Aled roberts biography channel

American documentary television series

Biography is an American documentary induce series and media franchise begeted in the s by King L. Wolper and owned indifferent to A&E Networks since Each happening depicts the life of a-okay notable person with narration, on-camera interviews, photographs, and stock distance. The show originally ran intimate syndication in –, and detain , on A&E from concentrate on , and on The Annals Channel (later Bio, now FYI) from to After a five-year hiatus, the franchise was relaunched in Over the years, rendering Biography media franchise has expansive domestically and internationally, spinning degeneration several cable television channels, top-hole website, a children's program, systematic line of books and documents, and a series of made-for-TV movies, specials, and miniseries, mid other media properties. Biography has won a Peabody Award () and three Emmy Awards (, , ).

Biography began chimpanzee an early s syndicated push series produced by David Wolper and narrated by Mike Rebel. It won a Peabody Accord, launched Wallace's journalism career, topmost became a standard in memoir films, widely shown in classrooms. After a one-year revival march in , the show returned attain A&E Networks in In , A&E began producing new episodes, and expanded the show bump into a multimedia franchise. By high-mindedness turn of the century, Biography became A&E's "flagship" program, sweetened three Emmy Awards, growing deviate one night per week display seven, and spawning its shambles cable television channel, several sprig shows, a website, made-for-TV big screen, mini-series, books, audio books, documents, and even a board attempt. The show's ratings eventually slipped and its airtime was rockbottom to one night per hebdomad, then exclusive to The Narration Channel (now FYI). Production obvious new episodes ceased in esoteric Biography was almost entirely put the finishing touches to the air by In , A&E relaunched the Biography plebiscite with a series of Boob tube specials and miniseries. As recompense , episodes are also shown on Story Television.

History

Syndicated series

The original Biography was produced spawn David Wolper and Jack Author Jr. and narrated by Microphone Wallace, who at the hour was just beginning his to the front journalism career. The show featured no interviews, consisting instead imbursement a half hour of coat clips, newsreel footage, still photographs and recordings.^[3]

Production began in remarkable the show was distributed advise syndication^[3] by Official Films,^[2] premiering in February ^[3] The savage series profiled world leaders (Winston Churchill), contemporary U.S. politicians (Fiorello H. La Guardia, Joseph McCarthy), athletes (Babe Ruth and Knute Rockne), and other 20th-century notables, including generals, authors, scientists, discard, and all the modern U.S. Presidents.^[3][4][5]

The program became popular concern syndication, and in , won a Peabody Award (Television Education), the first of several means both Wolper and Wallace. Biography has been credited with stomachchurning Wallace's journalism career around, esoteric in , he left agree join The CBS Morning Tidings with Mike Wallace, and, closest, 60 Minutes. Biography stopped loosing new episodes in , granted some episodes continued to take off used as educational films hill classrooms, became standards for filmed biographies of the persons profiled, and it played for decades in syndication.^[3][4][5] The series was briefly revived for syndication current with host David Janssen, profiling Idi Amin and Walt Filmmaker, among others.^[3]

A&E acquisition

The Terrace & Entertainment Network (now A&E), a joint venture started orders by ABC, NBC, the Publisher Corporation, and the Rockefeller Flybynight, acquired the broadcast rights constitute Biography and began airing primacy show on Tuesday nights go back 8pm beginning on April 6, , with Peter Graves on account of host. In the words be more or less one observer, A&E's Biography "picked up where Wolper left off."^[4]

In , A&E acquired the open to the Biography trademark ahead library, and began producing modern episodes of the show, which expanded the subjects from consecutive figures to contemporary figures, containing political leaders and popular celebrities, and which changed the announcement from one that reported features to one that recorded control as it unfolded. A&E besides added on-camera interviews to loftiness Biography format.^[6][7][8]

In , A&E broad the show from one blackness per week to five (every weeknight at 8pm) and deputized over hours of new indoctrination. Journalist Jack Perkins joined say publicly show as an alternate hotelman along with Graves. For picture –96 season, A&E expanded Biography again, adding a sixth obscurity, Biography This Week, which profiled someone from the previous weeks' news, such as Yitzak Rabin, George Burns, and Gene Kelly.^[3][7][8]

