FindingYourRoots @HenryLouisGates FOURTH SEASON OF “FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.” TO AIR THIS FALL ON PBS, BEGINNING OCTOBER 3, 2017 — 10 New Episodes Explore Ancestry Stories of Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Nyong’o, Ted Danson, Carmelo Anthony, Larry David, Bernie Sanders, Janet Mock, Ana Navarro, Ava DuVernay, Amy Schumer, Paul Rudd, Christopher Walken and More —
Today’s leading artists, politicians, activists, performers and journalists discover surprising ancestral stories while learning their family history in the fourth season of the critically acclaimed series FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. The 10 new episodes will begin airing on Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 8:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS. Professor Gates, the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, continues exploring the mysteries, surprises and revelations hidden in the family trees of 28 of today’s most intriguing cultural trailblazers.
“We are all connected to larger stories that have played a role in shaping who we are as people and as a nation,” said Gates. “The DNA technology of today opens the doors to discovering the past in new ways, allowing us to learn more about our history than ever before. This new season will continue to inspire people to find out more about their own personal family stories, and spark an interest among young people in genetics, anthropology, history, and the pursuit of science.”
In the fourth season of FINDING YOUR ROOTS, comedian Larry David and politician Bernie Sanders discover they have more in common than they thought, tracing their roots back to Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. Comedic performers Garrison Keillor, Amy Schumer and Aziz Ansari learn contrasting stories of assimilation and independence all over the globe. Actors Fred Armisen and Christopher Walken and musician Carly Simon each learn about a grandparent whose real identity and background had been a mystery to them. Author
Ta-Nehisi Coates, filmmaker Ava DuVernay, and author and activist Janet Mock see their basic assumptions about their families challenged, placing their ancestors — of all colors — into the greater context of black history.
Actors Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen and William H. Macy trace their nonconformist ancestors through American conflicts — the Civil War and the American Revolution, all the way back to the Puritan establishment. Journalists Bryant Gumbel and Suzanne Malveaux and producer and writer Tonya Lewis-Lee discover a tapestry of the unexpected as they delve into their ancestry, revealing slaves and free people of color, Civil War legacies, and forgotten European origins. Actor Lupita Nyong’o, NBA star Carmelo Anthony and political commentator Ana Navarro trace their African heritage, investigating the political choices of their fathers and discovering sometimes unexpected heritage.
Also, actors Tea Leoni and Gaby Hoffmann both have lives shaped by family mysteries and are introduced to the identities and life stories of their biological ancestors, thanks to DNA detective work. DJ and producer Questlove, talk show host Dr. Phil, and journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault’s family stories are rooted in the American south. Actors Scarlett Johansson, Paul Rudd and John Turturro, all with immigrant parents, gain greater understanding of the unique challenges their ancestors faced by way of prejudice and poverty at home and abroad.
Following is the broadcast schedule for the new season on PBS:
Tues., Oct. 3, 2017, 8 p.m. ET: “The Impression” with Larry David and Bernie Sanders
Tues., Oct. 10, 2017, 8 p.m. ET: “Unfamiliar Kin” with Fred Armisen, Carly Simon and Christopher Walken
Tues., Oct. 17, 2017, 8 p.m. ET: “Puritans and Pioneers” with Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen and William H. Macy
Tues., Oct. 24, 2017, 8 p.m. ET: “The Vanguard” with Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ava DuVernay, Janet Mock
Tues., Oct. 31, 2017, 8 p.m. ET: “Immigrant Nation” with Scarlett Johansson, Paul Rudd and John Turturro
Tues., Nov. 7, 2017, 8 p.m. ET: “Black Like Me” with Bryant Gumbel, Tonya Lewis-Lee and Suzanne Malveaux
Tues., Nov. 14, 2017, 8 p.m. ET: “Children of the Revolution” with Lupita Nyong’o, Carmelo Anthony and Ana Navarro
Tues., Nov. 21, 2017, 8 p.m. ET: “Relatives We Never Knew We Had” with Tea Leoni and Gaby Hoffmann
Tues., Nov. 28, 2017, 8 p.m. ET: “The Stories We Tell” with Donna Brazile, Ty Burrell and Kara Walker (encore broadcast from Season Three)
Tues., Dec. 5, 2017, 8 p.m. ET: “Family Reunions” with Sean Combs and LL Cool J (encore broadcast from Season Three)
Tues., Dec. 5, 2017, 9 p.m. ET: “Tragedy + Time = Comedy” with Jimmy Kimmel, Norman Lear and Bill Hader (encore broadcast from Season Three)
Tues., Dec. 12, 2017, 8 p.m. ET: “Southern Roots” with Questlove, Dr. Phil and Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Tues., Dec. 19, 2017, 8 p.m. ET: “Funny Business” with Garrison Keillor, Amy Schumer and Aziz Ansari
In conjunction with the broadcast, WETA will work with stations across the country to encourage viewers to explore and share their family histories via social media, using the hashtag #FindingYourRoots on Facebook and Twitter, via Facebook.com/FindingYourRootsPBS and @HenryLouisGates, and on the series companion site, pbs.org/FindingYourRoots.
FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR., Season Four is a production of McGee Media, Inkwell Films, Kunhardt Films and WETA Washington, DC, in association with Ark Media. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the writer, host, and executive producer. Dyllan McGee and Peter Kunhardt are executive producers. Dalton Delan and Anne Harrington are executive producers in charge for WETA. Bill Gardner is the executive in charge for PBS. Sabin Streeter of Ark Media is the senior producer. Hanna Olson is the series producer. Hazel Gurland-Pooler, Josh Gleason, Hannah Olson, Sabin Streeter and Jamila Wignot are directors. Major corporate support for FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. Season Four is provided by Ancestry, Johnson & Johnson and AT&T. Major support is also provided by the Ford Foundation, Candace King Weir, Dr. Georgette Bennett and Dr. Leonard Polonsky CBE, Hutchins Family Foundation, Rattner Family Foundation, Daryl and Steven Roth, Anne Peretz, and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS.
About WETA
WETA Washington, DC, is one of the largest producing stations of new content for public television in the United States. WETA productions and co-productions include PBS NewsHour, Washington Week, The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize, THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS GERSHWIN PRIZE FOR POPULAR SONG, Latino Americans, The Italian Americans and documentaries by filmmaker Ken Burns and scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Sharon Percy Rockefeller is president and CEO. More information on WETA and its programs and services is available at www.weta.org.
About McGee Media
McGee Media was founded by award-winning filmmaker Dyllan McGee to produce documentary content that is innovative, compelling, and immersive. Every story is born from a vision of a more fair and equitable world. Whether it is the sweeping history of the African-American experience, or the intimate personal stories of the hundreds of women who made up the feminist movement, McGee Media uses television, film, and digital media in radical new ways to inform and inspire. Recent projects include AFRICA’S GREAT CIVILIZATIONS (PBS), MAKERS (Oath), ONCE & FOR ALL (AOL), FIRST IN HUMAN (Discovery), and RANCHER, FARMER, FISHERMAN (Discovery).
About Kunhardt Films
Kunhardt Films specializes in documentary programming about the people and ideas that shape American history. Most recently completed is the personal film Becoming Warren Buffett (HBO, 2017). Past productions include the Primetime Emmy and Sundance Film Festival Audience Award winner Jim: The James Foley Story. Other films include Emmy Award-nominated Living with Lincoln (HBO) and Emmy Award-Nominated Nixon By Nixon: In His Own Words (HBO, 2014); Finding Your Roots Season 2 with Henry Louis Gates Jr; Makers: Women Who Make America (PBS & AOL, Season 2); The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross (PBS, 6 hours, winner of the Emmy Award, Peabody Award and duPont-Columbia Award); Gloria: In Her Own Words (HBO, 2011); Finding Your Roots (PBS, 10-hours, 2010); This Emotional Life (PBS, 6-hours, 2010), and two seasons of African American Lives for PBS. Kunhardt Films was founded in 1987 as Kunhardt Productions. It is run by Peter Kunhardt and his sons Teddy and George.
About Inkwell Films
Inkwell Films was founded by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to produce sophisticated documentary films about the African and African-American experience for a broad audience. The six-part PBS documentary series The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross (2013) earned the 2013 Peabody Award and NAACP Image Award. Inkwell Films has co-produced Finding Your Roots (Seasons 1-4), AFRICA’S GREAT CIVILIZATIONS (2017), BLACK AMERICA SINCE MLK; AND STILL I RISE (2016), Black in Latin America (2011), Faces of America (2010), Looking for Lincoln (2009), African American Lives 2 (2008), Oprah’s Roots (2007) and African American Lives (2006).
About Ark Media
Barak Goodman and Rachel Dretzin founded Ark Media in 1996, and were joined by partner John Maggio in 2003. Together, Goodman, Dretzin, and Maggio have grown Ark into a leading producer of non-fiction series, theatrical documentaries, and television specials on a wide variety of subjects, along the way nurturing a diverse roster of passionate and talented filmmakers. Ark’s films have been honored with four national primetime Emmy Awards, an Academy Award nomination, multiple Writers Guild Awards, two duPont Columbia batons and three George H. Foster Peabody Awards, among many other awards and accolades. Coming soon: the feature documentary adaptation of Andrew Solomon’s monumental nonfiction book, Far From the Tree, in partnership with Participant Media; an American Experience film about Teddy Roosevelt’s fateful journey down an unknown Amazonian river in 1914, which almost cost him his life; a film for MSNBC about the press during the civil rights era; and a four-part series about genetics, based on Siddhartha Mukherjee’s best-seller The Gene: An Intimate History.
