Ronald Blumer
Director
Benjamin Franklin (2002)
Miniseries
An epic yarn spanning most of the 18th century, the series follows Franklin's career from humble beginnings in Boston to international superstardom: first as a scientist and revolutionary, and then as a founding father and America's first diplomat to France.
Released Nov. 19, 2002
10+
Genres: Biography, Documentary, History
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Watch Providers: PBS Documentaries Amazon Channel
Production Companies: Lithuanian Film Studio, Middlemarch Films
Network: PBS
Country: United States
Languages:
English
S1E1 - Let the Experiment Be Made
Part 1: “Let the Experiment Be Made,” charts Franklin's first 47 years (he was born in 1706), a period that saw the birth of the Enlightenment. Franklin took it to heart, writing aphorisms based on it in his “Poor Richard's Almanack” and making life easier for his fellow Philadelphians by thinking up such things as public libraries and a volunteer fire department. Then there was electricity. Richard Easton plays Franklin (Dylan Baker plays a younger Franklin).
Nov. 19, 2002, midnight
S1E2 - The Making of a Revolutionary
Part 2 covers Franklin's years in England, beginning in 1757, when he was sent to London as an emissary for Pennsylvania on a mission to allow the colony to tax the Penn family's lands. Franklin arrived as an ardent admirer of the empire as well as a lover of the American colonies.
Nov. 19, 2002, midnight
S1E3 - The Chess Master
“The Chess Master” follows “America's native genius,” as historian Keith Arbour calls Franklin, through the final 14 years of his life, nine of which were spent in Paris as the rebellious colonies' ambassador to France. Franklin's first goal (aside from creating the U.S. foreign service on the fly) was to secure financial and military aid. He went about doing it in the same manner as he played chess.
Nov. 20, 2002, midnight
Network: PBS
Released: Nov. 19, 2002
Last Air Date: Nov. 20, 2002, midnight
Status: Ended
Certification: TV-PG
Common sense age: 10+
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