A series of smart, funny video essays from PBS Digital Studios about their favorite books and why they love to read. Host Lindsay Ellis delves into topics like the evolution of YA, how science fiction mirrors our own anxieties, and why the book is sometimes just a _bit_ better than the movie.
This 2-part documentary series reveals the truth about King Edward VIII's affair with American divorcée Wallis Simpson, and the espionage operation that accompanied the investigation.
Magic Numbers was a British television show in which celebrity contestants answer questions to generate a sequence of 6 numbers. Members of the public then call a Premium-rate telephone number if their home or mobile phone numbers contains two or more of these digits. Callers are entered into a prize draw to win the chance of competing for a prize of up to £350,000.
The show was created by CPL Productions and Paul Brassey and commissioned by John Kaye Cooper at ITV.
The show is very similar to a previous ITV game show, Talking Telephone Numbers, the key difference being that viewers of Magic Numbers can call in if two of the numbers match their phone number, rather than five as on the previous show. This was a technique employed by ITV to generate more calls, and hence higher revenues from the show.
Magic Numbers was hosted by Stephen Mulhern when it aired for one series of seven episodes in 2010.
First Cut was initially a strand of thirty half-hour primetime documentaries commissioned by Channel 4 Commissioning Editor for Documentaries, Sarah Mulvey. It was added to the schedule to replace the old Alt-TV show, which launched many documentary makers' careers including Marc Isaacs, Olly Lambert, Emily James, Tina Gharavi, Paul Berczeller and Morgan Matthew. First Cut aimed to access the brightest and best new talent, allowing young directors to showcase their talent before being given further opportunities on Channel 4's flagship documentaries Cutting Edge and Dispatches.
After the completion of the initial two series, First Cut was commissioned for a third series which began on Friday, 9 January 2009, with a documentary entitled "The Hunt For Britain's Tightest Person".
Morgan Spurlock (Academy Award Nominated Director of "Supersize Me") has spent the majority of his career turning the camera on himself, inviting the audience to be a part of his own life experiences. This time, he's refocusing his lens on the most innovative and intriguing individuals in our pop culture landscape, allowing the audience to experience what it's like to be at the pinnacle of an exciting and extraordinary career by being "a fly on the wall" during the course of a typical day. Each episode goes behind the scenes with today's leading figures - celebrities, musicians, comedians, dancers, entrepreneurs - literally chronicling one day in their lives in a half-hour documentary film.
Rollergirls was a 2006 A&E Network reality show examining the personalities, antics and motivations of the women involved with the Austin, Texas Lonestar Rollergirls roller derby league. The show focused primarily on the lives of Cha Cha and Venis Envy of Las Putas Del Fuego; Punky Bruiser, Miss Conduct, and Sister Mary Jane of the Holy Rollers; Lunatic and Clownsnack of the Hellcats; and Lux of the Rhinestone Cowgirls. Many other skaters were also highlighted. The league, now known as Texas Roller Derby or TXRD, was founded in 2001 and is run as a "skater-owned and operated" company that continues to this day. The five home teams are the Cherry Bombs, Hellcats, Holy Rollers, Las Putas Del Fuego and Rhinestone Cowgirls. Episodes were initially broadcast on Monday nights beginning on January 2, 2006, with repeated showings throughout the week. Rollergirls was produced by Gary and Julie Auerbach, the creators of MTV's Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County. The show ended after one season.
A PBS documentary concerning Jared Diamond's theory on why there is such disparity between those who have advanced technology and those who still live primitively. He argues it is due to the acquisition of guns and steel and the changes brought about by germs.
There are seven billion humans on Earth, spread across the whole planet. Scientific evidence suggests that most of us can trace our origins to one tiny group of people who left Africa around 70,000 years ago. In this five-part series, Dr Alice Roberts follows the archaeological and genetic footprints of our ancient ancestors to find out how their journeys transformed our species into the humans we are today, and how Homo Sapiens came to dominate the planet.