FRONTLINE ON PBS Oct 14th “The Choice 2008″
October 12, 2008 by Bill Sobel
For as long as I can remember I have been a fan of FRONTLINE on PBS. Since 1983, FRONTLINE has served as American public television’s flagship public affairs series. Hailed upon its debut on PBS as “the last best hope for broadcast documentaries,” according to Newsday, FRONTLINE’s stature over 25 seasons is reaffirmed each week through incisive documentaries covering the scope and complexity of the human experience, and this weeks episode “The Choice 2008″ is no exception.
Obama vs McCain; Red States vs Blue States: It is one of the most memorable presidential elections in decades. It is a race that pits the iconoclast John McCain against the newcomer Barack Obama; the heroic former prisoner of war against the first African American major party nominee. For two hours, the 20th anniversary broadcast of The Choice examines the rich personal and political biographies of these men and goes behind the headlines to discover how they arrived at this moment and what their very different candidacies say about America.
Watch The Choice 2008 on air and streaming free online beginning Tuesday, October 14, at 9 pm on PBS. Also, please check local listings for national television rebroadcasts on Sunday, October 26 and Monday, November 3, 2008.
For more information:
FRONTLINE
http://www.pbs.org/frontline/
- This Week: “The Choice 2008″ (120 minutes),
October 14th at 9pm on PBS (Check local listings)
- Live Discussion: Chat with producer Michael Kirk Oct. 15, 11am ET
Just a few weeks before the presidential election, with the economy in historic freefall, Americans are taking a last hard look at the men who would be president, and they are asking some tough questions: Who can be trusted to lead the country through the current gloom? Which candidate–the “Maverick” or the man who insists, “Yes we can” –might actually deliver on the promise of real change in Washington?
For months, veteran FRONTLINE producer/director Michael Kirk has talked to the people closest to Barack Obama and John McCain, and gone deep inside their extended primary campaigns for the nomination. And he has come back with some provocative answers to the questions that we will all soon need to answer. The result is this season’s premier, The Choice 2008, which airs Tuesday night.
“This primary, more than any in recent memory, severely tested the candidates,” says Kirk. “Watching how Obama and McCain won reveals much about the men, their ideas, the kind of organizations they have built, and the way they face adversity.”
How exactly did Barack Obama and John McCain arrive at this moment on the national stage — merely promising change or delivering it? Defying party orthodoxy or pandering to it? And what does that say about how they will lead the country through continued tough times at home and abroad? We hope you’ll watch a preview online ( http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/choice2008/ ), then tune in Tuesday for the full program.
Also online: Check out a preview of HEAT, our upcoming global investigation into the response of business and government to climate change. And from our Flashback files, watch video from an old FRONTLINE report that is painfully familiar today: Ten years ago the DOW dramatically plunged as a financial panic roared through the global economy and a massive bailout followed. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/story/2008/10/flashback.html
Senior Editor
Ken Dornstein
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+ Live Online Discussion on Washingtonpost.com …
Producer Michael Kirk will be online this Wednesday, October 15, at 11am ET, to discuss “The Choice 2008.”
For details, see:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/10/10/DI2008101002278.html
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Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Park Foundation. Additional funding for “The Choice 2008″ is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting/PBS Program Challenge Fund.
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