PBS Launching Most Ambitious Series in Years (Exclusive)

Public television's most ambitious series in years will set sail with a new production of Gilbert and Sullivan's nautical comic romp H.M.S. Pinafore, produced by the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.

It launches Oct. 14, airing on some 360 viewer-supported stations around the country, after which it will be seen online and as part of PBS' support for education.

"It's the biggest commitment to the arts PBS has made in recent history by creating a nine-week festival of the American arts," PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger told The Hollywood Reporter. "We hope this is the kickoff of a long-term commitment to bring American artists to a national audience."

Kerger said they picked the Savoy Opera first performed in 1878, in a new production directed by Joe Dowling, artistic director of the Guthrie, because one of the goals of the series is to show that there is vibrant work in the arts being produced from coast-to-coast.

"We love what's going on with the arts in the Twin Cities," said Kerger, "and we wanted something very accessible that would also be fun."

Planning for the ambitious series has taken several years, said Kerger, first to raise the funding and get the support of the member stations, and then to determine a structure that would show what is being done nationwide few know about. That is why one goal of the series was to present shows created in as many cities as possible.

"We looked around and saw great work everywhere and realized no one knows about it," Kerger said. "This is a way to shine a light on great work at a time there really isn't a showcase for this anywhere."

Some of the episodes were already in process and were repackaged to be part of the series. Those produced especially for the series are H.M.S. Pinafore, Pearl Jam Twenty, Give Me the Banjo and Women Who Rock.

To bring home that message, the series is designed to include a documentary about the back story of how each episode came to life and to provide local stations with a cut-in of time to present similar kinds of arts going on in their community.

"We wanted to make sure this is a reflection of work that isn't often seen," Kerger said.

Ironically at one time PBS seemed to be threatened by the rise of cable channels that were doing this kind of programming like A&E and Bravo. Now, however, those channels have all moved toward more commercial programming, much of it reality shows, and away from the kind of arts that brings to life great music, performances and works of art both from contemporary artists and from the archives.

That is what this series intends to do. "These are a kind of arts for which there is a need which the commercial marketplace is not going to fulfill," Kerger said. "It falls to public broadcasting to pick up the mantle."

All of the episodes will become available online and will later be part of the educational content made available to educators.

"We want to give every American a front row seat on the arts," Kerger said. "That is public television's mission."

Here is a schedule of the PBS Arts Fall Festival with brief notes on each production can be found on the next page.