Both the environment and the indigenous experience in America are themes in the programming lineup PBS is putting out this fall. Programs with an environmental focus include America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston and Evolution Earth, while those exploring the indigenous experience include Next at the Kennedy Center: Embracing Duality: Modern Indigenous Culture and a new season of Native America, starting October 24.
Some PBS projects even touch on both themes, such as the Ken Burns documentary The American Buffalo, which details the animal across 10,000 years of North American history, its significance to the Great Plains and its relationship with indigenous people. The four-hour documentary premieres October 16.
“There’s a lot of great content, and scholarship, and storytelling for that particular series, that will really resonate with audiences much in the way that many of Ken’s films already do,” Sylvia Bugg, PBS chief programming executive and general manager, said.
America Outdoors starts September 6 and sees Thurston venture to Arkansas, Maine, Oregon, Utah and other U.S. locales. Asked what the host brings to the show, Bugg said, “he brings himself. He brings an authenticity to the series.”
Thurston said of the new season at a press event last month, “You can’t call the show America Outdoors and just be in the northeast or the southeast or just out west. You have to get around.”
Also beginning September 6, Evolution Earth looks at the animals that are keeping pace with the planet’s rapid change. The five episodes venture from the distant wilds to urban environments, and examines the fauna living in both. Shane Campbell-Station narrates.
“It helps us redefine our understanding of evolution and how nature can show us the path to a more sustainable future for our planet,” Bugg said.
Embracing Duality explores the complex representation of the contemporary Indigenous experience, featuring performances by and interviews with writers and musicians.
Native America follows the engineers, politicians and artists who draw upon Native tradition to build a better world.
Bugg said PBS has had “very minimal” impact from the writers and actors strikes.
One scripted drama the network is excited about is Little Bird, which tells the story of an indigenous girl, Bezhig Little Bird, who was adopted into a Jewish family at the age of 5 and was renamed Esther Rosenblum. In her 20s, she seeks out her birth parents and learns about a generation of indigenous children in Canada who were forcibly apprehended by the government.
The six-part series starts October 12.
The documentary Coming Home, a behind-the-scenes look at how the project came together, premieres the same night.
Other scripted series include season two of World on Fire, with Jonah Hauer-King and Lesley Manville, and season two of Annika, with Nicola Walker. Both debut October 15.
“A lot of great dramas are on the horizon across all the platforms,” Bugg said. “We remain in a good position to continue to provide our drama audiences with a lot of great content, across linear broadcast and across digital and PBS Passport and other PBS platforms.”
Also set to premiere for PBS are American Experience: The Busing Battleground, premiering September 11; and the Frontline film Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover, about Musk’s long and weird relationship with the company formerly known as Twitter. That debuts October 10.
Bugg said Frontline typically offers “a real intimate look at a particular issue.”
