GBH Programmers’ Choice: What To Watch In June – wgbh.org
Every month, the duo that puts together GBH’s programming schedule offers up insights into the best programs on GBH in the coming weeks. Read on to see what Ron Bachman, Senior Director of Programming, and Devin Karambelas, Programming Manager, have to offer this month.
America ReFramed
Tuesday, June 1, 8 and 22 at 8pm on GBH WORLD
The WORLD Channel’s independent film showcase offers three new films in June, including one for Pride month. In The Falconer (June 1), African American falconer Rodney Stotts is on a mission to build a bird sanctuary and provide access to nature for high school dropouts in his stressed community. In the wake of the 2015 Charleston massacre, a battle erupts in Orangeburg, South Carolina between the Sons of Confederate Veterans and an ice cream shop owner forced to fly the Confederate flag in his parking lot in Meltdown in Dixie (June 8). And Jack & Yaya (June 22) explores the unique, thirty-year relationship of two friends as they both come out as transgender. —Ron
American Masters: Ballerina Boys
Friday, June 4 at 9pm on GBH 2
Ballerina Boys, a new doc from American Masters, celebrates the all-male dance company Les Ballets Trockadero (“The Trocks”) de Monte Carlo, whose male ballerinas have dazzled audiences with their technical skills and exuberant, gender-bending humor for 45 years. Founded in 1974 by a group of ballet enthusiasts who were keen to parody the conventions of classical ballet, the original troupe produced playful, late-night off-off-Broadway shows to low-key acclaim in New York City. That is, until a favorable review in The New York Times put The Trocks on the cultural map and helped usher in a world tour and international notoriety. The film follows the present iteration of The Trocks during their tour in the Carolinas, where LGBTQ communities are still battling for equal rights, and captures their 2019 performance at the Stonewall Riot’s fiftieth anniversary concert at Central Park. These dancers are on pointe (sorry, had to do it). —Devin
Mysteries of Mental Illness
Tuesday and Wednesday, June 22 and 23 at 9pm on GBH 2
Throughout history, we’ve grappled with difficult questions about mental illness: What causes it? How can it be treated? This four-hour series, airing over two nights, explores the evolution of understanding and the dramatic attempts across generations to unravel the mysteries of mental illness. Night one examines ancient conceptions of mental illness and the establishment of psychiatry, and traces the fight to develop mental illness standards rooted in empirical science rather than dogma. Night two follows the rise and fall of mental asylums in the United States and looks at today’s most cutting-edge treatments. Throughout, you’ll hear the stories of modern day people living with mental illness, including an aspiring astrophysicist with schizophrenia and an Olympics-bound boxer with OCD. —Ron
Death in Paradise
Wednesday, June 23 at 8pm on GBH 44
This popular series has proven to have nearly as many lives as the proverbial cat. Now in its tenth season, it stars Ralf Little, the fourth actor to lead the show, as DI Neville Parker, who investigates cases on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie (played in the series by the real-life island of Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles). In the season premiere, a TV reporter about to broadcast an exposé is found dead in her swimming pool. Parker is convinced her co-host did the deed — but at the time of death, he was conducting a live interview on air. It’s another brain-teaser for the redoubtable detective — whose career prospects look good, as the series was recently renewed for seasons 11 and 12! —Ron
The State of Marriage
Thursday, June 24 at 9pm GBH 2
Uplifting and admirably nuanced, this is the story of the two-decade struggle for marriage equality that began in Vermont thanks to the tireless efforts of small-town lawyers Susan Murray and Beth Robinson, and Boston-based civil rights advocate Mary Bonauto. Directors Jeff Kaufman and Marcia Ross (who are themselves married, in a fun twist) capture the history behind Vermont becoming the first state to pass legislation allowing civil unions for same-sex couples, which paved the way for the landmark 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision to legalize gay marriage in every state. What I love about this documentary is the many voices that animate it: Murray and Robinson, the gay and lesbian couples that served as plaintiffs in a groundbreaking 1999 case and conservative politicians in the Vermont legislature who made a few surprising choices. As an added bonus, playwright Terrence McNally and the late Rep. John Lewis contribute insightful commentary. This chapter in American history is certainly complex, but at its core this film is about good people fighting the good fight. —Devin