Documentary / Comedy
In these humorous and affectionate television poems, humorist Jean Shepherd celebrates America in all its richness and diversity -- from cars to candy, baseball to beer, motels to money. Each week a different aspect of our national psyche is explored as Shepherd travels to the…
Shep recalls the sights, sounds, and experiences of working in a steel mill at age 17, as the operations of a contemporary steel mill play out on screen.
Shep loses his bait but comes up with some tall tales on a fishing trip in Maine's backwaters on the banks of the Kennebec River, with a stop at the Skowhegan County Fair to meet Bob, champion horse weight-puller.
While rumbling across Wyoming aboard a Union Pacific railroad car, Shep recalls a previous trip during his World War II Army days when he pulled KP duty on a troop train.
Recalling the origins of his interest in Alaska in the second grade, Shep journeys through the Alaskan frontier exploring the captivating landscape, the sights and sounds of an Eskimo village, and the pervading silence.
While he cracks lobster claws, Shep cracks jokes and stories about his crazy love affair with all manner of delicacies, from rainbow trout to pecan pie.
Recalling a comic-strip from his boyhood in which the hero escapes on a houseboat from the pursuing villains, Shep takes the helm of a houseboat and contemplates a nomadic life at sea.
Shep gets behind the wheel and moves out on the turnpike of life, as he muses on the mystique of the open road.
Shep contrasts man's "nesting" instinct with his desire for mobility in a vision of tomorrow's styles of living.
Beer, considered by some to be the universal language, is the focus as Shep travels to the archetypal neighborhood tavern in Milwaukee and presents a poetic pastiche of beer commercials -- "the folk music of our time."
Shep talks with one of Florida's natural wonders: Sea Weed Ernie, a hermit who lives in an old wrecked boat in the middle of a watery nowhere, trades fish stories and casts a line in the fabled Black Water Bay.
Tall stories -- airborne. Shep takes off at the controls of his four-seater and visits a convention that features home-made airplanes built with some interesting components.
What happens when you let a guy like Jean Shepherd loose in a place like Hawaii? He has a luau, watches the surfers and talks about his old man, the All Time Inner-Tube Specialist of America.
Stranded during a blizzard in Wyoming, Shep and the crew romp in the snow outside the "Little America" motel while he recalls another childhood memory of cold mornings in northern Indiana, and his mother's unsympathetic reply to his plea to stay home from school.
Self - Host
Andy Taylor is the widowed sheriff of the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept, but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife, a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee, and a precocious young son, Opie. Local ne'er-do-wells, bumbling pals, and temperamental girlfriends further complicate his life.
Tatiana Singer is obsessed with the late 70s, experimental, cult classic film, "SIN3056843". She sets out to meet the film's reclusive director to understand the meaning of the convoluted film. Along the way she discovers there may be something paranormal about the film itself while her very existence is called into question.
Park Ha Kyung teaches Korean literature at a high school. To escape her ordinary days, Park Ha Kyung decides to take one day trips on Saturdays. During her one day trip, she walks around, eats different foods, and meets various people. She realizes she receives comfort and empathy through her travels.
Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure is a 1999 BBC television documentary presented by Michael Palin. It records Palin's travels as he visited many sites where Ernest Hemingway had been. The sites include Spain, Chicago, Paris, Italy, Africa, Key West, Cuba, and Idaho. After the trip was over Michael Palin wrote a book about the journey and his experiences. This book contains both Palin's text and many pictures by Basil Pao, the stills photographer who was on the team.
A musical adventure series emanating from The Caverns in Tennessee's majestic Cumberland Mountains. Celebrating the diversity of America’s musical heritage with artists from the full spectrum of genres: Bluegrass, yes but also Americana, Country, Soul, Blues, Rock N Roll, Gospel, Folk, and everything between.
