Past Seminars

Robert M. Batscha University Seminar Series

2013 Fall Semester

Orange Is the New Black
October 2, 2013
Panelists: Jenji Kohan, Piper Kerman, Taylor Schilling, Jason Biggs, Natasha Lyonne, Kate Mulgrew, Danielle Brooks, Uzo Aduba, Taryn Manning, Moderator: Elvis Mitchell 

The Truth Is Here: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson on The X-Files
October 12, 2013
Panelists: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Moderator: Keith Uhlich, Staff Film Writer, Time Out New York   

The Beatles Meet America: An Evening with Beatles Historian Mark Lewisohn
October 25, 2013
Panelists: Mark Lewisohn, Author, The Beatles—All These Years Volume 1: Tune In; Allan Kozinn, Critic, The New York Times; Al Maysles, Filmmaker   

This Changes Everything: James Ellroy and Thomas Mallon on the Assassination of JFK
November 14, 2013
Panelists: James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential; American Tabloid; Thomas Mallon, Henry and Clara; Mrs. Paine’s Garage  

 

2013 Spring Semester

Doc U: Global Impact – Docs as Tools of Change
January 11, 2013
Panelists: Rachel Gandin Mark; Carlos Islam; Anne Makepeace; Stacy White; Moderator: Milton Tabbot

Shall We Overcome? Investigation Discovery Explores Civil Rights Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
February 12, 2013
Panelists: Henry Schleiff, President & General Manager, Investigation Discovery; Kerry Kennedy, Human Rights Activist; John Seigenthaler, Former RFK Aide and First Amendment Crusader; Carolyn McKinstry, Civil Rights Activist; Keith Beauchamp, Filmmaker, The Injustice Files; Robbie Tolan, Racial Profiling Victim; Moderator: Harry Smith, Correspondent, Rock Center with Brian Williams

Dream of . . . An Evening with Fred Armisen
February 21, 2013
Panelists: Fred Armisen

Words On Dance: Edward Villella
March 11, 2013
Panelists: Edward Villella 

Paley Center & the Peabodys: Finding Excellence in Media
May 16, 2013
Panelists: Charlayne Hunter-Gault, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer; Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live, Parks and Recreation; David Simon, The Wire, Treme; Horace Newcomb, Director of the Peabody Awards

 

2012 Fall Semester

Great Debates: Why They Matter & What Is at Stake
September 27, 2012
Panelists: Carole Simpson, 1992 Presidential Debate Moderator; Bill Wheatley, Executive Producer, NBC News; Dr. Meena Bose, Peter S. Kalikow Chair in Presidential Studies at Hofstra University; Director, Hofstra’s Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency; Caitlin Thompson, Director, Online Political Coverage, WNYC; Moderator: Pat Mitchell  

Vidal v. Buckley
October 11, 2012
Panelists: Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon, Filmmakers; Sam Tanenhaus, The New York Times; Fred Kaplan, Author, Gore Vidal: A Biography; Richard Wald, Former NBC News President; Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism   

Documenting Power: 25 Years of Political Films on POV
October 18, 2012
Panelists: Marshall Curry, Filmmaker, Street Fight and If a Tree Falls; Laura Poitras, Filmmaker, The Oath and My Country, My Country; Shola Lynch, Filmmaker, Chisholm ’72: Unbought & Unbossed; Marco Williams, Filmmaker, Two Towns of Jasper; Moderator: Caryn James, Film and TV Critic, Indiewire 

 

2012 Spring Semester

#WhileWeWatch
January 11, 2012
Panelists: Kevin Breslin, Director, Filmmaker; Alan Capper, President, The Foreign Press Association; Jesse LaGreca, Writer, The Daily Kos, Journalist; Priscilla Grim, Occupy Wall St Journal, Journalist; Tim Pool, TimCast.tv, Livestream Journalist; Justin Wedes, Occupy Wall Street Social Media Team; Moderator: Pete Fornatale, New York DJ and Author

IFC’s Portlandia: A Conversation with Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein
January 21, 2012
Panelists: Fred Armisen; Carrie Brownstein; Moderator: Julie Klausner 

Remembering Master Storyteller, Jean Shepherd: With Jerry Seinfeld
 January 23, 2012
Panelists: Jerry Seinfeld; Bill Carter

