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March 14, 2024
Long before reality TV became a cultural phenomenon, PBS broke new ground in 1973 with the premiere of An American Family. This revolutionary series offered an unvarnished look at the Loud family - a seemingly picture-perfect upper-middle class household living the American dream. Without narration, viewers were fly on the wall observers of the family's everyday triumphs and struggles.
An instant hit drawing over 10 million weekly viewers, An American Family sparked national conversations about the complexity of modern family life in magazines and on talk shows. The raw, intimate portrayal was hailed as groundbreaking, but also incited controversy.
Now, 50 years later, PBS revisits this landmark series and examines its enduring relevance in the new documentary An American Family at 50. The film explores how this daring television experiment shattered longstanding taboos and created a lasting cultural impact still felt today across reality programming.
- Heather Mazzoni, Chief Content Officer
Now on to the shows
An American Family at 50
Discover how a documentary series became a media sensation 50 years ago and birthed a new television genre. An American Family at 50 revisits the original series, which chronicled seven months in the lives of the Loud family of Santa Barbara, California, and explores its enduring significance. Ten million viewers watched weekly, making the series watercooler conversation across the nation.
Watch now
Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands
This spectacular drama reimagines one of literature's most enduring heroes, the great warrior Beowulf. In a place of spectacle and danger populated by both humans and fantastical creatures, Beowulf begins a journey that sees the mighty and capable man slowly reconnect with the notion of family and home.
Binge now
Independent Lens: Breaking the News
Who decides which stories get told? A scrappy group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists buck the white male-dominated status quo, banding together to launch The 19th*, a digital news startup aiming to combat misinformation. A story of an America in flux, and the voices often left out of the narrative, the documentary Breaking the News shows change doesn’t come easy.
Watch now
Agathe Koltes: Murder in Brittany, from Walter Presents
At 50, police commander Agathe Koltes is beautiful, funny and charming. She takes a job in a small town in Brittany, where everybody anxiously awaits the arrival of this great veteran cop. What nobody knows is that Mathilde Sirach, the young police captain who was fiercely opposed to Koltes' coming, is actually her daughter. From Walter Presents, in French with English subtitles.
Binge now
Mark Your Calendar
Alice & Jack
Alice & Jack is a love story for the ages. When Alice (Andrea Riseborough) and Jack (Domhnall Gleeson) first meet they're bound by a connection so powerful it seems nothing can break it, but will their path lead them to a place of happiness and togetherness? Or will life and their own emotional complexities get in the way? Honest, intimate, and surprisingly funny, the series shows love in all its beauty. All episodes premiere in Passport March 17.
Watch the preview
March 28, 2024
As we embrace the arrival of spring, we also celebrate new drama and an Oscar win! As a WHRO Passport member, we're excited to offer you two new Masterpiece series to binge: Nolly, starring Helena Bonham Carter, and Alice & Jack. Both are extraordinary additions to our lineup.
And in the realm of excellence, the PBS series Frontline has achieved a remarkable feat, winning its first Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film. You can watch 20 Days in Mariupol on Passport.
- Heather Mazzoni, Chief Content Officer
Now on to the shows
Nolly
At the height of her fame, British soap opera star Noele “Nolly” Gordon is suddenly fired from her hit series “Crossroads” without warning – but why? Based on a true story Helena Bonham Carter portrays Nolly.
Binge now
Alice & Jack
When Alice and Jack first meet, they’re bound by a connection so powerful it seems nothing can break it, but will their path lead them to a place of happiness and togetherness? Or will life and their own emotional complexities get in the way?
Binge now
Frontline: 20 Days in Mariupol
The Academy Award-winning film from the last international journalists inside the Russian siege of Mariupol. An extraordinary account, seen through the lens of the AP’s Mstyslav Chernov and two colleagues documenting the atrocities and their own escape.
Watch Now
Our Miracle Years Season 2 from Walter Presents
Follow 3 sisters of an industrialist family in post-war Germany. In a politically, morally and economically destroyed country, these young women reinvent themselves and set the course for their future. In German with English subtitles.
Binge now
Mark Your Calendar
Mr Bates vs the Post Office
Follow one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history. Hundreds of innocent village Subpostmasters were accused of theft and fraud caused by errors in the Post Office’s computer system – something it denied for years. All episodes premiere in Passport on April 7.
Watch the preview
