PBS moves Burns epic back a week; tells crix, "OK, OK, we get it!"

We actually groaned, we critics did, earlier this month, when PBS president Paula Kerger broke the news that "The War," Ken Burns' latest doc-tacular, would be airing in the teeth of fall network premieres, starting Sept. 16.

But the network has relented, and in a letter to critics today, informed us that "The War" will begin instead one week later, on Sept. 23, when it won't have to compete with every network program in creation for cover space in the nation's newspapers and magazines.

Here was the actual exchange between Kerger and crix at the TCA tour. The transcriber does not record the loud, anguished reaction by many in the room when the date was announced.

     QUESTION:  To follow up on that, Paula, right here.  Is it
     possible you might run it before the commercial season
     starts; for instance, in the first couple of weeks in
     September, as opposed to right hard against premiere week of
     the commercial network? 

     PAULA KERGER:  I think we're looking at the 17th [sic], is when
     we're going to run it.

     QUESTION:  Not a good idea.  Not a good idea.  Difficult to
     write about.

     PAULA KERGER:  I understand. 

     QUESTION:  Perhaps this discussion might encourage you to
     change that.

PAULA KERGER: Thank you for sharing.

Later, the questions persisted, so PBS chief content officer — that's his title — John Boland stepped up to the mic and explained further:

It's actually Sunday the 16th for four nights -- Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday -- and then the following Sunday for three nights: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. That Wednesday it begins to air weekly for seven consecutive weeks on Wednesday night. The weekend after that it's stacked on Saturday and Sunday. ... We'll also be offering it video on demand on cable. There may be some streaming of the episodes online. And it's going to be available in home video immediately. ... Yes, we know there's a lot going on on television, but we frankly think in this particular case this is the most important thing that's going on.

The problem, as Boland must have surely realized, was that that was not his call to make, and that PBS depends mightily on the nation's newspapers — who superserve the older demographic who make up the lion’s share of the PBS donor base — to get the word out.  What is public TV going to do, guerrilla marketing on heavily-trafficked bridges?  (Actually, that might be kinda fun ... right up until Congress revokes its budget.)

So today, we got a letter from Boland which began, "It was great to see you at press tour," yeah right, and continued,

In setting the official broadcast schedule for THE WAR, we took a number of factors into consideration, including your important concerns. I’m happy to report that we have set the premiere for Sunday, September 23, a week later than the preliminary date that we discussed in PBS’ executive session. ... Luckily all of the “stars” aligned. Ken reports that with the new date THE WAR will premiere on the 17^th anniversary of THE CIVIL WAR debut – to the minute.

The 14-hour epic about World War II is told from the point of view of four American towns that sent their boys to fight. The two-minute trailer we saw looked fantastic, and a colleague, who's seen two hours, says it's even fantasticker than that.

I'm not the world's biggest Ken Burns fan.  And actually, I'm not all that proud that it took a roomful of hostile critics to convince PBS, for once, not to self-destructively schedule something during commercial TV's biggest week.  But I think this film deserves better, and for once, it got it, however marginally.