PBS Marking WWI Anniversary with New Docuseries

BEVERLY HILLS: Timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of America’s entry into World War I, PBS is slated to air next year the three-night event series The Great War as part of its long-running American Experience strand.

The six-hour series will draw on the latest scholarship, including unpublished diaries, memoirs and letters, to tell the story of the global conflict through the voices of nurses, journalists, aviators and American troops. It will also explore the experiences of African-American and Latino soldiers, suffragists, Native-American “code talkers” and others whose participation in the war has been largely forgotten.

The Great War is executive produced by Mark Samels and directed by filmmakers Stephen Ives, Amanda Pollak and Rob Rapley.

“On this centennial anniversary, we’re proud to present this in-depth examination of a truly pivotal event in American history from the perspectives of the people who lived through it,” said Beth Hoppe, the chief programming executive and general manager for general-audience programming at PBS. “The Great War transformed America and the world, and this series brings that transformation to life through unexpected personal stories.”

“There’s one America before The Great War, and another America after,” said American Experience executive producer Samels. “The war marked the first time that the U.S. stepped onto the world stage and became the preeminent world power of the 20th century. It changed not only our role in the world but changed us at home. It was a time of stark choices—between pacifism and building up our military, between equal rights for everyone or for only a few. What unfolded was not only extremely important politically, socially and culturally, but also incredibly dramatic. By examining the war through the lives of individuals—some famous, most forgotten—we hope to have created a film that does justice to this incredibly rich story.”