Vietnam: A Television History

Vietnam: A Television History
Written byMartin Smith
Elizabeth Deane
Richard Ellison
Marilyn Mellowes
Bruce Palling
Judith Vecchione
Austin Hoyt
Andrew Pearson
Directed byJudith Vecchione
Austin Hoyt
Martin Smith
Bruce Palling
Narrated byWill Lyman
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes13 (1983 version)
11 (1997 version
and 2004 DVD release)
Production
Running time780 min (1983 version)
660 min (1997 version
and 2004 DVD release)
Production companiesWGBH-TV
Central Independent Television
Antenne-2
Original release
NetworkPBS
ReleaseOctober 4 (1983-10-04) –
December 20, 1983 (1983-12-20)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Vietnam: A Television History (1983) is a 13-part documentary mini-series about the Vietnam War (1955–1975) from the perspective of the United States. It was produced for public television by WGBH-TV in Boston, Central Independent Television of the UK and Antenne-2 of France. It was originally broadcast on PBS between October 4 and December 20, 1983.

Later, it was rebroadcast as part of the PBS series American Experience from May 26 to July 28, 1997. However, only 11 of the 13 original episodes were rebroadcast. Episodes 2 and 13 were dropped.

Vietnam: A Television History was the most successful documentary produced by PBS up to the time of initial broadcast. Nearly 9% of American households watched the initial episode, and an average of 9.7 million viewers watched each of the 13 episodes. A rebroadcast in the summer of 1984 garnered roughly a 4% share in the five largest U.S. television markets.[1]

  1. ^ "The Museum of Broadcast Communications - Encyclopedia of Television - Vietnam: A Television History". www.museum.tv. Archived from the original on December 30, 2014.