The Vietnam War, the new Ken Burns and Lynn Novick series, will premiere Sept. 17, 2017, on NPT. The series will air 7 p.m. nightly Sunday through Thursday, through Sept. 28 with an encore broadcast immediately following each night’s premiere.
NPT is partnering with the Brentwood Library to host a free screening and discussion about The Vietnam War. The event, our fourth with Middle Tennessee organizations, takes place Monday, Sept. 25, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Brentwood Library (8109 Concord Rd., Brentwood, TN 37027). Following a screening of a compilation reel from the 10-part, 18-hour series, Vanderbilt University history professor Thomas Schwartz will moderate a panel featuring veterans Bill Graham, Robert Tuke, Dana McLendon, John H. Dorland and Fred Frawley. Register here.
Think local
We are also talking with Middle Tennesseans to learn about their experiences during and since the war. The idea, according to NPT producer Shawn Anfinson, is to generate a number of vignettes to provide a local perspective on the war’s lingering effect on the American psyche. Using a social media-friendly vehicle was also important, so Anfinson decided on audiograms, a format developed by WNYC public radio. NPT’s 30-second audiograms are available on our Facebook page and include U.S. Navy and U.S. Army veterans as well as members of the nonprofit Vetlinx Community Partnership for Veterans.
Chris Clark, longtime NewsChannel 5 Nashville news anchor and current MTSU journalism instructor, is one of the people discussing his Vietnam War-era experiences in NPT’s audiogram series. Clark is also featured in one of three video shorts that will air on NPT throughout the run of The Vietnam War. In the longer piece, Clark explains how the war was partly responsible for his entry into television news and also how coverage of the war influenced journalism.
Watch more
Concurrent with the Sept. 17 broadcast premiere of The Vietnam War, the first five episodes of the series will be available for streaming on all PBS station platforms, including NPT Passport; the final five episodes will be available beginning Sept. 24. All episodes will remain accessible until Oct. 3, when the series begins its weekly rebroadcast. The series will also be available in Spanish and Vietnamese on streaming.
NPT members will be able to view all 10 episodes beginning Sept. 17 via NPT Passport, the member benefit streaming portal through which you can enjoy episodes of many of your favorite PBS and NPT shows on demand. NPT Passport members will have access to The Vietnam War through Dec. 31, 2017.
For more about The Vietnam War series, see the series homepage at PBS.org.