Meet the Filmmakers Nominated for the Academy Award, Documentary Short
February 16, 2012
Panelists: Julie Anderson (God Is the Bigger Elvis); Kira Carstensen (The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom); [via Skype] Daniel Junge (Saving Face); Kirk Simon (Strangers No More – 2011 Academy Award winner); James Spione (Incident in New Baghdad); Lucy Walker (The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom)

An Evening with Estela Bravo: Filmmaker of Fidel: The Untold Story and Anecdotes about Fidel
May 9, 2012
Panelists: Estela Bravo

Mind Over Media: Are You More Powerful than Propaganda?
May 21, 2012
Panelists: Michael Hirschorn, Contributing Editor, The Atlantic Monthly; Robert Shrum, Speechwriter and Political Consultant, Senior Fellow at New York University's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service; Renee Hobbs, Media Literacy Expert, Professor and Founding Director of the Harrington School of Communication and Media at the University of Rhode Island; Dr. Steven Luckert, Curator of the Museum’s Permanent Exhibition and of State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda; Moderator: Marvin Kalb, Journalist; Founding Director, The Shorenstein Center at Harvard and Edward R. Murrow Professor Emeritus of Press and Public Policy

 

2011 Fall Semester

Prosecutor
Monday, September 26, 2011
Panelists: Barry Stevens, Filmmaker; Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor, International Criminal Court/ Film Subject; Moderator: Ann Curry, Coanchor, NBC News’s Today

Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Panelists: Susan Orlean, Author; David Carr, Journalist, The New York Times; Naomi Boak, Filmmaker

The Doc Filmmaker Taking On Power
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Panelists: Filmmakers: Joe Berlinger, Crude; Josh Fox, Gasland; Karen Shatzkin, Lawyer; Moderator: Joe Neumaier, Film Critic, New York Daily News

An Evening with Arianna Huffington
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Panelists: Arianna Huffington

 

2011 Spring Semester

World Premiere of Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 2.0 Sleep
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Panelists: Eric Whitacre, Composer; Jeff Spurgeon, WQXR Host

Women's Voices from the Muslim World
Monday, May 9, 2011
Panelists: Qanta Ahmed, Associate Professor of Medicine, SUNY-Stony Brook; Author, In the Land of Invisible Women; Maha Awad, International Television Host and Producer; Danielle Lurie, Filmmaker, In The Morning; Negar Mottahedeh, Associate Professor, Program in Literature Duke University - Reading Film Fiction; Catinca Tabacaru, Executive Director and General Council, Women's Voices Nows 

Show and Sell: Jerry Della Femina on TV’s Take on the Ad Game
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Panelists: Jerry Della Femina and Pat Mitchell

Hey, Boo: Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Panelists: Mary Murphy, Filmmaker; Tom Brokaw, NBC News/Author, The Greatest Generation; James McBride, Author, The Color of Water; Adriana Trigiani, Author, Big Stone Gap

 

2010 Fall Semester

Burma and the Media: Amplifying Voices for Democracy
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Panelists: Nobel Peace Laureates: Shirin Ebadi, Mairead Maguire, and Jody Williams; Lway Aye Nang, Women's League of Burma; Annie Sundberg, Producer/Director, Burma Soldier; Khin May Zaw, Senior Editor for Multimedia, Radio Free Asia; Moderator: Pat Mitchell, President/CEO, The Paley Center for Media

Musical Theatre on Film: A Master Class with Baz Luhrmann
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Panelists: Baz Luhrmann 

Primary with Robert Drew, Al Maysles, DA Pennebaker
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Panelists: Robert Drew, Al Maysles, D A Pennebaker

Truth in Numbers? Everything, According to Wikipedia
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Panelists: Scott Glosserman and Nic Hill, Filmmakers; Samuel Klein, Wikimedia Foundation; Liam Wyatt, Wikipedian in Residence, British Museum; Moderator: Noam Cohen, Columnist, Link by Link, The New York Times

A President to Remember: In the Company of John F. Kennedy with Robert Drew and Alec Baldwin
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Panelists: Robert Drew and Alec Baldwin

The Crowd Goes Wild: Five Years of Jersey Boys
Monday, November 8, 2010
Panelists: Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio, The Four Seasons; Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, Book Writers, Jersey Boys; Moderator: Paul Shaffer, Musical Director, The Late Show with David Letterman

