AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Focuses on the Controversial Clinton Years

by Gray Miyashiro
Tue, February 14, 2012

From draft-dodging to the Dayton Accords, from Monica Lewinsky to a balanced budget, the presidency of William Jefferson Clinton veered between sordid scandal and grand achievement. In Clinton, the latest installment in the critically acclaimed series of presidential biographies, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE explores the fascinating story of an American president who rose from a broken childhood in Arkansas to become one of the most successful politicians in modern American history--and one of the most complex and conflicted characters to ever stride across the public stage.

"American Experience: Tupperware"

In the 1950s, American women discovered they could earn thousands – even millions – of dollars from bowls that burped. “Tupperware ladies” fanned out across the nation’s living rooms, selling efficiency and convenience to their friends and neighbors through home parties. Bowl by bowl, they built an empire that now spans the globe.  

Black History Month Programming on the Community Idea Stations

"Slavery by Another Name"

From history to performing arts to independent film, the Community Idea Stations offer viewers the opportunity to explore the rich and vibrant history and cultural contributions of African Americans throughout the year, and will offer a special slate of new and encore programs in honor of Black History Month.

"American Experience: Geronimo"

Born around 1820, Geronimo grew into a leading warrior and healer of the Chiricahua. But after his tribe was relocated to an Arizona reservation in 1872, he became a focus of the fury of terrified white settlers and of the growing tensions that divided Apaches struggling to survive under almost unendurable pressures. To angry whites, Geronimo became the archfiend, perpetrator of unspeakable savage cruelties. To his supporters, he remained the embodiment of proud resistance, the upholder of the old Chiricahua ways.

Northern Neck Seeks National Heritage Status

Thea Marshall in Essays

Commmentator Thea Marshall checks out the progress of a study that may earn the Northern Neck a new and impresive status...

Part Fourteen: Highclere Castle, continued

by Greg Sieminski
Sat, January 7, 2012
Downton Abbey

Highclere Castle, continued
The Countess bids us farewell, and the Earl escorts us out the front entrance into the afternoon sunshine.  We make our way across the lawn so that Seren can get a photo with the castle as a backdrop.  We approach the location of the lawn party scene that concludes Downton’s first season.  The Earl points out the new cedars he has planted to replace the gigantic ones that were lost in a storm about fifteen years before, leaving great grey stumps.  “They were centuries old,” the Earl says sadly.

Part Thirteen: Highclere Castle, continued

by Greg Sieminski
Fri, January 6, 2012
Greg , Ginny, the Countess and the Earl

Highclere Castle, continued
The Countess is an attractive woman with sandy blonde hair, full of energy and enthusiasm.  She strikes me as being a great deal like her predecessor, the energetic Almina, who almost singlehandedly transformed the castle into a hospital during World War One.  In fact, prompted by the Downton-inspired interest in Highclere, Lady Carnarvon has just completed a book about the 5th Countess entitled, Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle.

Part Eleven: Highclere Castle, continued

by Greg Sieminski
Wed, January 4, 2012
Dining Room with Cast

Highclere Castle, continued
We pass through the drawing room and into the smoking room, where, along side paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds and Dutch masters, we see family photographs.  “We have to remove these when they are filming Downton,” the Earl says.  I ask what other adjustments the film crews make.  “Well, for example, they replace the entry lights by the front door.  They’re glass globes and I guess they don’t look Edwardian enough.  They put up carriage lights.”

Part Ten: Highclere Castle, continued

by Greg Sieminski
Tue, January 3, 2012
The Great Hall

Highclere Castle, continued
We make our way into the library through double mahogany-painted columns.  The walls are lined with beautifully gilded bookcases and deep red curtains, giving the room a distinctly masculine feel.  I mention that I have read somewhere that this is the favorite room of Hugh Bonneville, who plays Lord Granville.  “Yes, it’s a nice room,” the Earl says, in classic English understatement.

Part Nine: Highclere Castle

by Greg Sieminski
Mon, January 2, 2012
Highclere Castle

Highclere Castle
We enter Highclere Park down a narrow road.  Sheep and pheasants roam the fields on either side.  Our excitement rises the closer we get, and we strain for a first look of the castle itself.  I am the first to see its tower looming over the rise.  “There it is, Gin.  It can’t believe we’re here.”