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9 Episodes 2025 - 2025
Episode 1
Fri, Feb 21, 202587 mins
Learn about jazz virtuoso and screen superstar Hazel Scott, the first Black American to have their own television show. An early civil rights pioneer, she faced down the Red Scare at the risk of losing her career and was a champion for equality. The film features interviews with Mickey Guyton, Tracie Thoms, Amanda Seales, and Sheryl Lee Ralph as the voice of Hazel Scott.
Episode 2
Tue, Apr 1, 2025102 mins
Take an intimate look into the life of Liza Minnelli, best known for her Oscar-winning role in Cabaret. Following in the footsteps of her mother Judy Garland, Minnelli used her boundless raw talent to build her own legacy in showbiz.
Episode 3
Tue, Apr 15, 202597 mins
The career of cartoonist Art Spiegelman, and the impact of his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel, "Maus: A Survivor's Tale," which he describes as his parents' survival of the Holocaust.
Episode 4
Fri, Jun 20, 2025
A journey through the life of singer songwriter Janis Ian and how she rose as a folk icon and gay rights advocate.
Episode 5
Mon, May 5, 202531 mins
George Lee was hiding in the library for 70 years. I 'discovered' him in the dance archives of the New York Public Library. While researching Asians in ballet for another documentary, I came across photos of the 1954 premiere of George Balanchine's version of 'The Nutcracker'. There were photos of Maria Tallchief, and of Tanaquil Le Clercq, and some shots of Balanchine himself, choreographing a legendary ballet that is still danced around the world. And then there was an image of a teenage Chinese dancer in the Tea divertissement. The photographer caught him at the top of a flawless split. Who was this dancer? I became obsessed. In the ensuing weeks, I learned his name and age at that time (18), and heard the man who took over the role, Richard Thomas, tell a historian, 'Balanchine choreographed a variation for him that none of us have ever been able to equal.' So what happened to this dancer? After 'The Nutcracker', George Lee never danced again for the New York City Ballet. After weeks of digging and false leads, I tracked him to Las Vegas, where he was still working as a blackjack dealer, at age 88. When we finally talked by phone, he said, 'After all these years, I can't believe anyone would be interested in me.' As he recounted his life story, it became clear to me that many people would be interested in him. Thousands of people who have sat across from George Lee at the blackjack table never realized that this ordinary man holds an extraordinary place in dance history. With this film, we hope to bring George Lee to center stage.
Episode 6
Fri, Nov 29, 2024
How Brenda Lee's early fame and life of poverty shaped her music, including the classic "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree".
Episode 6
Fri, Jun 27, 202583 mins
'Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny' takes a closer look at one of the most fearless political writers of modern times. Hannah Arendt came of age in Germany as Hitler rose to power, before escaping to the United States as a Jewish refugee. Through her unflinching capacity to demand attention to facts and reality, Arendt's time as a political prisoner, refugee and survivor in Europe informed her groundbreaking insights into the human condition, the refugee crisis and totalitarianism. Her major works, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), The Human Condition (1958), Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963), On Revolution (1963) and Crises of the Republic (1972) remain among the most important and most-read treatises on the development and impact of totalitarianism and the fault lines in American democracy. Arendt's reports on the trial of Adolf Eichmann also caused a firestorm of controversy, and its impact is still felt today.
Episode 7
Sun, Jul 13, 2025135 mins
Marcella Hazan revolutionized Italian cooking in America after moving to NY in the '50s, sharing authentic recipes from her heritage through influential cookbooks.
Episode 8
Tue, Oct 14, 2025
This installment explores Matlin's life and career as a 4-time Emmy nominee, pioneering actress, disability rights champion, and author, and takes a closer look at Marlee Matlin's life as a groundbreaking performer, whose meteoric and tumultuous rise to fame started in 1987 when she became the first Deaf actor to win an Academy Award for her role in 'Children of a Lesser God'. At the age of twenty-one, Matlin was thrust into the national spotlight, becoming for many Americans the first Deaf person they saw on TV and overnight becoming the de-facto representative of the Deaf community. This documentary boasts never-before-seen home video filmed over the course of Matlin's 37-year career by her longtime interpreter and producing partner Jack Jason, including footage of Matlin behind the scenes on the sets of some of her most iconic roles including 'Children of a Lesser God', 'The West Wing' and 'Seinfeld'. For the first time in her own language, Matlin will reflect on her relationship with actor William Hurt, her place in the Deaf community, her fight for roles and accessibility in Hollywood and what it means to be 'the first'.
Episode 9
Fri, Dec 12, 2025113 mins
A celebration of the life and career of actor Dick Van Dyke on his 100th birthday, featuring never before seen footage, photos, and home movies that detail his legacy in show business.