A Look Back at Playing for Time
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Panelists: Linda Yellen, Filmmaker; Jane Alexander and Vanessa Redgrave

 

2010 Spring Semester

The Essential Role of the Whistleblower in American Society
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Panelists: Mike German, FBI Whistleblower; Kit Foshee, Meat Safety (Ammonia) Whistleblower; Cathy Harris, U.S. Customs/Racial Profiling Whistleblower; Babak Pasdar, Telecommunication Whistleblower; Daniel Ellsberg, (Pentagon Papers) The patriarch of modern whistleblowing, his disclosures as a Rand Corporation/DOD analyst tore the covers off the deceit and concealment in the US prosecution of the Vietnam war; Frank Serpico, NYPD whistleblower brought to the screen fame by Al Pacino; Juan Williams, analyst for NPR and Fox News

 

2009 Fall Semester

Law & Order: Twenty Years and Counting
Monday, November 16, 2009
Panelists: Dick Wolf, Series Creator; René Balcer, Executive Producer; S. Epatha Merkerson, "Lt. Anita Van Buren"; Sam Waterston, "D.A. Jack McCoy"

 

2009 Spring Semester

Going Green in the Entertainment Industry
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Panelists: Lauren Zalaznick, President, Green Is Universal; Pat Mitchell, President and CEO, The Paley Center for Media; Jane Evans, Executive VP of Physical Production, Focus Features; Jeff Roth, Post-Production Supervisor, Away We Go; Peter Saraf, Producer/Partner, Big Beach; Mari Jo Winkler, Executive Producer, Away We Go; Beth Colleton, VP, Green Is Universal
Moderator: Katie Carpenter, Green Media Solutions

Religion, Media, and Culture: The Dalai Lama
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Panelists: Robert A. F. Thurman, Professor, Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies, Columbia University, and President, Tibet House US; Laurie Goodstein, National Religion Correspondent, The New York Times; Steven Waldman, President and Editor-in-Chief, Beliefnet
Moderator: Ibrahim Abdil-Mu’id Ramey, Director of Human Rights Division, Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation   

 

2008 Fall Semester

The Power of Elections: Photojournalism and the Democratic Process
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Panelists: Photojournalists Gary Fabiano, Timothy Fadek, Christopher Hondros, and John Smock; Joyce Barnathan, President, International Center for Journalists; Christopher Power, Assistant Managing Editor, BusinessWeek, International Coverage
Moderator: James Hoge, Editor, Foreign Affairs

Media and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Monday, October 20, 2008
Panelists: Haynes Johnson, Pulitzer Prize winner for his coverage of the Selma protests; Nick Kotz, author, Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws that Changed America; Rep. John R. Lewis (D-GA), a leader in the voting rights struggle; Diane Nash, recipient of the Rosa Parks Award and the LBJ Award for Leadership in Civil Rights; Dan Rather, Host, HDNet, Dan Rather Reports, and former CBS News Anchor; Richard Valeriani, former NBC News correspondent who covered the Civil Rights Movement; Ambassador Andrew Young, civil rights leader and former Congressman

International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Honorees
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Panelists: Edith Lederer, Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, AP correspondent at the United Nations; Farida Nekzad, Managing Ed./Deputy Dir., Pajhwok Afghan News; Sevgul Uludag, Investigative Reporter, Yeniduzen newspaper in Cyprus

Youthquake: Election, Media, and the Young Voter
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Panelists: Anna Greenberg, Senior Vice President, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research; Eric Hysen, Student Chair, CampusVoices.org; Scott Keeter, Director of Survey Research, The Pew Research Center; Chris Rovzar, Senior Online Editor, New York Magazine; Tiffany Wilson, Graduate Managing Editor, palestra.net; Katharine Zaleski, Senior News Editor, Huffington Post
Moderater: Jeff Greenfield, CBS Senior Political Correspondent

 

2008 Spring Semester

From Bella to Hillary: Women, Media, and Politics
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Panelists; Laura Flanders, Carol Jenkins, Suzanne Braun Levine, Marlene Sanders, Gloria Steinem, Mary Thom, Marie Wilson, and others
Marlene Sanders is a 2006 She Made It honoree. Go to shemadeit.org for information about this Paley Center initiative.

