Heritage Minutes, also known officially as Historica Minutes: History by the Minute, are a series of sixty-second short films, each illustrating an important moment in Canadian history. They appear frequently on Canadian television and in cinemas before movies and are now also sold on DVD. The Minutes were first introduced on March 31, 1991 as part of a one-off heavily-promoted history quiz show hosted by Rex Murphy.
The thirteen original short films were broken up and run between shows on CBC Television and CTV Network. The continued broadcast of the Minutes and the production of new ones was pioneered by Charles Bronfman's CRB Foundation, Canada Post Power Broadcasting, and the National Film Board. They were devised, developed and largely narrated by noted Canadian broadcaster Patrick Watson, while the producer of the series was Robert Guy Scully. In 2009 Historica merged with The Dominion Institute to become The Historica-Dominion Institute.
While the foundations have not paid networks to air Minutes, they hav
Lorne Greene's New Wilderness was a Canadian television nature documentary series starting in 1982 starring Lorne Greene. The series initially aired on CTV but was later widely syndicated. It was a followup to an earlier, similar 1970s documentary series entitled Untamed World.
It is a multiple award-winning wildlife program, number one in its time slot for five years running, and provides stunning photography coupled with a genuine feeling for the subject matter. There are 104 episodes in the series, each 30 minutes long.
Anatomy of a Scene is a television series produced by and aired regularly on Sundance Channel since 2001. As a tagline for the series notes, each 30-minute episode "dissects the art of filmmaking" of a scene from a specific film, often a film previously showcased at a Sundance Film Festival.
An episode examines the scene from multiple perspectives, such as production design, costume design, cinematography, storyboards, writing, music, acting, and directing. Interviews with the cast and crew are interspersed with snippets from the film.
Episodes of the show are often included on the DVD release of the films they study.
John Ratzenberger's Made in America is an American documentary television series hosted by John Ratzenberger. The series premiered January 6, 2004, on the Travel Channel. Ratzenberger visits various American manufacturers, taking the show's viewers along on the tours and showing how various everyday items are made. The show has visited a variety of factories, including Crayola, Airstream, Yankee Candle, Samuel Adams Brewery, Ruger, Delta Faucet Company, and Rodgers Instruments.
Beyond the Glory was a documentary series that profiles some of the most legendary and controversial athletes in recent history. Executive produced by Steve Michaels and Frank Sinton and narrated by Jay Mohr, the show used archived video, on-camera interviews and player histories to take viewers beyond the playing field and into the athletes' lives and minds.
The series was produced by Asylum Entertainment.
California's Gold is a public television human interest program that explores the natural, cultural, and historical features of California. The series ran for 24 seasons beginning in 1991, and was produced and hosted by Huell Howser in collaboration with KCET, Los Angeles. The series ceased production when Howser retired in November 2012, shortly before his death on January 7, 2013, although episodes continue to be shown on KCET and are featured on the page at the station's website about his shows.
The show's theme song varies between several renditions of "California, Here I Come", but was most often played on the series by local musicians Eddie Enderle and Richard Chon.
The story of the people building the AVRO Arrow, an advanced jet fighter-interceptor designed to defend Canada's vast territory during the Cold War. Though the jet was an engineering marvel, cost over-runs, U.S. government pressure from the military industrial complex, and the election of the Progressive Conservative Diefenbaker government, stopped the jet just as it was getting off the ground.
Heathrow Airport in London, one of the world's busiest, isn't full of just people from all around the world who pass through its doors. This series tells tales of the many creatures that end up at the airport's Animal Reception Centre - some legally, many illegally - and the staff who handle arriving and departing shipments of animals in every shape, size, breed and colour. Along with thousands of cats and dogs, the centre has welcomed sloths, giant octopi, bears, elephants, tigers, lions, sharks, alpacas, venomous snakes, vampire bats, and Britain's equestrian team.
Holidays in the Danger Zone: Places That Don't Exist is a five-part BBC Four series on breakaway states and unrecognised nations, devised, written and presented by Simon Reeve. The series producer was Will Daws. The producer was Iain Overton.
The series took the team to little-known parts of the world including Somaliland, recognised as part of Somalia; Transnistria of Moldova; Taiwan; Nagorno-Karabakh of Azerbaijan; Ajaria, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia, all recognized by the United Kingdom as parts of Georgia.
The program and its team were awarded a One World Award in June 2005 for best popular feature.
