Ken Burns's 'Civil War' To Air Again
August 2002
"The Civil War," the five-part documentary
produced by Ken Burns that was first broadcast in 1990 on the
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), will premiere Sept. 22 in
a remastered version.
According to PBS, viewers will see a steadier, sharper and cleaner
film. Burns and his team at Florentine Films have also improved
the sound, re-mixing the soundtrack in both a two-track stereo
version for broadcast and VHS and a 5.1 Surround Sound version
for the DVD release.
The relaunch of "The Civil War" precedes a new weekly
series featuring Burns's memorable films, "Ken Burns American
Stories." That series, which will begin Sept. 30, will
include "The Statue of Liberty," "Frank Lloyd
Wright," "Brooklyn Bridge," "Thomas Jefferson,"
"Mark Twain," and an episode from "Jazz"
and "Baseball."
"The Civil War" will premiere on Sept. 22 at 8 p.m.,
and will air over five consecutive nights. The re-release will
be accompanied by the best-selling companion book published
by Alfred Knopf, the Grammy Award-winning music by Nonesuch
Records, and a home video box set and first-ever DVD issued
by Warner Home Video.
The companion Web site to "The Civil War" will debut
on Aug. 29 at www.pbs.org/civilwar.
The site will provide a comprehensive overview of the film and
the remastering process and feature content only available online.
When "The Civil War" first aired in 1990, it was the
highest-rated series in PBS history. It won more than 40 major
awards, including a Peabody, two Emmy Awards, and the People's
Choice, epitomizing event television so much so that even Johnny
Carson talked about it every night on "The Tonight Show."
Columnist George Will said of the documentary, "If better
use has ever been made of television, I have not seen it and
do not expect to see better until Ken Burns turns his prodigious
talents to his next project." The Washington Post referred
to it as "heroic television." And The New York Times
called Burns "the most accomplished documentary filmmaker
of his generation."
