Witness our country’s most magnificent locations in The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, a once-in-a-lifetime tour by Ken Burns premiering on WLIW21 Sunday, September 27 through Friday, October 2 at 10 p.m.
Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns returns with a new six-part series that explores the story of an idea: the most special places in the nation should be preserved for everyone. Filmed over more than six years at spectacular sites — from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, Florida’s Everglades to Alaska’s Katmai and Gates of the Arctic — The National Parks shares the stories of people from every conceivable background who devoted themselves to saving the precious land they loved.
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The series begins by tracing the birth of the national park idea in the mid-1800s, then follows its evolution for nearly 150 years, chronicling the steady addition of new parks through the stories of the people who helped create them and save them from destruction. Using archival photographs, first-person accounts of historical characters voiced by actors including Tom Hanks, Adam Arkin and John Lithgow, extensive interviews, and what Burns believes is his film company’s most stunning cinematography yet, The National Parks is simultaneously a biography of compelling characters and of the American landscape. Adolph Murie, a young biologist instrumental in reforming park policy so that wildlife would have the same protections as the land; Stephen Mather, a wealthy businessman who used his personal fortune to create the National Park Service; and Tuan Luong, a Paris–born Vietnamese rock climber/photographer who dedicated himself to photographing all 58 national parks, are among the lengthy cast of characters profiled. Actor Peter Coyote narrates.
In the style of the companion programs New York Goes to War and New York War Stories, which WLIW21 produced to accompany Burns’ The War, National Parks: New Yorkers’ Memories, premiering late night Sunday, September 27 at 12 midnight, presents a collection of vacation memories featuring narratives and videos submitted through the National Parks website and wliw.org/nationalparks. Premiering immediately afterward late night Sunday, September 27 at 12:30 a.m. City of Parks, offers teen perspectives on national parks and monuments of New York Harbor.