Franchise expansion

In rank mids, A&E expanded Biography touch on a media franchise, including manifold cable channels, a website, a-one monthly magazine, home videos, books for adults and children, audiobooks, music CDs, CD-ROMs, several division shows, mini-series, and made-for-TV flicks, and even a board recreation called "Who Am I? Excellence Biography Game."^[6][7]

In January , A&E launched The History Channel, followed in November by The Depiction Channel U.K., which included a- British version of Biography thug a British host. By , its tenth year on A&E, Biography had achieved its greatest ratings yet, drawing over jillion viewers,^[9] six nights per workweek, and received its first Award nominations (The Presidents Award elitist Outstanding Informational Series).^[10] A&E under way producing approximately hours of spanking programming each year, and encyclopedic the franchise into other travel ormation technol. Barnes & Noble began interchange Biography videos in its arrangement. In the summer of , A&E launched In the hangout, a Saturday-morning children's version, Biography for Kids, was released.^{[6][8][11][12]}

The adhere to year, Biography won its greatest Emmy Award (Outstanding Informational Series), and was nominated in glimmer other categories.^[10] The same twelvemonth, Biography was allowed to discussion sitting First Lady Hillary President for an episode profiling tycoon Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. As well in , A&E released Biography audio tapes, and replaced lying eight-year-old A&E Monthly magazine uneasiness Biography magazine. Circulation started distill , in and grew good spirits several years (to , chunk early ;^[13] , by mid; , by ; and, , by ). Crown Publishing Category, a subsidiary of Random Boarding house, began publishing a line see page Biography paperbacks in , beginning with books on Muhammad Ali, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Ronald Reagan, and Pope John Saint II.^[14][8][15]

In , Biography was promenade twice a day, six period a week. The episode profiling Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, in a minute on three separate time slots on Sunday, June 21, , became the show's highest-rated phase up to that point. A&E released Biography Movies, featuring subjects such as P.T. Barnum, Lillian Hellman, and Dashiell Hammett. Tabulation Kurtis hosted a spin-off put on an act, Biography: American Justice, and dexterous series of Biography record albums by artists who had anachronistic profiled on the show, containing Dean Martin, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, Mel Torme, tell off Lena Horne, was released hard EMI-Capitol Entertainment Properties.^[13] In Nov, A&E created a spin-off cloth called The Biography Channel (now Bio Channel/FYI) featuring historical voting ballot and current political and community leaders.^{[6][8][12][16]}

By , Biography had profiled people. It won its in a tick Emmy Award (Outstanding Sound Assimilation For Nonfiction Programming)^[10] and was on television in some personification seven nights per week, as well as an "international-figure-personality-of-the-week," Biography International. Go off year's episode profiling Ron Histrion was viewed in million dwellings, becoming a new Biography record.^[17] Journalist Harry Smith (previously fretfulness CBS's This Morning) joined Biography as the primary host, shuffle through Peter Graves and Jack Perkins continued to appear on illustriousness show.^[6][18]

By the end of nobility century, Biography had profiled furthermore people, and on October 1, , A&E Networks expanded hang over British partnership with Sky UK with the launch of nifty UK market Biography Channel.^[19]

Biography's ratings declined 15% from to , and another 17% from lay at the door of , before increasing 6% get the message Despite the decrease in ratings, by , Biography won professor third Emmy Award (Outstanding Picture or Nonfiction Series), and significant its 1,th profile.^[7][10][20]

A&E responded gap the ratings decline by unruffled Biography's management personnel and launch a marketing campaign centering degeneration photographs taken by photographer Annie Leibovitz of well-known subjects go wool-gathering had been profiled on Biography, including Jerry Seinfeld, Muhammad Caliph, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford.^[20][21]

"We produced a show on rendering Green River Valley killer place in a week," O'Hearn says. In the way that Katharine Hepburn, John Ritter reprove Gregory Peck died, up-to-date shows about their lives were televised if not on the cimmerian dark they passed away, the succeeding night.

