'The National Parks: America's Best Idea'
Photo credit: AP Photo/Craig Mellish | A Grizzly bear fishes for salmon at Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska is shown as part of a Ken Burns six-part documentary series, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea."
THE DOCUMENTARY" The National Parks: America's Best Idea"
WHEN | WHERE Sunday-Friday on WNET/13. Episode 1 airs Sunday at 2 and 8 p.m.; remaining episodes air at 8 p.m. Monday-Friday. The entire program will be rebroadcast on Oct. 3 and 4. Also airs Sunday-Friday at 10 p.m. on WLIW/21.
REASON TO WATCH Ken Burns ("Baseball," "Jazz," "The Civil War") and longtime colleague-collaborator Dayton Duncan explore the national parks system.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT At 12 hours, TV's most exhaustive historic survey, beginning in the mid-1800s, with the campaign to save Yosemite, and ending in 1980, when the system was largely completed. As always, Burns and Duncan are interested in stories, people and the essential idea of what it means to be an American; don't come here to learn how Carlsbad Caverns were formed.
SUNDAY'S EPISODE Mostly covers the establishment of Yosemite and Yellowstone, with a starring role for John Muir, patron saint of Yosemite.
BOTTOM LINE America's best idea? Upon reading that subtitle, one is tempted to say, "Get a grip, Ken." Why not settle for something a little more modest, like, "one of the greatest ideas," or "one hell of an idea," rather than set yourself up for some distracting argument over whether, say, the Declaration of Independence or the Emancipation Proclamation was superior? But, please, everyone, get past that title - paraphrasing writer-environmentalist Wallace Stegner's pronouncement - and you indisputably have TV's best idea this fall.
"National Parks" is magnificent - and maybe, just maybe, the best work ever produced by Burns. Glorious at every turn, "Parks" is rich, detailed, generous, fair, thoughtful, intelligent and, of course, visually spectacular. Burns and Duncan always seem best when they're passionate about a subject, and that passion shines through here.
GRADE A+