On the Road in America
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Panelists: Lara Abou Saifan and Ali Amr, Cast Members
Ambassador Richard Fairbanks, Layalina Productions
Jerome Gary, Creator Laura Michalchyshyn, Sundance Channel 

 

2007 Fall Semester 

Beyond the Anchor Desk: The Rise of Citizen Journalism
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Moderator: Merrill Brown, Chairman of the Board, nowpublic.com; Editorial Director, News21
In Person:
Jon Alpert, Cofounder/Codirector, DCTV
Debra Galant, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Baristanet.com
Adam Glenn, Cofounder, ireporter.org
Andrew Heyward, Sr. Advisor, Marketspace LLC; Fr. Pres., CBS News
Max Lugavere, Producer/Host, Current TV
Gus Rodriguez, Citizen Journalist
Jason Silva, Producer/Host, Current TV 
click here for the panelists' bios

An Evening with Mary Tyler Moore
Thursday, October 11, 2007
In Person:
Mary Tyler Moore

Extraordinary Work: A Conversation with the IWMF Courage in Journalism Honorees
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Moderator: Andrea Mitchell, Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, NBC News
In Person: Lydia Cacho (Mexico); Ban Adil Sarhan (Iraq); Peta Thornycroft (Zimbabwe), IWMF Lifetime Achievement Award

Truth and the Iraq War: Frank Rich Converses with Television Journalists
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Moderator: Frank Rich, Op-Ed columnist, The New York Times
In Person:
Dan Rather, Anchor and Managing Editor, Dan Rather Reports, HDNet
Tom Yellin, Pres. & Exec. Prod., The Documentary Group; Exec. Prod., ABC News

 

2007 Spring Semester 

Simply Absurd: The Comedy of Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Thursday, April 5, 2007
In Person:
Conan O'Brien, Mike Sweeney, Michael Gordon, Brian McCann, Brian Stack

The War of Information in the Middle East
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
In Person:
Jon B. Alterman, Jamal Dajani, Raghida Dergham, Naomi Sakr
Moderator:
Garrick Utley, President, The Neil D. Levin Graduate Institute of International Relations and Commerce 

Women, the Media, and the Middle East
Thursday, April 19, 2007
In Person:
Muna AbuSulayman, Anchor, MBC's Kalam Noua'em (Saudi Arabia)
Tasneem Ahmar, Dir., Uks Research, Resource and Publication Centre on Women and Media (Pakistan)
Huda Ahmed, Reporter, McClatchy's Baghdad Bureau; Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow, International Women's Media Foundation (Iraq)
May Chidiac, Journalist, LBC (Lebanon)
Ghida Fakhry, Anchor, Al Jazeera English
Mehrangiz Kar, Visiting Scholar, Harvard Law School Human Rights Program (Iran)
Moderator: Barbara Walters  

Covering the World: Al Jazeera
Thursday, May 3, 2007
In Person:
Abderrahim Foukara, Dave Marash, Lawrence Pintak
Moderator: Deborah Amos, Foreign Correspondent, NPR

 

2006 Fall Semester 

Katie Couric At the Anchor Desk
Monday, November 13, 2006
Panelist: Katie Couric

Christiane Amanpour: A View from the Front Lines
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Panelist: Christiane Amanpour

Blogging and Elections
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Panelists: Duncan Black, Ana Marie Cox, Peter Daou, Jeff Jarvis, Micah L. Sifry

Madeleine Albright and Henry Kissinger on Media and Foreign Policy
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Panelists: Madeleine Albright and Henry Kissinger

 

2006 Spring Semester

Instant Gratification: The Development of Polaroid Advertising
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Panelists: Alan Alda, Mariette Hartley, Phyllis Robinson, Doyle Dane Bernbach, Ted Voss, Peter C. Wensberg
Moderator: John Bernbach 

 

2005 Fall Semester 

The Women of NPR
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Panelists: Melissa Block, Maria Hinojosa, Cokie Roberts, Susan Stamberg, Linda Wertheimer

From The Goldbergs to 2005: The Evolution of the Family Sitcom
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Panelists: Aviva Kempner, John Markus, Bill Persky, Adriana Trigiani, David Zurawik

