(Subscriber Report) Ed Martin Live at TCA: PBS at TCA: Ken Burns Returns! Plus: Alan Alda, Jimmy Smits, Joan Baez, David Tennant, Norman Lear and More

One usually associates the miniseries of documentary filmmaker Ken Burns with subjects of obvious historical importance At first blush Burns39 latest production for PBS the sixpart 12hour film Ken Burns39 National Parks America39s Best Idea might not seem to carry the same dramatic weight as his earlier efforts The Civil War Baseball Jazz or The War to name a few But when Burns appeared at TCA this weekend to promote his latest project which will debut September 27 he made clear that the origins of America39s national parks are as steeped in history as any of his previous documentary subjectsBurns isn39t out to simply educate viewers about the history of our parks he39s determined to generate a renewed sense of interest in them and ensure their future protection In fact he would like Americans to take a greater quotpride of ownershipquot in these splendid landsYou are receiving this email as a corporate subscriber to Jack Myers Media Business Report Redistribution in any form except among approved individuals within your company is prohibitedCollectively the stories of our 58 national parks may comprise the grandest historical sweep of any Burns project quotOur film begins in 1851 when the Mariposa Battalion rides into Yosemite to exterminate the Indians and it ends in 1980quot Burns explained adding that Parks does actually look forward to the present and beyond but only in an impressionistic speculative manner It is his dream that this miniseries and its companion book also due in September will pump up interest in our national parks and get people more involved with them quotThe thing that we hope more than anything else is that every park superintendent will be angry at usquot and that there will be quottraffic jams in Yellowstone and Yosemite and the Grand Canyonquot he said The very worst thing Burns added would be nobody coming to the parks quotbecause when nobody comes there are no constituents arguing When that next acquisitive or extractive or even rapacious person or group or developer wants to come along and make that park a little bit smaller or put that power plant outside of itquot you want the public to complain he assertedquotWhat we hope is that in some ways just as The Civil War did to increase attendance at the battlefields that we might get that kind of renewal that the parks continually need every generation or soquot he said quotI was walking across the lawn of the Visitors Center at Gettysburg with the superintendent and he scooped down and picked up a Popsicle wrapper and he waved it in my face and he said 39It39s all your fault39 That is exactly what we wantquotIf there were no national parks the Grand Canyon would be lined with mansions and none of us would have accessquot Burns warned quotIt would be a gated community If there were no national parks Yellowstone would be an amusement park You know we39re a much better people than that It represents our best selves that that is not the casequotPBS at TCA Beyond BurnsMuch like the cable portion of TCA tours the two PBS days often offer an irresistible mix of sessions covering a widerange of topics Even if one isn39t necessarily going to write about every one of those sessions they are generally very informative and frequently quite entertaining For example the very genial Alan Alda was on hand for a session about The Human Spark a documentary about the things that differentiate humans from all other species The Muppet Grover and his talented puppeteer Eric Jacobson livened up a press conference for Families Stand Together Feeling Secure in Tough Times a series about reallife families coping with the recession Former Los Angeles Times publisher Tom Johnson a man with a commanding voice made clear what he thinks about the problems that have befallen the publishing business during a session for Inventing LA The Chandlers and Their Times a documentary about the most powerful family in Los Angeles history Johnson so resembled the bombastic publishers of old that one veteran critic was moved at the end of the session to declare quotGreat Caesar39s Ghostquot Joan Baez appeared via satellite to promote American Masters Joan Baez Sing Me Homequot Doctor Who star David Tennant soon to be the new host of Masterpiece Classic came by to talk about his portrayal of the title role in an upcoming Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet which will be seen on Great Performances Norman Lear was here to promote his PBS project Playing for Change Peace through Music Tragically many of the dotcom kids who are now swelling the ranks of the TCA hold no special fondness for or interest in Lear39s classic comediesBut the PBS guest who had the most fun of all was Jimmy Smits narrator of the upcoming music documentary series Latin Music USA Smits couldn39t believe his eyes when recording artist Bobby Sanabria did the impossible prompting dozens of TCA members Sunday afternoon to stand up and shake their assets in time to his music quotI can39t wait to Twitter and just talk about how I saw all of you critics performingquot Smits laughed quotI never thought the day would come when I would see you all do what you just didquot Smits has attended enough TCA tours through the years to know when the group

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