Last night, Ken Burns’ latest, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, debuted with two hours of the sort of scenery that is almost unspeakable (that is, except for narrator Peter Coyote and scores of lulling voiceover experts) in its gorgeousness. PBS, with its mingy-minded obsession with Anglophilia and timid, protect-funding-above-all programming, fell behind cable television long ago. So now, when it comes time to present Burns’ contribution to big-beauty-brand TV, it must fight for viewers who are more accustomed to going to sites like the Discovery Channel for pretty pictures to fill their wide-screen televisions.
The first part of National Parks benefited from its portrait of John Muir, the autodidact naturalist who was good for many an eccentric anecdote as he scampered across our national landscape, living in trees and scrawling eloquences in his journals. It also featured park ranger Shelton Johnson, whose love of Yosemite Park and whose voice, as finely burred as one of the trees he admires, help make him an entrancing new TV personality.
Tonight, part two, titled “The Scripture of Our Nature,” contrasts more national beauty with spoilage by mean old businesspeople trying to make a buck off outdoor beauty. (Yes, this is an idea as old as America, but Burns knows how to make it seem freshly appalling.) And we get a portrait of Theodore Roosevelt as a fierce defender of the park system.
As with all of Burns’ productions, National Parks can be too long, too slow, too pleased with itself. But on a night when Parks enables you to avoid Gossip Girl and Dancing with the Stars, why should we be anything but grateful?
Are you watching National Parks?
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If you are not watching this show there can be only one reason. You hate America.
What a poignant and well-conceived observation.
Seriously, for those who missed and perhaps didn’t mean to, PBS is airing the full episodes online till 10/9. And not to give credence to this doosh’s comment, but perhaps a respite from TV’s mundane repetitions for a glimpse at America’s true beauty is a breath of fresh air we all could use.
Of course I can’t be sure, but I thought Mark was intentionally exaggerating for effect and did not actually intend it to be a fully truthful and thoughtful statement. I think he just liked the show and thinks everyone should watch it. Side note: that ranger’s passion in the video above almost brought tears to my eyes.
Thanks to both Ken Burns and PBS for this amazing series. I have always loved these places, and this story remindes me of how truly fortunate and proud I am to be a citizen of this country.
I watched it last night. I always liked Ken Burns, he does get a bit indulgent, but with the amount of time he puts into it, you can’t blame him. Completely riveting TV and plus Coyote’s narraration is always great in my opinion.
I just wish the story would move along. The philosophical pontificating, while enlightening, moves the show to a snail’s pace.
If you got bored with this, you’re obviously a city dweller, never to venture to parts unknown. That’s your burden – I’m overjoyed to see that which is most important in America given visibility.
Amen! Isn’t that one of the repeated observations of the documentary — that we have to have everything in thirty-second, pre-digested sound bites.
The words “sluggish”, “self-important” and “patronizing” come to mind, but I’ll settle for “snail’s pace” and “pontificating” as well. The subject matter is wonderful and worthwhile. The execution is, by now, cliched and, occasionally, sub-par. I think Burns still shoots primarily on film and some of the scenery actually pales by comparison to the vividness and clarity of, say, PLANET EARTH. I think Ken Burns is an old dog who needs to learn a few new tricks. Maybe the same should be said of his namesake Mr. Tucker.
“…self-important” and “…patronizing”? If that’s what detailed story telling, that trys to capture the moment of the time is being called these days, then you can talk down (or dirty) to me anytime.
I agree totally with JoeC’s comments. I note that further down these comment someone states that such a review is out of line and made by a juvenile. This it not true. I am a 51 college professor and I watched the program with my father and mother who are in the 80’s. We have been camping in the National Parks since before I could walk. We love the Parks and as another reviewer noted, we too wanted to love this show (we loved all of Burn’s Civil War).
The unanimous review from our family was that the documentary is repetitious, self indulgent, and much of the talking does not advance the narrative but waxes eloquent when the Parks are poetry enough.
We want to know the history and the facts about the Parks. We do not need to be told 500 times that they are a spiritual respite from our work-a-day world. We got that in the first 20 minutes when we got hit over the head with it. Some of the rhetoric gets down right pantheistic and is not needed. Talking about the magnificence of the Parks while watching the beautiful views is epitome of redundancy. It is as ineffective as telling someone how important Beethoven’s Fifth symphony is while you are trying to listen to it. I know because I am a professor of music.
This is a real problem with the documentary. It’s self indulgence gets in the way of the message and the enjoyment of the program. Even the music becomes repetitious and tedious. I know some of the hymn tunes the themes used and, in moderation I like them but, too much of a good thing can really be a bad thing (sorry Mae West, in this case I think you were wrong).
Yes, I have continued to watch the program but I will not buy it as I had hoped. I would love to edit it down to about 4-6 hours and then I think it would be more enjoyable.
The folks who say that such comments are made by Philistines who do not appreciate good story telling and take time to enjoy nature are wrong. When we want these things we do not watch TV, we go camping with a good book!
To me, this documentaries first episode was absolutely magnificent in every way. I loved the pacing and attention to detail.
What dismays me are the comments on this webpage. They speak of the degradation of the viewing public, who’ve been dumbed down due to over exposure to crap TV, horrible reality shows, horrible series, hyper editing etc.
I applaud Ken Burns for telling such a huge story the way he tells it.
You can’t tell the story of our National Parks without devoting a huge chunk of time to John Muir. Unfortunately, since he pretty much just walked a lot and mostly kept to himself, if his writings don’t catch your interest, you’re pretty much screwed.
I had the pleasure of being an intern while they were working on this film in the summer of 06, and trust me, while episode 1 is great, some of the storylines they have come up with for the other episodes are quite riveting. From watching episode 1, it seems like it came out better than I had imagined.
Stunning…
Jocc what does “shooting on film” supposed to mean? Coming from a person who works in motion picture, I cantell you, shooting on film is much better than shooting on HD. HD is great if you have a low budget or are shooting sitcoms, but nothing will replace the look of film. Go watch Baraka, that was shot on anamorphic 65mm film.
Film can produce images digital will never be able to produce!
I watched this beautiful program. I learned a lot of new things about Yosemite, Yellowstone, and how early national parks came to be.
I love the national parks–and have been to many more than once! BUT this documentary is SLOW! I wanted to see more park. It was like a SLIDE show rather than a film. I fell asleep 3x! I was so bummed out…I had waited and waited for this. I hope the next few episodes are speedier. I know he is a fantastic movie maker and I appreciate his technical and artistic visions–but honestly he is missing something. It was a little like a 10th grade history class—sadly.
I did watch it, and it was very well done. 12 hours seems a little excessive to me though. I’m also a little concerned that they’re going to spend very little time on the National Parks that were created for historical reasons (for example, Gettysburg) rather that natural reasons, but I’ll wait until the 12 hours are completed before levelling that criticism.
Just wonderful. After I saw this, was just surfing and caught Tom Brokaw in a show about Yellowstone on Discovery. Almost overload, but worth it.
Thank you Big Government, for our NPS!
It’s the best thing on TV right now. Really.