Taking the Lead: Women and the Changing Face of Television Drama
Thursday, December 8, 2005
Panelists: Barbara Corday, Susanne Daniels, Jill Hennessy, Jenji Kohan, Jane Seymour 

 

2005 Spring Semester 

Making Politics Funnier: Daily Show Writers Tell All
Thursday, April 7, 2005
Panelists: Stephen Colbert, Rob Kutner, Chris Regan, Jason Reich
Moderator: Ana Marie Cox

The Passion of the Partisan: What Is the Future of the Political Documentary?
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Panelists: Robert Drew, Eugene Jarecki, Alexandra Pelosi, Thom Powers, Guns and Mothers Ted Steinberg, Paul Stekler
Moderator: Steve Rosenbaum

 

2004 Fall Semester

MTV's Choose or Lose and the Campaign for the Youth Vote
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Panelists: Daniel Cruise, Rosario Dawson, Ben Ferguson, Alexis McGill, Ian V Rowe
Moderator: Brianna Keilar
Presenter: Matt Catapano

C-SPAN and Congressional Hearings
Monday, November 8, 2004
Panelists: Bill Bradley, Al Felzenberg, John Fund, Peter Hart
C-SPAN Representative: Terry Murphy
Moderator: Albert Eisele

These two seminars are part of The Political Process in the Media Age, a yearlong seminar and screening series. Funding for this series is made possible, in part, by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.

Funding for C-SPAN: Adventures in Democracy was generously provided by The Rosalind P. Walter Foundation.

Additional support provided by cable television pioneer Gerry Lenfest.

 

2004 Spring Semester

Television as Social Commentary:
A Celebration of 30 Years of the Humanitas Prize: Comedy

Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Panelists: Matthew Carlson, Marcy Carsey, Matt Tarses

The History of Gay & Lesbian Images on Television
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Panelists: Jennifer Beals, Ilene Chaiken, Ron Cowen, Wilson Cruz, Winnie Holzman, Daniel Lipman, Dr. Stephen Tropiano

To Be, or Not to Be, in the Picture:
The Documentary Filmmaker and the Search for Truth

Thursday, April 15, 2004
Panelists: Alan Berliner, Chris Hegedus, Alexandra Pelosi, D A Pennebaker, Chris Wilcha

 

2003 Fall Semester

Notorious: Crime and Celebrity
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Panelists: The Honorable Catherine Crier, James Curtis, Troy Roberts, Peg Tyre, Barbara Walters

Through the Looking Glass:
The Media, the Message, and America's Image Abroad

The View from Abroad: The Journalistic Perspective
Monday, November 17, 2003
Panelists: Hafez Al-Mirazi, Akwe Amosu, Laurent Cohen-Tanugi, Nuri Colakoglu, Mark Damazer, Rosanna Fuentes-Berain, Yoichi Funabashi, Bachi Karkaria, Reinhard Meier

Entertaining the World: The Impact of American Culture Overseas
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Panelists: Joan Ganz Cooney, Everette E. Dennis, Charles Stuart

The America's Image Abroad seminars were funded by the
Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.

Additional support provided by the
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

 

2003 Spring Semester

The Simpsons
Wednesday, February 12, 2003
Panelists: Dan Castellaneta, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Harry Shearer, Yeardley Smith

Satire or Sacrilege?
Social and Political Commentary on Television

Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Panelists: Floyd Abrams, Mike Dann, John Podhoretz, The Smothers Brothers

The William S. Paley Annual Lecture: A Conversation with Walter Cronkite
Monday, March 31, 2003 Panelist: Walter Cronkite

 

2002 Fall Semester 

Cuba and American Television: The Missile Crisis and Beyond

The Cuban Missile Crisis and Television
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Panelists: Edmundo Desnoes, Jane Franklin, Richard C. Hottelet, Sander Vanocur, Donald M. Wilson

After the Missile Crisis:
Forty Years of Covering Cuba

Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Panelists: Jon Alpert, Don Bohning, Eason Jordan, Andrea Mitchell, John S. Nichols 

Cuba and American Television: The Missile Crisis and Beyond was funded by the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation

 

