Brief But Spectacular is an interview series broadcast nationally in the U.S. as part of PBS NewsHour.
The series was created in 2015 by Steve Goldbloom, who has interviewed more than 200 guests for the program. Brief But Spectacular is produced and owned through Goldbloom's Los Angeles based production company, Second Peninsula. Each episode is approximately 2–4 minutes in length, featuring a subject's personal take on a defining theme.
While the show has profiled well-known figures like Ta-Nehisi Coates, Gloria Steinem, Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin, Carl Reiner, and Terry Gross, it has also featured lesser-known guests, such as Mahogany Browne, Clint Smith, and Flossie Lewis, whose take on growing old and living well generated more than 7 million views in two weeks. [1] A special short documentary on Lewis [2] received a 2019 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Feature Story [3] in a newscast.
A ten-part Canadian version of Brief But Spectacular was distributed through CBC Digital channels beginning in January 2020.
Each episode has an interview subject(s) speaking about a topic that they feel is personally important. The interviews use quick-paced editing and are only a few minutes in length.
PBS Learning has created lesson plans for teachers at various levels, linked to the common curriculum.
Artscanvas' focus on Utkarsh Ambudkar's take on avoiding ethnic stereotypes.
Salon interview with Mahogany L. Browne, Flossie Lewis, and Steve Goldbloom. Writer Daniel Handler, known as Lemony Snicket, said Flossie Lewis "has the ability to startle. She has no time for your bullshit." [4]
Poets & Writers lists episodes featuring authors.
Inflection Point Radio with Lauren Schiller interviews Goldbloom, Browne and Lewis.
Commonwealth Media interviews Goldbloom, Browne and Lewis.
Kenneth Lauren Burns is an American filmmaker known for his documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle American history and culture. His work is often produced in association with WETA-TV and/or the National Endowment for the Humanities and distributed by PBS.
Frontline is an investigative documentary program distributed by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Episodes are produced at WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. The series has covered a variety of domestic and international issues, including terrorism, elections, environmental disasters, and other sociopolitical issues. Since its debut in 1983, Frontline has aired in the U.S. for 39 seasons, and has won critical acclaim and awards in broadcast journalism. It has produced over 750 documentaries from both in-house and independent filmmakers, 200 of which are available online.
Frederic Charles Willard was an American actor and comedian. He was best known for his work with Christopher Guest in This Is Spinal Tap (1984), Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), For Your Consideration (2006), and Mascots (2016), and for playing Ed Harken in the Anchorman films. He also appeared in films like Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), American Wedding (2003) and WALL-E (2008). He received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for playing Frank Dunphy on the sitcom Modern Family.
Robert Louis Krulwich is an American radio and television journalist who currently serves as a science correspondent for NPR and was a co-host of the program Radiolab. He has worked as a full-time employee of ABC, CBS, National Public Radio, and Pacifica. He has done assignment pieces for ABC's Nightline and World News Tonight, as well as PBS's Frontline, NOVA, and NOW with Bill Moyers. TV Guide called him "the most inventive network reporter in television", and New York Magazine wrote that he's "the man who simplifies without being simple."
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Samantha Elizabeth Brown is an American television host, notable for her work as the host of several Travel Channel shows including Girl Meets Hawaii, Great Vacation Homes, Great Hotels, Passport to Europe, Passport to Latin America, Great Weekends, Green Getaways, Passport to China, and Samantha Brown's Asia. As of 2012 Samantha Brown has made her own travel luggage called Samantha Brown: Travel America. She has visited 62 countries. In January 2018, she began hosting Samantha Brown's Places to Love on PBS. It is shown on PBS stations nationwide and is on the PBS website and app.
Bobby Cannavale is an American actor. A native of New Jersey, Cannavale gained a reputation after working in the industry for both his character actor roles and his leading man roles on stage and screen. His breakthrough came with the leading role as FDNY Paramedic Roberto "Bobby" Caffey in the NBC series Third Watch, which he played from 1999 to 2001.
ITVS is a service in the United States which funds and presents documentaries on public television through distribution by PBS and American Public Television, new media projects on the Internet, and the weekly series Independent Lens on PBS. Aside from Independent Lens, ITVS funded and produced films for more than 40 television hours per year on the PBS series POV, Frontline, American Masters and American Experience. Some ITVS programs are produced along with organizations like Latino Public Broadcasting and KQED.
Stephen Henderson Talbot is a TV documentary producer, reporter and writer. Talbot directed and produced "The Movement and the 'Madman' " for the PBS series American Experience in 2023. He is a longtime contributor to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and worked for over 16 years for the series Frontline.
World of Wonder Productions is an American production company founded in 1991 by filmmakers Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey. Based in Los Angeles, California, the company specializes in documentary television and film productions with a key focus on LGBTQ topics. Together, Bailey and Barbato have produced programming through World of Wonder for HBO, Bravo, HGTV, Showtime, the BBC, Netflix, MTV and VH1, with credits including the Million Dollar Listing docuseries, RuPaul's Drag Race, and the documentary films Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (2016) and The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000).
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Eddie Schmidt is an American director, showrunner, producer, writer, commentator and satirist. He is perhaps best known for producing several feature documentaries that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, including Valentine Road (2013), This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006), and Twist of Faith (2005), and for directing and showrunning television projects including Ugly Delicious (2018), Chelsea Does (2016), and The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey (2016).
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John Carlos Frey is a six time Emmy Award winning Mexican-American freelance investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker and published author based in Los Angeles, California. His investigative work has been featured on programs and networks such as 60 Minutes, PBS, NBC News, CBS News, the Weather Channel, Dan Rather Reports, Fusion TV, Current TV, Univision, and Telemundo. John Carlos Frey has also written articles for the Los Angeles Times, the Huffington Post, Salon, Need to Know online, the Washington Monthly, and El Diario.
Beth Harrington is an Emmy-winning, Grammy-nominated filmmaker based in Vancouver, Washington, specializing in documentary features. Her documentaries often explore American history, music and culture, including the Carter Family and Johnny Cash, and the history of women in rockabilly. In addition to her film work as a producer, director and writer, Harrington is also a singer and guitarist, and was a member of Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers from 1980 to 1983.
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