Now the PBS series “Frontline” and “American Experience” join forces this weekend to look at the turbulent history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“The Mormons,” airing at 9 p.m. today and Tuesday on KCTS, Channel 9, is a four-hour documentary portrait of the church’s remarkable creation, its transformation from a fringe sect into a thriving religion, its rigorous tenets, and its contemporary challenges.
Devout Mormons believe that in 1827 in Palmyra, N.Y., 21-year-old Joseph Smith dug up a set of golden tablets that contained the seeds of a new religion. He said he was guided to the spot by an angel appearing in a vision.
This led him to the founding of the church, and to a cross-country odyssey where three communities – in Ohio, Missouri and Illinois – were established in turn, only to be abandoned after clashes with their neighbors.
In Illinois in 1844, Smith was killed by an angry mob, whereupon Brigham Young led the faithful on a harrowing journey to the Salt Lake area. There, in what would later become Utah, the Mormon Church claimed a lasting home.
Today Mormonism is one of America’s fastest-growing religions, with as many as 240,000 converts annually thanks to the global outreach of its youth missionaries.
“The Mormons” traces that transformation from the status of outcasts to mainstream players in U.S. culture and politics.
Other shows this week to look out for:
“Brando”: “Before Brando, actors acted. After Brando, they behaved,” says one observer. Now Turner Classic Movies explores the art, mystique and turmoil of Marlon Brando in a two-part documentary premiering at 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Brando” joins performances spanning the decades with personal footage, and interviews featuring not only many of his Hollywood peers but also family members and childhood friends.
Accompanying the portrait will be airings of several Brando classics, including “The Men,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Guys and Dolls,” “The Wild One” and “On the Waterfront.”
“Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built”: It was called the “Atlantic Sound,” and, having sprung from the small record label Ahmet Ertegun co-founded in 1947, it established a revolutionary new genre.
By the mid-1950s, Atlantic had become the country’s pre-eminent R&B label, producing hits by such artists as Ray Charles, Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner, LaVern Baker and the Drifters. Over the years, Atlantic’s roster included John Coltrane; Aretha Franklin; Buffalo Springfield; Otis Redding; Wilson Pickett; Cream; Led Zeppelin; Charles Mingus; and Crosby, Stills, Nash &Young.
But through it all, Ertegun, son of a Turkish ambassador to the U.S., never lost an immigrant’s passion for the African-American music he heard in segregated Washington, D.C., nightclubs of the 1940s, concluding that “all popular music stems from black music, be it jazz or rock ‘n’ roll or rap.”
PBS’ “American Masters” presents “Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built,” a tribute both to this hugely influential independent music company, and to the genius who created it. (He died in December at 83.) The documentary airs at 9 p.m. Wednesday on KCTS, Channel 9.
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