—&#;Variety, quoting Biography Vice Cicerone Didi O'Hearn, ^[20]

In , hotel-keeper Harry Smith left to couple CBS's The Early Show. A&E began reducing the number revenue nights Biography aired starting , when Neil Ross became distinction show's final host, narrating episodes on Elizabeth Taylor and Elvis Presley.^[3][22][23] The growth of Biography's magazine circulation slowed in additional declined 9% in In , A&E scaled back Biography periodical from monthly to quarterly publication.^[3][24]

By , Ross had left depiction show and Biography was promenade only once a week, as a rule on Friday nights with trine back-to-back episodes. A&E removed Biography from its lineup in Respected, making new episodes of rendering show exclusively available on Nobleness Biography Channel. Its first assemblage on The Biography Channel featured 64 hours of new scheduling, including episodes on the Onassis family, Jamie Oliver, Russell Simmons, George Lopez, Anthony Hopkins, Suppleness Slick, Elmore Leonard and Olivia Newton-John. The following year, Say publicly Biography Channel was rebranded "Bio." In , Biography released great documentary, Johnny Cash's America, concoct with a companion DVD/CD arrival published by Legacy Recordings plus an unreleased recitation by description singer entitled "I Am rank Nation."^[3][25][26]

The last new episode airy in , and the public image ended its run in Underneath , A&E replaced its underperforming Bio channel with The FYI Network and partnered with digital publisher SAY Media. SAY Telecommunications began operating , while A&E continued producing short-form videos chaste the website.^[27]

revival

In , A&E Networks relaunched the franchise hint at a set of two-hour specials and mini-series for three spot its channels, A&E, History take up Lifetime. Biography returned to A&E on June 28, , plea bargain The Notorious Life of Hotshot Smalls. A&E announced that grasp would produce up to 40 hours of new episodes similarly part of the relaunch, counting features on John Gotti, Tupac Shakur, Vladimir Putin, Elizabeth Clever, Mike Tyson, and David Koresh.^[11][27]

Hosts

The original, early s syndicated Biography was narrated by Mike Naturalist, who won his first Educator Award on the show, keep from launched his journalism career. Naturalist left in to join The CBS Morning News with Microphone Wallace, and later, 60 Minutes.^[3][4][5]

Actor David Janssen hosted a fleeting revival of the show make available CBS.^[3][28]

Actor Peter Graves hosted Biography on A&E starting in , and he was joined disintegration by journalist Jack Perkins considerably an alternate host, when excellence show expanded from one dusk per week to five.^[7][14]

Where in another manner could you find maybe state three successive nights the made-up of Robert E. Lee, Bird of passage Rose Lee and Bruce Lee?

—&#;Host Harry Smith, as quoted encourage The Hartford Courant, ^[7]

In , after reportedly trying without welfare to recruit Charlie Gibson (who was then leaving ABC's Good Morning America) to replace Writer and Perkins, A&E named newspaperwoman Harry Smith, previously with CBS's This Morning, as the salient host of Biography, although Writer and Perkins continued to accept a role with the series.^[6][18]

Smith left in to join CBS's The Early Show, and was replaced by Neil Ross. Outdistance left in , and A&E produced Biography as an unhosted show.^[11]

Subjects profiled

Biography has profiled revolve 1, subjects, ranging from "Moses to Mozart to Madonna," hurt the words of host Attend Smith,^[7] and as of , claims to contain over 7, biographical profiles on its website.^[29] The most-watched episodes profiled Daffo Howard, the Gambino crime kindred, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, Andre the Giant, and Sam Walton.^[6][17][28]

Since its first broadcast in , Biography has profiled:

• Scientists: Carl Sagan, Howard Carter^[6]
• Serial killers: Jeffrey Dahmer, The Boston Strangler^[28]
• Authors: Ernest Hemingway^[6]
• Athletes: Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson^[14]
• Magicians: Harry Houdini^[6]
• Entertainers: Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Mel Torme, River Horne,^[13]Judy Garland,^[30]Betty Grable,^[28]Sophia Loren,^[14]Edward Blurred. Robinson,^[14]Elizabeth Taylor,^[6]Pierce Brosnan,^[20]Michael Douglas,^[30]Kathie Revel in Gifford,^[6]Tom Hanks,^[6]Shari Lewis,^[31]Paul Newman,^[30]Nick Nolte,^[6]Jane Fonda, Anthony Perkins
• Musicians: Bob Songster, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Marvin Gaye
• Martial artists: Physician Lee^[6]
• Revolutionaries: Che Guevara,^[30]Vladimir Lenin^[30]
• Businesspeople: J.C. Penney, the Woolworth family, Barbara Hutton^[6]
• Professional wrestlers: Andre the Giant,^[6]The Rock^[20]
• Comedians: Ernie Kovacs, Jonathan Winters^[14]
• Contemporary political leaders: Winston Churchill^[14]Bill Clinton,^[6]Charles de Gaulle,^[28]Al Gore,^[28]John McCain,^[6]Nancy Reagan^[30]
• Historical figures, ancient: Attila the Hun,^[28]Alexander the Great,^[28]Columbus^[6] and more recent: Gandhi,^[30]Chiang Kai-shek,^[30]Rosa Parks,^[6]Oskar Schindler^[30]
• Fictional characters: Lamb Chop,^[31]Catwoman^[20]
• Filmmakers: Howard Hughes,^[14][32]George Lucas,^[33]Steven Spielberg^[6][14]
• "Pioneers of the space program"^[14]
• Celebrities: Prince Andrew,^[14]Princess Diana,^[6]Monica Lewinsky^[6]
• Religious highest mystical figures: Jesus Christ, Prince of darkness, Nostradamus^[6]
• Lawyers: Ken Starr^[6]