2002 Spring Semester 

Television and the War on Terrorism

The War at Home: The Media Responds
Monday, February 11, 2002
Panelists: Victoria Clarke, Jane Hanson, Andrew Heyward, General Barry McCaffrey, John Miller, Governor Tom Ridge, Paul Steiger, Mortimer Zuckerman

The War Abroad: The International Perspective
Wednesday, February 13, 2002
Panelists: Wolf Blitzer, Tony Burman, Chen Xiaonan, Pascal Golomer, Hafez Al Mirazi, Patrick O'Connell, Dan Rather

The Artistic Community Responds
Thursday, March 7, 2002
Panelists: Ken Burns, Richard Dreyfuss, Peter Eisenman, Richard Meier, Twyla Tharp, Robert Wilson

The War Abroad: The U.S. Perspective
Tuesday, February 12, 2002
Panelists: Rick Berke, Ari Fleischer, Paul Friedman, Colonel Jay M. Parker, Norman Pearlstine, Bob Simon

Television's Creative Community Responds
Wednesday, March 6, 2002
Panelists: Alan Alda, Joan Ganz Cooney, Michael Davies, Tom Freston, Sheila Nevins, Henry Schleiff 

Major underwriting for the Television and the War on Terrorism seminars has been provided by ROBERT F.X. and LAURA BAUDO SILLERMAN through THE TOMORROW FOUNDATION and the BLANCHE AND IRVING LAURIE FOUNDATION.

Additional generous support has been provided by CHRISTOPHER H. BROWNE.

These seminars are also funded by the Lawrence Schulman Family Foundation.

Satellite transmission is provided by GlobeCast. Satellite time is provided by Hubbard Broadcasting, Incorporated and CONUS Communications Company.

Vyvx Occasional Fiber Services are donated by Williams Communications.

 

2001 Fall Semester 

Open Mics: The Art of Radio Documentary
Tuesday, October 23, 2001
Panelists: Jay Allison, David Isay, Davia Nelson, Joe Richman, Nikki Silva, Stephen Smith

Television & the African-American Experience: Civil Rights & Beyond
A Three-Part Seminar Series

On the Front Lines: Television and African-American Issues
Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Panelists: Gerald M. Boyd, Benjamin L. Hooks, Nicholas Katzenbach, Judy Richardson, Dorothy Zellner

Images of African-Americans on Prime-Time Television
Wednesday, November 14, 2001
Panelists: Jannette Dates, Tim Reid, Mel Watkins

Bebopping, Hip-Hopping, & Slam-Dunking: The Influence of African-American Endeavors in Music and Sports on Mainstream Culture
Thursday, November 15, 2001
Panelists: Harry Allen, Chuck D, Gary Giddins, Madison D. Lacy

 

2001 Spring Semester 

A Conversation with George Carlin
Monday, February 5, 2001

From The Outer Limits to Roswell: Writing the Fantastic for Television
Monday, March 26, 2001
Panelists: J. Michael Staczynski, Ronald D. Moore, D.C. Fontana, Steve Roberts, Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson

Twenty Years of Nightline
Thursday, March 29, 2001
Panelists: Fletcher Johnson, Sara Just, Ted Koppel, Tom Bettag

Cinéma Vérité and the Search for Documentary Truth
Tuesday, April 10, 2001
Panelists: Rory Kennedy, Brett Morgen, Jon Alpert, D A (Donn Alan) Pennebaker, Robert Drew

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Thursday, April 19, 2001
Panelists: Stewart Bailey, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Madeleine Smithberg, Ben Karlin, Jon Stewart

 

2000 Fall Semester 

"The News Is Next...":
Twenty Years of Morning Edition

Tuesday, October 24, 2000
Panelists: Bob Edwards, Carl Kasell, Ellen McDonnell, Cokie Roberts

"Learning from the Last War":
The Media and the Military
 

The World War II Generation:
A United Front

Tuesday, November 14, 2000
Panelists: Walter Cronkite, Richard Hottelet, Williamson Murray, Michael Sweeney

The Vietnam War:
Conflict at Home and Abroad

Wednesday, November 15, 2000
Panelists: William Hammond, Stanley Karnow, Morley Safer, Sydney Schanberg, Lt. General Brent Scowcroft, Barry Zorthian

The Gulf War and Beyond:
War in the New World Order

Thursday, November 16, 2000
Panelists: Ralph Begleiter, Susan Moeller, Lt. Gen. James Terry Scott, Scott Simon

The Next War:
Where Will We Go from Here?

