Premieres: October 5 (check local listings for times)
Network: PBS
Hosted By Liev Schreiber
What’s It All About? Emmy-winning filmmaker Peter Jones tells the story of the Chandler family, and how their newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, not only reflected and covered its city over the last century, but also helped create the modern L.A. we know today. The documentary is an interesting combo of Dallas-style wealthy family intrigue and history, and in covering some of the City of Angels’ darker aspects also has an L.A. Confidential noirish feel to it in spots (one of the Chandlers was an inspiration for the villain in the film Chinatown). Jones is helped by the unprecedented cooperation of the family — who were often at odds with each other — and the Times‘ archives, which all help bring to life his hometown. Like L.A. itself, the documentary can feel a little sprawling, and even a bit too “inside” at times for outsiders. But it does make a generally successful attempt at pairing the growth of the Chandlers’ newspaper with their city, and it becomes clear that one may not have existed without the other, at least not in the forms we recognize.