People's Century is a television documentary series examining the 20th century. It was a joint production of the BBC in the United Kingdom and PBS member station WGBH Boston in the United States. First shown on BBC in 1995, the 26 parts of one hour deal with the socio-economic, political, and cultural movements that shaped the 20th century. The documentary won an International Emmy Award, among others.
A departure from other documentaries that observe history as the actions of great men, People's Century considers the Century from the view of common people. Most persons interviewed were ordinary men and women who closely witnessed various events and they give personal accounts how developments in the Twentieth Century affected their lives.
The opening credits depict various images from the century, accompanied with a theme music score by Zbigniew Preisner. A very short introduction of the episode would then follow, often illustrated by a dramatic event that illustrates the episode's particular theme coming to the
Truth or Scare is a television series on the Discovery Kids network. The show aired from October 25, 2001 to January 1, 2003. Each episode was 30 minutes long with commercials.
It was hosted by Michelle Trachtenberg in a style similar to Maila Nurmi as horror host "Vampira" and Cassandra Peterson as horror host "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark."
Legends is a music biography television series on VH1. Originally sponsored by AT&T Corporation, this series documents those artists who have made a significant contribution to music history to be profiled on the show.
The show goes in-depth into the entire career of the artist, with each episode containing rare concert and music video footage.
The initial episodes were narrated by Kris Kristofferson, however other narrators have included Sheryl Crow, Steven Tyler, Ossie Davis, Levon Helm, Henry Rollins and James Justice. Recent episodes have been hosted by William Baldwin.
Tina Turner, Elton John, Pink Floyd and John Lennon are the only artists so far to have been profiled on both Legends and Behind The Music.
Wild America is a documentary television series that focuses on the wild animals and wild lands of North America. By the mid-1970s, Marty Stouffer had put together several full length documentaries. At this time, he approached the programming managers at Public Broadcasting Service about a half-hour-long wildlife show, the first to focus exclusively upon the flora and fauna of North America. PBS signed for the rights to broadcast Marty Stouffer's show Wild America in 1982. The show went on to become one of the most popular aired by PBS, renowned for its unflinching portrayal of nature, as well as its extensive use of film techniques such as slow motion and close-ups. Stouffer earned $135,000 per show from PBS.
The show's production ran from 1982 to 1994. The series is no longer on PBS; reruns still air in syndication on commercial television through much of the United States. In 1997, Warner Brothers released a full-length feature film entitled Wild America, which was based loosely on the biographical story of Mar
Harley Street is a British television medical drama shown on ITV in 2008.
The series was made by Carnival Films and was set in Harley Street, London. Created by Marston Bloom and written by Howard Overman, Jack Williams and Nicole Taylor, the stories were about the lives of Harley Street specialists and the cases that were presented to them.
The Extraordinary was an Australian television documentary series that featured stories of the paranormal and supernatural. It ran on the Seven Network from 1993 to 1996. The following year it moved to the Nine Network. If you ever wanted to be spooked by fantastic story-telling and compelling imagery without the horror, then this was your show. The show consisted of 4 -5 stories of ghosts, paranormal activity, urban legends, and unsolved mysteries. From local areas in Australia, to overseas locations, every nook and cranny was covered, including local and international personalities and stars telling their own personal encounters with the phenomenon that would give you goosebumps. The Extraordinary was a successful show, lasting 3 years on Channel 7 before being poached by Channel 9 in 1997, where it ended its run. It was successful enough to be taken up by US broadcasting to be re-dubbed there by US personality Corbin Bernsen.
Homeland Security USA portrayed members of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies tasked with the security of the US, performing their day-to-day duties. It was the American version of the Australian reality show Border Security.
The show premiered on January 6, 2009 on ABC. The show was put on hiatus May 19, 2009. Prior to the show premiering, ABC was met with minor protests from Latin American groups, claiming that the series was anti-immigrant. Once the series premiered, it was shown to be a balanced look at officers within Homeland Security who fought various crimes such as drug trafficking. Remaining episodes aired a few months later on weekend afternoons on ABC.
The Law of the Playground is a British television series broadcast on Channel 4 produced by Zeppotron in which various British comedians and celebrities recollect the past times of childhood at school. Throughout the series many different aspects of school life are brought up such as bullies, punishment, games, etc.
A series of spy thrillers exploring the key turning-points in the race for nuclear supremacy. From the development of the A-bomb, via the Cuban missile crisis, to the spread of nuclear weapons to the Middle East and beyond, each story is told through the eyes of the men who risked everything to proliferate their nuclear secrets and those who tried to stop them. Nuclear weapons and the actions of these men have transformed the face of war - and now the world could pay the price.