Ken Burns And Lynn Novic’s The Vietnam War

Otis Orchards, Washington
September 15, 2017 5:55pm CST
Ken Burns and Lynn Novic spent ten years working on a documentary about the Vietnam War. Ken Burns has been making documentaries for PBS for several years. After doing documentaries on several wars, i.e. American Civil War, WWII, Burns decided he would not do another documentary on a war. However, he felt the Vietnam War was never fully told. So he and Lynn Novic set out to tell the story of the war from all three sides–American, South Vietnam and North Vietnam. There are ten episodes that are one and a half hours long. The first episode will air on Sunday night on most PBS stations. The one good thing about PBS is they will run several reruns of the program. If you miss an episode most likely you can catch a rerun. My local PBS station will air the first episode at eight pm on Sunday night. Check your local listing to see when it will air in your area. You can go on your local PBS website to find a listing.
6 people like this
6 responses
• Eugene, Oregon
16 Sep 17
I have been waiting for this, as I am a bit obsessed about that war, though I did not go there, got out in September 1965, just as it started heating up. I am also buying a copy of the series, since I know I will watch it more than once.
3 people like this
• Otis Orchards, Washington
17 Sep 17
I did not go either. I was only for the draft in it's last year and my number was something like 340.
@much2say (55901)
• Los Angeles, California
16 Sep 17
We've seen many of Hollywood's take on the Vietnam War. What we saw and the impressions that were made by the films are almost what is ingrained in our heads as "history", but there was a much bigger reality than any of those views presented. I don't doubt there are stories from all sides that have been left untold . . . it'll be interesting to see this perspective, unbiased.
1 person likes this
@much2say (55901)
• Los Angeles, California
17 Sep 17
@RichardMeister I asked Hubby about Burns and Novic - and he was familiar with Burns and his in-depth documentaries. I don't think we'll get to watch it tonight, but I'm sure we'll be able to catch it again at some point. Ever since I took Chicano Studies in college, I realized that much of US history we learned was pretty much one sided and over glorified.
1 person likes this
• Otis Orchards, Washington
17 Sep 17
@much2say After it airs you may be able to watch it on the PBS website. PBS will rerun it (after the 8 o'clock showing they will run it again back to back. Thinking about it I think I made a mistake. I think each episode is two and a half hours instead of one and a half. I will look it up and correct it if I'm wrong. (Edited–I'm right. The episodes are one and a half hours.)
1 person likes this
• Otis Orchards, Washington
17 Sep 17
In a interview with Ken Burns he said pretty much the same thing. The Vietnam War has always been told from the American view. He said he did not want to show sides and let the audience make up their own minds about how they think of the war.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
16 Sep 17
Hope it would be shown in our local cable channels, I'd go check it out later.
1 person likes this
• Otis Orchards, Washington
16 Sep 17
I hope so, too.
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Sep 17
I would love to see this, tho I do not get cable anymore..
1 person likes this
• Otis Orchards, Washington
16 Sep 17
I do not have cable either. I have an "over-the-air" antenna.
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Sep 17
@RichardMeister Oh yeah, those antennas can get the local channels thanks for the reminder Richard.
1 person likes this
• Otis Orchards, Washington
17 Sep 17
@TiarasOceanView You're welcome.
1 person likes this
@Kandae11 (55131)
16 Sep 17
That promises to be a very interesting one. Will check it out if I can.
1 person likes this
• Otis Orchards, Washington
16 Sep 17
I think so.
@fkm232 (109)
17 Sep 17
Thank you for sharing. good to know about it.
1 person likes this
• Otis Orchards, Washington
17 Sep 17