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Biography
1987 · TV series · documentary · 60 min episodes · 27 seasons
Created by David L. Wolper, Agnes Nixon
Biography is a documentary television series. It was originally a half-hour filmed series produced for CBS by David Wolper from 1961 to 1964 and hosted by Mike Wallace. The A&E Network later re-ran it and has produced new episodes since 1987. The older version featured historical figures such as Helen Keller and Mark Twain, or long-dead entertainment figures such as Will Rogers or John Barrymore. The A&E series has placed the emphasis on such people as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Plácido Domingo, Freddie Mercury, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Eric Clapton, Pope John Paul II, Gene Tierney, Selena, Diego Rivera, Mao Zedong and Queen Elizabeth II, and fictional characters like The Phantom, Superman, Hamlet, Betty Boop, and Santa Claus. The program ended up profiling enough figures that in 1999, A&E spun it off into an entire network, The Biography Channel.
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2 comments on Hacker News
Agreed, the earlier episodes were better, but I still don't think they were great. The last season of the show (when it was just Jayme/Adam) was actually fantastic though.
I've never actually seen any of the biography series (I just associate it with shallow celebrity profiles) I'll have to dig up the earlier episodes, thanks!
> Mythbusters, I rarely come out of watching that show feeling like I really learned something
The earliest episodes were more scientific and educational. They spent quite a bit of time explaining how they were going to construct something and then showing how they actually built it. It became pure entertainment--devoted especially to blowing things up--once the show achieved success.
Another example of a show descending to the lowest common denominator: The first years of "Biography" on the A&E Network had stories about explorers, scientists, and world leaders--Michelangelo, Henry Ford, Julius Caesar, Marconi, Marco Polo--but now it's nothing but celebrities.