My father, Newton N. Minow, met then-Senator Kennedy in the 1950’s and worked on his 1960 Presidential campaign. He was appointed by President-Elect Kennedy as the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission until the spring of 1963. His work there included signing the original charter for the brand-new Washington station WETA and promoting the nationwide availability of what was then called “educational television,” the launching of the first telecommunications satellite, and his famous “vast wasteland” speech, calling on the broadcasters using their access to the public airwaves to live up to their promise to “act in the public interest, convenience, and necessity.” He has carried on the work ever since. He helped to create the Presidential Debates (his book, Inside the Presidential Debates: Their Improbable Past and Promising Future, tells the story and proposes further improvements), and still serves as vice-chairman of the Debates Commision. And yes, his criticism of television was the inspiration for the name of the sinking ship on “Gilligan’s Island.” As we remember the tragic loss of JFK 50 years ago, my father remembers his special combination of practicality and vision — and the very funny comment he made to LBJ.
Time of Death — Showtime’s Brave New Series About Dying
Posted on November 1, 2013 at 3:31 pm
We pride ourselves — for better and worse — about being very open and modern in contemporary society. Topics that were previously not spoken of in polite society are discussed openly — sex, money, race, politics, religion. But the one thing we still do not talk about is death.
Showtime’s new series, “Time of Death,” premieres tonight, with stories of people in the last months, weeks, and moments of their lives. It is sad and it is painful. Sometimes it is raw and ugly and scary. But it is also moving. There are stories of the dying and their families finding forgiveness, meaning, and peace. There are moments of fear and also moments of courage and resilience. There is laughter and there are many tears. Above all, there are moments of absolute honesty. Watching this series will make you want to have some important conversations with your family and will give you a place to start.
Electoral Dysfunction — A New Documentary from Mo Rocca
Posted on October 28, 2013 at 3:59 pm
Election day is coming next week, and Mo Rocca (“The Daily Show,” “CBS Sunday Morning,” “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me”) has a new documentary about the state of elections in today’s America, with the backdrop of the 2008 Presidential election. Rocca set out on a road trip to see how voting works – and doesn’t work. He heads to Indiana, home to (then) some of the strictest election laws in the country, and meets Democrat Mike Marshall and Republican Dee Dee Benkie, who take him inside their efforts to get out every vote. As he progresses on his journey, Mo searches for the Electoral College; investigates the heated battle over Voter ID and voter fraud; critiques ballot design with fashion mogul Todd Oldham; and explores the case of a former felon who was sentenced to ten years in prison—for the crime of voting. Irreverent, engaging and nonpartisan (and selected for viewing at the conventions of both major parties), this documentary is for voters across the political spectrum who want their votes to count.
In 1964, director Michael Apted (Coal Miner’s Daughter, Gorky Park, Gorillas in the Mist) was a young researcher on an experimental program called Seven Up!, produced for England’s Granada Television. Taking its cue from the Jesuit maxim “Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man,” the film focused on 7-year-olds from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. By asking 14 children about their lives and their hopes and fears for the future, the filmmakers aimed to explore contemporary English attitudes, especially regarding the class system. And by following the youngsters as they progressed through life, the Up series looked to test the strength of that system and the truth of the Jesuit saying. Was the adult already visible in the 7-year-old? In the half-century since, the scope and power of the series has expanded to encompass as Apted took the series’ directorial helm and interviewed the original group every seven years. The result has been, The Up Series, a unique, inspired and always-surprising chronicle of lives-in-the-making. In 56 Up, Apted finds the “kids” have mostly weathered the marital, parental and career tumults and losses of middle age with remarkable aplomb, even as they begin facing the challenges of aging, illness and economic crises.
56 Up has its national broadcast premiere on Monday, Oct. 14, 2013 at 10 p.m. (check local listings), on the award-winning series POV (Point of View), as part of the new PBS INDIES SHOWCASE. The full film will stream on POV’s website from Oct. 15-Nov. 13, 2013.
Meet Tony, the charismatic cockney cabdriver who has become so famous that another cabbie preferred to get his autograph instead of astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s; Neil, who went from happy child to homeless young adult to lay preacher; Peter, who dropped out of the series but has returned 28 years later with his band, wife and children; Jackie, who has gone through marriage, divorce and family deaths; Lynn, a children’s librarian whose goal as a 7-year-old was to work at Woolworth’s; John, first seen as an upper-class child and now working as a barrister and doing charitable work; Nick, who went from farm boy to Oxford University student to nuclear-fusion researcher, and now teaches in the States; and Symon, a biracial child of a single mom who passed away at a young age.
, a unique, inspired and always-surprising chronicle of lives-in-the-making. In