbey era, Grantchester, was one of the very few series left