History Channel w/great JFK doc

[searadiofreak]

There have been so many JFK docs over the years, but the History Channel's new effort this evening is one of the best I've seen. No voice-over narration. All nat sound, but most importantly, new footage, (or alteast footage I've never seen before). This is brilliant stuff, with a new twist, and not the same old re-hash. Highly recommended.

 

[benwolf]

I agree. I was telling my wife that the ghostly, spooky way it portrayed 1963 Dallas was like David Lynch was directing...great atmosphere. A lot of WFAA live, CBS live (featuring Eric Severeid and Charles Kuralt...none of the Cronkite facetime we've seen before) and ABC live. Kudos. And the 60 Minutes features beforehand on football brain injuries and the cliff flyers were both amazing...a great night for TV.

 

[TopOfThePops]

I agree. Hats off to The History Channel. Great presentation! This is a program that should be shown to high school kids in their American History class.

 

[KS-IL-IA]

I thought it was interesting to see the (literal) old-boys network -- all-male, all smoking cigarettes, cigars and pipes in the lobby to wait for the latest. And as Oswald's wife was led through, one of the described her as "an attractive woman."

 

[Ferreri]

Excellent viewing. Wasn't the same footage that we've seen for the past 40 plus years. The footage of Oswald and his comments as he was being moved from room to room was fascinating.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

I thought it was interesting to see the (literal) old-boys network -- all-male, all smoking cigarettes, cigars and pipes in the lobby to wait for the latest.

And mostly all white, at least the cops and reporters. Interesting that Oswald was described by either the chief of police or one of the other high-ranking Dallas PD members as "arrogant", because that's how he came off to me. It's also one of the few times I've ever seen any ABC News footage from that time. It was also neat to see the outtakes and do-overs by Dan Rather.

 

[Scotpfv]

Excellent Doc. and highly recommended for all history buffs. Just news footage without any V/O distractions.

Had some footage from WBAP-TV (now KXAS) and KTVT that I had never seen before.

As a JFK buff and Dallas resident I was suprised by how much of this footage had not been seen before.

 

[searadiofreak]

If anybody missed it there will be replays Friday evening (part 1, the most riviting, and part 2 Saturday evening (10/16-17) Must see.

The lack of narration is what really makes this work. It's as if you are there, of course in a sped-up time sense. Has reaffirmed to this viewer what television can do, if done correctly.

 

[cdsull502]

I wonder why the program had so few samples of the NBC coverage....a problem with the rights to that video? Wouldn't those excerpts be in the public domain by now?

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Everything from the JFK assassination is still under copyright protection and will be for the next few decades - at least.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

Everything from the JFK assassination is still under copyright protection and will be for the next few decades - at least.

I'm sure that accounts for most of the reason so little non-CBS footage was shown. However, a contributing factor is that....relatively speaking....NBC and ABC were relatively late getting on the air with the story.

At the time, NBC and ABC weren't even programming anything in that time slot to compete wtih the CBS soap opera "As the World Turns"....hence the famous clip of two ATWT characters casually chatting on the sofa about Thanksgiving when Walter Cronkite's famous (audio-only) "CBS Bulletin" interrupted....and everybody's world changed forever......

 

[bpatrick]

I watched part 1 last night and will have to watch part 2 later.
I've assigned my students to watch at least one part for extra
credit. Don't know what they'll get from it, but I think it's
fascinating. The local footage from Dallas, I'd never seen
before (except for the waiter at the Trade Mart wiping a tear
when he heard the sad news and some of the Oswald footage
at the Dallas police station), nor had I seen the people in
New York being interviewed. It looks from the credits as if
some of it was from KTVT, then an independent, and I've
often wondered if they did any coverage of the assassination
and its aftermath. I think the two standout things were Jay
Watson's interrupting Julie Benell's show on WFAA and his
subsequent interview with the couple who saw JFK's head
being practically blown off; and the juxtaposition of Kennedy's and
Oswald's burials.

The network footage was also interesting; if nothing else they show
the perils of live TV (such as somebody trying to get a microphone
on Ron Cochran). All in all, an A for the first part; it was almost
like reliving it, not that I would want to.

 

[wncc]

I watched part 1 and part 2 today, and I have to say this is by far the best documentary I have ever seen. No voiceover, and the way it was portrayed from 1963 to present day was phenomenal.

 

[cspotrun]

I wonder why the program had so few samples of the NBC coverage....a problem with the rights to that video? Wouldn't those excerpts be in the public domain by now?

about 20 years ago A&E ran a special that included a replay of the NBC live non-stop coverage, that included Frank Mcgee, Chet Huntley, a guy who looked like Abe Lincoln(without the beard) who i've never seen except for the JFK coverage. & David Brinkley from Washington. it was basically 2 or 3 guys sitting at a make-shift table in a studio in NY reading late breaking wire copy, and talking to people on the phone. the only video if you could call it that, were some wirephotos that were held up to the camera, which came several hours after they started broadcasting. NBC eventually got a feed from the Dallas NBC affiliate, but all in all NBC's coverage was not very good. the BEST coverage by far was done by the local Dallas TV & radio stations, but probably not seen by most people until this INCREDIBLE History Channel doc.