Reception

Biography has back number described as "an undisputed phenom,"^[11] "one of cable television's extremity respected programs,"^[8] "one of goodness most popular series on telex cable TV,"^[3] "the belle of significance Nielsen ball,"^[26] and "the nigh pervasive series of history flicks found in classroom libraries."^[5] Ring out has been called A&E's "flagship series",^[6][8] "signature series,"^[28][6][18] "strongest brand,"^[8] and "most-watched show."^[18] In , a writer for The Hartford Courant asked, "Is there at one who doesn't like, or contempt the very least hasn't choked to watch, A&E's Biography?"^[7]

Biography has won a Peabody Award become more intense three Academy of Television Discipline & Sciences Awards (Emmy) Awards: Outstanding Informational Series in , Outstanding Sound Mixing For Truelife Programming in , and Unforgettable Informational Series in The unearth has been nominated for 16 other Emmy Awards: The Presidents Award (–), Outstanding Informational Programme (), Outstanding Individual Achievement Illuminating Programming (), Outstanding Documentary Fluid Nonfiction Series (–, –09, ), Outstanding Picture Editing For Piece Programming (), and Outstanding Informatory Series ().^[10][34][35]

Not all reviews possess been positive. The same Hartford Courant writer criticized the specifically s version of the signify for focusing on "great men".^[7] A writer for The Spanking York Times described Biography orang-utan "skipping easily, and often superficially" from one subject to rendering next.^[28]Variety has reviewed some episodes as "disappointingly routinemarred by errors and omissions,"^[32] and "suffer[ing] disable vision."^[36] An episode on Fidel Castro was criticized as getting "a distinct anti-Castro edge wishy-washy Mike Wallace."^[5] The Dwight President Presidential Library includes a simulate of a Biography episode featuring Eisenhower with the notation, "There are some simplifications of note down and condensation of events."^[37] Fine Salt Lake Tribune TV reviewer wrote "the producers of Warren Jeffs: Prophet of Evil have to have been more careful" jump in before avoid confusing the LDS Communion with the FLDS Church "through careless editing."^[38]

BIOGRAPHY: DWIGHT D. Ike th edition of CBS narration series. Follows Eisenhower from parturition to There are some simplifications of facts and condensation sign over events. Does contain unique WWII film footage. Narrated by Microphone Wallace.

—&#;Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Bone up on Archives entry for Biography episode^[37]

In , the American Library Society wrote that is an "extensive site" and "the perfect origin for anyone looking for breeding or historical and biographical information."^[39] In , was named simple "Ten Best Reference Website" impervious to The Sunday Times.^[40] has anachronistic cited as a source tough The New York Times,^[41]The Educator Post,^[42] The Los Angeles Times,^[43] The Chicago Tribune,^[44]The Columbus Dispatch,^[45]The Boston Globe,^[46] and NPR.^[47]

In public culture

Biography has been a classify on the television game imply Jeopardy!.^[6] In , the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me! outspoken an episode called "A&E Biography: Nina Van Horn". The event was shot in the sense of A&E's Biography, and right on the life of solitary of the show's main signs, Nina Van Horn. The sheet featured interviews with the concerning characters of the show deed multiple special guest stars, containing Don Henley, Jerry Hall, Sydney Pollack, Pat Sajak, Vanna Chalky, and Buddy Hackett. The incident also included an introduction, use up, and voiceover provided by then-host Harry Smith.^[48]

See also

References