Arlington, VA – December 18, 2021 – This January, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s acclaimed series, “Finding Your Roots,” returns to the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel with a new season. Exploring the mysteries and surprising revelations hidden within the family trees of popular figures, Season 8 includes examinations and ancestral discussions with Terry Crews, Tony Danza, Kathryn Hahn, Nathan Lane, John Leguizamo, Leslie Odom Jr., Pamela Adlon, Regina King, André Leon Talley, Erin Burnett, Mario Lopez, and Anita Hill, among many others.
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Information about these programs is listed below.
“Finding Your Roots,” Season 8
Premiere Date: January 5, 2022
Episodes: 10
Genre: Biography, Culture, History
Twenty-one of America’s most fascinating people discover the rich history and tremendous diversity hidden within their families in the eighth season of the critically acclaimed series, “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.”Each of these ancestral stories touch on the human experience and bring insight into how each guest became the trailblazer they are today.
In the episode “Activist Roots,” Henry Louis Gates explores the family trees of Brittany Packnett Cunningham and Anita Hill, introducing two women who’ve made profound sacrifices for social justice to the ancestors who made sacrifices for them.
Then, in “Children of Exile,” Henry Louis Gates explores the poignant roots of chef David Chang and actor Raúl Esparza—two men whose families fled their homelands to live in exile, never to return. From war-torn cities in North Korea to shark-infested waters off the shores of Cuba, Gates sets off to recover the stories of individuals who came to America against all odds and built a better life for themselves.
In sharing their stories, “Finding Your Roots” reveals long-buried secrets and hidden identities using every tool available. Spanning the globe, season eight maps family trees and uncovers lost ancestors from the United States and Africa; Latin America and the Caribbean; as well as Poland, Ireland, Russia, and Korea.
Other titles coming to the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel in January:
180 Days: Hartsville, Season 1
Alaskan Dinosaurs (NOVA)
America After Charleston
America Revealed, Season 1
American Comandante (American Experience)
Ancient Maya Metropolis (NOVA)
Animals With Cameras, Season 2 (Nature)
Blackout (FRONTLINE)
The Bombing of Wall Street (American Experience)
Butterfly Blueprints (NOVA)
Can I Eat That? (NOVA)
Children of Giant
Grand Central (American Experience)
High-Risk High-Rise (NOVA)
Ice Warriors: USA Sled Hockey
Inside Obama’s Presidency
James McNeill Whistler and The Case for Beauty
The Lost Gardens of Babylon (Secrets of the Dead)
My Bionic Pet (Nature)
Operation Wild, Season 1
Poor Kids (FRONTLINE)
The Race Underground (American Experience)
Rickover: The Birth of Nuclear Power
Russia’s Open Book: Writing in the Age of Putin
Separate and Unequal & Middle School Moment (FRONTLINE)
Smartest Machine on Earth (NOVA)
Two American Families (FRONTLINE)
What Are Animals Thinking? (NOVA)
What Makes Us Human? (NOVA)
What Will the Future be Like? (NOVA)
Wyatt Earp (American Experience)
About PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel
The PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel is a DTC-SVOD channel exclusive to Prime Video that launched August 2020. This new streaming channel features nearly 900 hours of the highest quality factual programming, including the full catalog of films from Ken Burns and award-winning documentaries from NOVA, FRONTLINE, AMERICAN MASTERS, NATURE, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, in addition to programming from other independent producers.
About PBS DISTRIBUTION
PBS Distribution is a leading distributor of public media content around the world, reaching audiences through multiple platforms and formats. The company operates five streaming channels —PBS MASTERPIECE, PBS KIDS, PBS LIVING, PBS DOCUMENTARIES, and PBS America (U.K.). Other services include transactional video-on-demand, subscription video-on-demand licensing, physical products on DVD and Blu-ray, theatrical releasing, educational, non-theatrical, inflight, and international program sales and co-productions.
PBS Distribution offers consumers and educators the highest quality factual, scripted, and children’s programming including films from Ken Burns, hit series from MASTERPIECE and foreign language dramas from Walter Presents, entertaining and educational PBS KIDS series, and award-winning documentaries from NOVA, FRONTLINE, AMERICAN MASTERS, NATURE, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, and many independent producers. For over 10 years, the company has extended the reach of programming beyond broadcast while generating revenue for the public television system, stations, and producers.
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