Eyes on the Prize

The history of American slavery from its beginnings in the British colonies to its end in the Southern states and the years of post-Civil War Reconstruction. Looks at slavery as an integral part of a developing nation, challenging the long held notion that slavery was exclusively a Southern enterprise. Simultaneously focuses on the remarkable stories of individual slaves, offering new perspectives on the slave experience and testifying to the active role that Africans and African Americans took in surviving their bondage and shaping their own lives.

This six-part series brushes up on influences that helped shape Western art, from the Renaissance to contemporary times. Included are interviews with painters, curators and collectors; and visits to museums and art schools.

Exhaustive 13-part survey of the television medium from its hesitant beginnings in the 1920s to the multi-million dollar extravaganzas of today and the cable and satellite technologies of the future [relative to 1985]. Tackling the medium as a worldwide phenomenon, the series examines each of the principal areas of programming - news, drama, documentaries, and light entertainment - and the unique impact of "live" coverage.

Bill Moyers hosts a six-part study of poetry that emphasizes the power of language in everyday life. Contemporary poets are featured as they give readings across the country in venues that include a poetry festival in New Jersey, a New York prison, a meeting of business executives in Iowa, a rural church in Mississippi and a bar in St. Louis. Among those reciting their work are Robert Bly, Galway Kinnell, Sharon Olds, Octavio Paz, William Stafford, Stanley Kunitz, W.S. Merwin and James Autry.

A travel series that visits exotic locales both in the U.S. and abroad, sharing tidbits on each destination's culture, history and wildlife.

Britain's Prince Edward explores sites linked to the monarchy (including Kensington Palace, Cambridge University and Windsor Castle) and relates historical anecdotes about English royalty.