Thursday, November 16, 2000
Panelists: Roger Ailes, James Hoge, Eric Larson, Johanna Neuman, LTC Jay M. Parker

The Media and the Military seminars are funded by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation and The Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation.

 

2000 Spring Semester 

NBC Nightly News
with Tom Brokaw

Thursday, February 17, 2000
Panelists: Tom Brokaw, David Doss, Jonathan Wald, Mary Laurence "M.L." Flynn

This seminar was made possible by a grant from Robert F.X. and Laura Baudo Sillerman through The Tomorrow Foundation. Satellite transmission is provided by GlobeCast. 

Creating Prime-Time Drama
The West Wing

Monday, April 3, 2000
Panelists: Aaron Sorkin, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Thomas Schlamme 

Creating Prime-Time Drama
Felicity

Monday, April 10, 2000
Panelists: J. J. Abrams, Scott Foley, Greg Grunberg, Keri Russell

Sports on Television and Radio: The Commissioners' Perspective
Monday, April 24, 2000
Panelists: Gary Bettman, Bud Selig, David Stern, Paul Tagliabue

 

1999 Fall Semester 

America's Wake-Up Call:
47 Years with Today

Tuesday, March 23, 1999
Panelists: Katie Couric, Ann Curry, Matt Lauer, Al Roker, Jeff Zucker

Crime and Punishment:
Homicide Meets Law & Order
Tuesday, April 13, 1999
Panelists: Dick Wolf, Tom Fontana, Michael Michele, Ed Sherin, Sam Waterston 

Behind the Scenes:
Saturday Night Live
Monday, April 19, 1999
Panelists: Al Franken, Tim Herlihy, James Downey, Marci Klein, Tim Meadows, Lorne Michaels, Michael Shoemaker

The Television Author:
Shaping Character and Conscience

Monday, May 17 and Tuesday, May 18, 1999
Panelists: Steven Bochco, Tom Fontana, Marshall Herskovitz, David E. Kelley, Dick Wolf, Edward Zwick

 

1997-98 Fall/Spring Semester

A Conversation with the
Creators of The Simpsons,
King of the Hill, and South Park

Thursday, October 8, 1998
Panelists: Matt Groening, Mike Judge, Trey Parker, Matt Stone

Gay and Lesbian Images on Television
Thursday, October 15, 1998
Panelists: Rhona Berenstein, John Catania, Tim Doyle, Richard Kramer, Donna Red Wing, Howard Rosenberg

This seminar was made possible by the Blake Byrne/Skylark Foundation 

Creating Jewish Characters for Television
Wednesday, November 11, 1998
Panelists: Marshall Herskovitz, Carol Leifer, Dr. David Marc, Jeff Melvoin, Jan Oxenberg

The Museum wishes to thank Michael Finkelstein and Sue-ann Friedman, The Hearst Corporation, and E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co., LLC for their support of this seminar.
 
ABC World News Tonight
with Peter Jennings

Wednesday, November 18, 1998
Panelists: Kathryn Christensen, Paul Friedman, Peter Jennings, Tom Nagorski, Paul Slavin

This seminar was made possible by a grant from Robert F.X. and Laura Baudo Sillerman.

Creating Children's Programming:
Sesame Street

February 11, 1998
Panelists: Fran Brill, Kevin Clash, Lou Berger, Arlene Sherman, Michael Loman; via satellite from Los Angeles, Sonia Manzano and Roscoe Orman; Muppets Zoe and Elmo
Moderator: Ron Simon

TELEVISION AND TERRORISM

The Changing Dynamics of
Terrorism on Television

April 22, 1998
Panelists: Ambassador Dore Gold, Sir David Nicholas CBE, Garrick Utley, Chaim Yavin
Comoderators: Robert M. Batscha and James F. Hoge, Jr.

Terrorism:
Freedom of the Press and National Security

April 23, 1998
Panelists: Jeffrey Toobin, Gideon Rose, Steve Emerson, Richard Wald
Comoderators: Robert M. Batscha and Mortimer B. Zuckerman

The Museum wishes to thank The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation for providing funding for this seminar series. 

