Ken Burns’ ‘The Roosevelts’ to open PBS season

By Lynn Elber

AP Television Writer

PBS said Thursday its fall season will open with a binge-viewing opportunity: a seven-part Ken Burns documentary on the Roosevelt political dynasty.

“The Roosevelts: An Intimate History,” will air as two-hour episodes over seven nights, beginning Sept. 14. Each episode will be repeated nightly, and the show will be widely available for post-air online viewing, said Beth Hoppe, PBS chief programming executive.

“I think it’s the best thing Ken’s done since ‘The Civil War,’” Hoppe said. “He thinks it might be the best thing he’s ever done.”

The Burns family itself will be well-represented on public TV’s schedule, with brother Ric Burns’ “The Pilgrims” airing Nov. 25, Thanksgiving week. The “American Experience” film will examine what compelled English men and women to voyage to a new land in 1620.

PBS, whose average household rating for the season to date puts it at No. 7 among all broadcast and cable channels, won’t have drama-ratings champ “Downton Abbey” back on until January. But there’s a full slate of fall alternatives.

Among them is “Death Comes to Pemberley,” based on novelist P.D. James’ sequel to Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and starring Matthew Rhys (“The Americans”) and Anna Maxwell Martin. It airs Oct. 26 and Nov. 2.

Bill Nighy will return as British spy Johnny Worricker, seen in 2011’s “Page Eight,” in two new stories. Arts programming will remain the focus of PBS’ Friday night schedule, with two series, “Live from Lincoln Center” and “Austin City Limits,” marking their 40th anniversaries.

A March performance by Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel in “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” in concert with the New York Philharmonic, will open the “Lincoln Center” season Sept. 26.

PBS’ announcement preceded commercial network presentations of fall schedules next week.