Where is the Broadcast Buzz? Look to Ken Burns' "The War" on PBS! - Ed Martin

Originally published: September 20, 2007

Although a few new series are premiering this week, the 2007-08 broadcast season officially gets underway next Monday amid all the usual bells and whistles of marketing, publicity and promotion. But as many critics have observed of late, something isn't quite right. There is no crackle of excitement in the air, as there has been virtually every year at this time for as far back as I can remember.

It may be that this year's selection of new fall series is failing to generate significant interest, despite many bold experiments on the part of network programmers. They have certainly stepped up their efforts to discover and develop interesting concepts, and one cannot use the most dreaded term in television -- cookie-cutter -- to describe the results: CBS' Kid Nation, Viva Laughlin and Moonlight; NBC's Chuck, Bionic Woman and Journeyman; ABC's Pushing Daisies, Samantha Who? and Dirty Sexy Money; and Fox' K-Ville and Nashville, or any of the new series on The CW.

Maybe we are all just too distracted, not by the big bad things happening in the world (remember, 24, Smallville and Alias all successfully launched in the wake of 9/11) but by the much-discussed entertainment and engagement options that are eating into broadcast television. We have just come through a historic summer of outstanding cable television programming targeted to smart, sophisticated adults. (Who saw that coming?) Personally, I have been so wrapped up in Rescue Me and Damages on FX, Mad Men on AMC, Burn Notice and Psych on USA Network, Torchwood on BBC America, Doctor Who on Sci Fi Channel, Entourage and Tell Me You Love Me on HBO and Weeds and Californication on Showtime, to name a few favorites, that I am simply not hungry (let alone starved) for dozens of hours of new scripted programs, as I typically am come September.

Perhaps we are also seeing the impact of at least one generation that grew up watching cable television moving into adulthood without any interest in or loyalty to the broadcast networks. They don't care that Private Practice is a spin-off of Grey's Anatomy. They probably don't care much about Grey's Anatomy, period. The explosion and endless allure of user-generated video on the Web isn't helping the networks' efforts to beef up their younger demographics, either.

Give me a couple of weeks of Friday Night Lights, Brothers & Sisters, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Boston Legal and Dancing with the Stars and I'll be back in my typical broadcast groove. I know it is terribly old and dusty of me to say so, but I'll take an hour with the wine-soaked Walker family or the Dillon Panthers or the inmates at Crane, Poole & Schmidt over 60 minutes of viral videos any time. The problem for broadcasters, of course, is that the young and the wired don't feel the same way. It will be interesting to see if they pay attention to Gossip Girl, the new drama on The CW that is all about teenagers who prefer sending texts and photos to watching television and turn to MySpace rather than newspapers and flyers on lampposts for information about local bands playing in their neighborhoods.

But the overriding question remains: How can broadcast television distinguish itself, especially at a time when simply halting or slowing erosion is a sign of success? This would seem to be the perfect place to mention the awe-inspiring, fifteen-hour PBS mini-series The War, which debuts on Sunday and will continue over the following two weeks. (Four nights during the week of September 23, three the following week. Check your local listings for more information.) Ken Burns' latest documentary masterpiece meticulously chronicles the events of the Second World War, described by Burns as "the greatest cataclysm in human history" and "the worst war ever, responsible for the deaths of nearly 60 million human beings." (You read that right. 60 million!)

Before we continue to call into question the vitality of broadcast television, consider this: The War is a product of that medium, and while it is true that productions of similar magnitude occasionally turn up on cable (Discovery Channel's majestic Planet Earth comes immediately to mind), this one is on broadcast. Watching The War unfold, learning or re-learning the history and horror of World War II in unprecedented detail, makes for a vital viewing experience utterly unique to broadcast television. Millions of people are going to experience it and talk about it and learn from it during the next two weeks, just as people did in the early decades of television, when broadcast drew people together for sweeping shared experiences, the scope of which cable has yet to and may never equal.

The arrival of The War is a true broadcast event; one that will not be diminished by other viewing options, including its DVD release. Further, watching The War is unlike any experience you will ever have anywhere else, from your laptop to your local multiplex. I simply cannot imagine a world in which a production of this breadth and depth will be made primarily for Internet viewing. That world may take shape one day, but it seems a long way off, given the overwhelming popularity of Web content that can be consumed in five minutes or less.

We keep reading about all the things broadcast television no longer does. But showcasing productions like The War is something broadcast can still do, and it does it better than any other medium.