“Four score and seven years ago …”
And so begins what many consider the most famous political speech in American history. Fortunately, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address didn’t live up to his prediction that “the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here.” In fact, his 272 words spoken Nov. 19, 1863, at the dedication of Gettysburg’s Soldiers’ National Cemetery live on each year in a special way at Vermont’s Greenwood School.
The use of the speech as a learning tool is the subject of a new 90-minute documentary by filmmaker Ken Burns. The Address airs at 8 p.m. today on AETN. I found it fascinating, but it’s not what you might expect.
Each year, the school encourages its 50 boys (ages 11 to 17) to memorize, practice and publicly recite the Gettysburg Address. The students all face a range of complex learning disabilities that make their personal, academic and social progress challenging.
How the speech motivates and engages the students is inspiring.
Shot last fall as the 150th anniversary of the speech approached, the film also reveals the history, context and importance of Lincoln’s words.
“You and I can memorize the address with some effort,” Burns says in a PBS video, “but it’s a minefield for these boys. And what they do is so heroic. The first time I was asked to be a judge, I just wept and said, ‘This should be a film.’
“There is something about these kids that is so moving and so inspirational. They do something that is so unbelievably tough by memorizing some of the best words ever spoken.
“Our idea began to grow that not only could we make a film, but if they can do it, we can do it. What if we all decided, from president to pauper, to learn the Gettysburg Address - to be reconnected to some of the most stirring words ever spoken?”
View the results of Burns’ efforts at learntheaddress.org. Among those reciting the speech are Gov. Mike Beebe, President Barack Obama, former Presidents Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush, comedians Whoopi Goldberg, Louis C.K. and Stephen Colbert, TV hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Rachel Maddow, Bill Gates and Burns, himself.
For the most fun, check out the video of Sesame Street stars Elmo and Murray along with TV producer and Children’s Television Workshop founder Joan Ganz Cooney.
Heads up: This fall, PBS will air another new series from Burns, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. The seven-part, 14-hour series presents the stories of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and is the first to weave their individual stories into a single narrative.
More Jackie. Season 6 of Showtime’s outstanding comedy/drama Nurse Jackie kicked off at 8 p.m. Sunday. The series, starring Edie Falco (The Sopranos), already has the green light for a seventh season.
The 50-year-old Falco won three Best Actress Emmys for her role as Carmela Soprano, and a fourth in 2010 as flawed nurse Jackie Peyton.
Season 5 of Nurse Jackie averaged 3.13 million viewers.
More Thrones. The April 6 Season 4 debut of Game of Thrones was seen by 6.6 million viewers (8.2 million counting that night’s encores), making it HBO’s most-watched program since the finale of The Sopranos in 2007 (11.9 million).
HBO responded by renewing the Game of Thrones for two more years. If you enjoy the TV series, I highly recommend reading the books by George R.R. Martin. I couldn’t put them down.
More sharks. Mark your calendars and sharpen your chain saws - we have a premiere date! Sharknado 2: The Second One arrives on Syfy on July 30.
The sequel finds Ian Ziering and Tara Reid reprising their roles. They’ll be joined by Vivica A. Fox, Mark Mc-Grath, Kelly Osbourne, Judah Friedlander (30 Rock), Andy Dick, Judd Hirsch and Perez Hilton.
Making cameo appearances will be Matt Lauer and AlRoker of Today.
In the film, the freak, shark-sucking weather system moves from Los Angeles to the East Coast, where more sharks are sucked into the sky to rain down on humanity.
Less reality. If you’re a DirectTV subscriber, you now have The Weather Channel back after a three-month blackout.
With 20 million subscribers, DirectTV is the largest satellite-TV carrier in the nation. There was a nasty dispute over subscription fees - how much per subscriber DirectTV would pay to carry The Weather Channel - with DirectTV complaining TWC had lapsed into too much “filler” reality programming and not enough actual, you know, weather.
The Weather Channel finally blinked, agreeing to cut its weekday reality stuff by half and include more of the latest local weather.
According to Nielsen, TWC averaged 214,000 daily viewers in 2013. By comparison, the No. 1 cable channel, USA Network, averaged 2.43 million in prime time.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email: mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style, Pages 32 on 04/15/2014