History channel offering series to schools
The History channel says it will give a free DVD copy of its sprawling 12-hour series on American history to any school in the country that wants one.
AP Television Writer
NEW YORK —
The History channel says it will give a free DVD copy of its sprawling 12-hour series on American history to any school in the country that wants one.
The network is launching a broad educational outreach to accompany "America The Story of Us," which premieres April 25. Before the series starts, it will mail posters, a teacher's guide and family viewing guide to 35,000 high schools and middle schools.
"America The Story of Us" is the most expensive project in the network's history, although Nancy Dubuc, the president and general manager, would not say how much is being spent. In scope, she called the series the broadest look at the nation's history on television since Alistair Cooke's "Personal History" aired in the early 1970s.
Rather than have historians stand in front of a camera, the series will recreate many of the events that it talks about, either through live action or computer animation. The network has shot scenes on three continents with 1,641 actors, extras and stuntmen.
Dubuc said she was particularly intrigued by the three-dimensional animation depicting workers putting a face on the Statue of Liberty. Other scenes that will be recreated include the crashing of a meteor into the Appalachian Mountains, the British Navy's bombardment of New York harbor during the Revolutionary War and Western plains teeming with herds of buffalo.
"It's a story we wanted to tell in epic proportions," Dubuc said.