American Cinema - Season 1
Season 1
Episodes
The Hollywood Style
Martin Scorsese and Sydney Pollack are among the premier directors who discuss how classical Hollywood style, evolving and yet enduring over time, informs their work.
The Studio System
The studio system created the Golden Age of Hollywood, its classic film stars and big budget hits that captivated generations all across the world. However, the following decades proved that nothing lasts forever, even in Hollywood.
The Star
Early on, Hollywood saw that recognizable talent could minimize the financial risks of film production.
The Western
With clips and critical commentary on Westerns the program traces the aesthetic evolution of the genre as well as its sociological importance.
Romantic Comedy
Breezy and silly to witty and intelligent, romantic comedies barely masked issues of gender and sexuality. Directors present interpretations of the genre that reveal the underlying social and psychological messages.
The Combat Film
Critics and directors describe the evolution of these films, the rise of the Vietnam film, and the influence of the newsreel documentaries and TV news on the genre.
Film Noir
These cynical and pessimistic films from the 1930s and '40s touched a nerve in Americans. Historians link the genre's overriding paranoia to Cold War-related angst over the nuclear threat and the Hollywood blacklist.
Film in the Television Age
Television first arrived in American homes just as the Hollywood studio system was collapsing. This prompted open competition between the genres opening opportunities for innovation and employment.
The Film School Generation
Maverick filmmakers of the 1960s and '70s, capitalized on new technology and borrowed from classical Hollywood and French New Wave as they reinvented the American film.
The Edge of Hollywood
This program looks at some alternative visions from new talents who struggle with limited budgets and challenge the stylistic status quo of the Hollywood film.
Film Language
Illustrates basic terms such as tracking shots and zooms and also provides a primer on editing technique.
Writing and Thinking About Film
Provides a formal and cultural analysis of a classical film sequence. It serves as a critical how-to guide for those new to film critique.
Classical Hollywood Today
Offers interviews with contemporary directors, European filmmakers, scholars, and critics, as well as studio-era veterans who probe Hollywood's influence on both American and world culture.
Recently Updated Shows
What Would You Do?
When you think no one is watching… What Would You Do?
Using hidden cameras, What Would You Do? establishes everyday scenarios and then captures people's reactions. Whether people are compelled to act or mind their own business, John Quiñones reports on their split-second and often surprising decision-making process.
The Bachelor
The Bachelor is an American dating and relationship reality television series, revolving around a single former bachelor, who starts with a pool of candidates from whom the bachelor is expected to select a wife through an elimination process.
Mountain Men
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live your life off the grid? Have you wished you could shed the complications of modern society and live in the wilderness, using only the things nature has provided? Meet Eustace Conway, Tom Oar and Marty Meierotto of the new History series Mountain Men, three men who have devoted their lives to survival in its simplest form. But how simple is it really for the Mountain Men?
From the rugged Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina to the seven-month-long winters on the Yaak River in Montana to the frigid northern range of Alaska, the country is full of some very unforgiving terrain. Watch as these men face off against mudslides, falling trees, ravaging weather and even hungry animals, to make sure they obtain the food and supplies they will need to make it through the brutal winter months ahead.
Penelope
A restless teenager who questions her place in the world embarks on a soul-searching journey into the remote wilderness of the Pacific Northwest.