 

1996-97 Fall/Spring Semester

The 1996-97 Fall/Spring Semester was made possible by General Motors

Creating Prime-Time Comedy:
Frasier

October 8, 1997
Panelists: Peter Casey, David Lee, Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce
Moderator: Steve Bell

The Making of a Prime-Time Schedule
October 15, 1997
Panelists: Jamie Tarses, Peter Roth, Warren Littlefield
Moderator: Robert M. Batscha

Creating Prime-Time Drama:
Law & Order

November 11, 1997
Panelists: Dick Wolf, Ed Sherin, Rene Balcer, Jerry Orbach, Sam Waterston
Moderator: Robert M. Batscha

Creating Prime-Time Situation Comedy
November 12, 1997
Panelists: Jerry Belson, Marcy Carsey, Peter Casey, Larry David, Diane English
Moderator: Robert M. Batscha

CBS Evening News with Dan Rather
November 18, 1997
Panelists: Dan Rather, Jeff Fager, Janet Leissner, Eric Shapiro, Pat Shevlin, Michael Whitney
Moderator: Robert M. Batscha

Creating Science Fiction:
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

November 20, 1997
Panelists: Ira Steven Behr, Peter Lauritson, Ronald D. Moore, Steve Oster, Rene Auberjonois, Nana Visitor
Moderator: Steve Bell

Creating Prime-Time Drama:
Homicide: Life on the Street

February 10, 1997
Panelists: Richard Belzer, Tom Fontana, Julie Martin, Kyle Secor, David Simon, James Yoshimura
Moderator: Robert M. Batscha

Creating Prime-Time Drama:
Steven Bochco

February 19, 1997
Panelist: Steven Bochco
Moderator: Robert M. Batscha

Creating a Prime-Time Newsmagazine:
60 Minutes

April 8, 1997
Panelists: Don Hewitt, Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, Steve Kroft, Lesley Stahl, Andy Rooney
Moderator: Robert M. Batscha

Television and the Courts
April 15, 1997
Panelists: Steve Brill, Fred Graham, Kristin Jeannette-Myers, Peter J. Neufeld, The Honorable Leslie Crocker Snyder
Moderator: Ron Simon

 

The following seminars were part of another series sponsored by USA Networks and offered by satellite to the university audience.

The Making of...
An Agnes Nixon Soap Opera:
All My Children

December 3, 1997

A William Bell Soap Opera:
The Young and the Restless

December 11, 1997
USA Networks 

 

1995-96 Fall/Spring Semester

Creating Prime-Time Comedy:
The Simpsons

November 14, 1996
Panelists: Nancy Cartwright, Matt Groening, Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein, Harry Shearer, David Silverman
Moderator: Robert M. Batscha

Ken Burns:
The Historical Narrative
on Television
November 19, 1996
Panelist: Ken Burns
Moderator: Robert M. Batscha  

TELEVISION: THE CREATIVE PROCESS 

Writing for Television:
The Legal Genre

October 21, 1996
Panelists: William Finkelstein, Jackson Gillis, Dean Hargrove, David E. Kelley, Abby Mann, Judith Paige, Mitchell, Dick Wolf
Moderator: Robert M. Batscha

Creating Prime-Time Drama:
Party of Five

October 29, 1996
Panelists: Christopher Keyser, Amy Lippman, Lisa Melamed, Mark B. Perry, Ken Topolsky, Scott Wolf
Moderator: Ron Simon 

TRADITIONS IN SPORTS ON TELEVISION

The Tradition of the
Olympic Games on Television

April 22, 1996
Panelists: Bob Costas, Peter Diamond, Rick Gentile, Jim Mckay, Donna de Varona 

The Tradition of Sportscasting
April 23, 1996
Panelists: Bob Costas, Chris Schenkel, Lesley Visser
Moderator: Robert M. Batscha 

TELEVISION AND THE PRESIDENCY 

On the Campaign Trail
November 13, 1995
Panelists: Steven Beschloss, Gerald Boyd, Michael Deaver, Dan Rather, Tabitha Soren

The Office of the Presidency
November 14, 1995
Panelists: David Gergen, Gwen Ifill, Bob Squier
Moderator: Robert M. Batscha