American Public Television ( APT ) is an American nonprofit organization and syndicator of programming for public television stations in the United States. It distributes public television programs nationwide for PBS member stations and independent educational stations, as well as the Create and World television networks.
25-548: APT began in 1960 when it was incorporated as the Eastern Educational Network (EEN). At first, EEN was a regional cooperative that began to exchange programs between a few of its member stations. EEN was one of the first distributors of shows such as The French Chef (with Julia Child ) in 1962, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood , and Washington Week in Review on a national basis. Another first from EEN
50-734: A Capitol Hill sex scandal and the resulting changes in congressional rules was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and he received the John Hancock Award for Excellence in Business and Financial Journalism for a series of stories on an international Ponzi scheme. He left the Post to become a senior editor at the city magazine Washingtonian (1983–92) and also worked as the Washington bureau chief of Spy magazine (1992–94). He
75-484: A Peabody Award , crediting her for doing "more than show us how good cooking is achieved; by her delightful demonstrations she has brought the pleasures of good living into many American homes." In May 1966, her show won a Primetime Emmy Award for Achievements in Educational Television – Individuals. The August 27, 1968 episode of The French Chef (rerun from an episode sometime in 1965) ended with
100-425: A four-day period starting on March 15, 2016, to launch its new food channel. Twitch reported that almost a million viewers watched the marathon. Julia , a television series based on Child and the creation of The French Chef , premiered on HBO Max in 2022. The three pilot episodes were subsequently taped over by the studio, a common practice at the time, and no copies are known to exist today. The subjects of
125-428: A guest for another show on WGBH had canceled their appearance, as did the backup guest. Child was invited to do a cooking demonstration, which received positive feedback and prompted executives to order a pilot. When the show began, the budget was so low that "volunteers had to be recruited to wash dishes, and the food sometimes had to be auctioned to the audience afterwards to cover expenses." In 1964 Child received
150-441: A particular ingredient each week would sometimes cause a surge in demand and lead to grocery stores across the country temporarily selling out of it. Child and WGBH would collaborate again on the series Julia Child & Company from 1978 to 1980, Dinner at Julia's from 1983 to 1984, and a series of home videos in 1985 called The Way to Cook . Child would be paired with other food personalities for two additional PBS series in
175-428: Is a contributing editor with National Geographic Traveler magazine and Delta Air Lines ' magazine, Sky. He is the author of two nonfiction books, Dare To Be Great (1976) and Public Trust, Private Lust (1977). He has written articles for GQ, Forbes, USA Today, Modern Maturity, Playboy, Town & Country Travel, Travel & Leisure, and dozens of other newspapers and magazines. He wrote for
200-590: Is credited with convincing the American public to try cooking French food at home. The show grew out of a special presentation Child gave on WGBH based on the book Mastering the Art of French Cooking which she co-authored. The French Chef was produced from 1963 to 1973 by WGBH for National Educational Television (and later for PBS ). Reruns continued on PBS until 1989, and were airing on Cooking Channel as of 2010. As of September 2016, episodes were being rerun on
225-476: The public television station in Boston , Massachusetts , from February 11, 1963 to January 14, 1973. It was one of the first cooking shows on American television. The French Chef was first shown with a pilot on July 26, 1962. After two more episodes were broadcast in the summer, the show premiered as a regular weekly series on February 11, 1963. The immensely popular show went on to air for 212 episodes. It
250-457: The 1990s, Cooking with Master Chefs: Hosted by Julia Child which ran for a single season from 1993 to 1994, and Baking with Julia for three seasons from 1996 to 1998. She also participated in the show Julia Child & Jacques Pépin Cooking at Home which won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2001. As part of its growing Twitch Creative content, Twitch streamed every episode of The French Chef over
275-570: The Artists Den , Jacques Pepin: Heart & Soul , America's Test Kitchen and its spinoff series Cook's Country , Yan Can Cook , Barbecue University with Steven Raichlen , The Big Comfy Couch , Net Cafe , Pati's Mexican Table , Samantha Brown's Places to Love , Doc Martin , Rudy Maxa's World , Sara's Weeknight Meals , and Scully: The World Show . APT distributes weeknight international news series Asia Insight and NHK Newsline from Japan's NHK , as well as
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#1732771940950300-701: The Syndication Service and was renamed Interregional Program Service (IPS). IPS started the Premium Service in 1989. The first program out of this arm was the series U.S. Chronicle , a collaboration of public television stations in cooperation with The Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting , hosted by Jim Lehrer . The company gained national attention when EEN's IPS subsidiary begin distributing The Nightly Business Report when it went nationwide in 1981. The organization became American Program Service (APS) in 1992. American Program Service
325-606: The United States at a time when it was considered expensive restaurant fare, not suitable for home cooking. Child emphasized fresh and, at the time, unusual ingredients. All of the recipes used on The French Chef had originally appeared in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but for the show, Child chose mostly the more domestic recipes from the book, although such showpieces as Beef Wellington , various sorts of soufflé , and some ambitious pastries also made it into
350-424: The business news program Nightly Business Report . APT has also distributed special pledge shows to public television, including programs such as Frank Sinatra: Voice of Our Time , Anne of Green Gables , Carreras Domingo Pavarotti , Celine Dion : A New Day , Mike Douglas – Moments & Memories , Leonard Cohen: Tower of Song , and Tony Bennett Duets: The Making of an American Classic . In 2000, APT
375-492: The first produced in color and would introduce a new theme tune for the opening titles. It was also the first to be presented by the Public Broadcasting Service. From this season on, Polaroid was the sole sponsor of the program. Two companion cookbooks were written along with the show. The French Chef Cookbook was a show-by-show breakdown of the black and white series, while From Julia Child's Kitchen
400-451: The mix if they seemed within the reach of a home cook without staff. The show was done live-to-videotape from start to finish, leaving little room for mistakes. The resulting occasional accidents became a popular trademark of Child's on air presence, used as " teachable moments " to encourage viewers to relax about the task's demands. Certain elements became motifs : Julia's fondness for wine; her distinctive voice; her staunch defense of
425-619: The new Canadian cooking channel Gusto, and later, Makeful . As recently as March 2017, reruns of the show were also seen on the American Public Television Create channel. The original episodes were available on the PBS streaming service as of 2020. In July 2021, certain episodes were added to the Pluto TV lineup, together with other Julia Child cooking programs. The French Chef introduced French cooking to
450-722: The pilot episodes were revisited early in the show's run, with the French omelet and onion soup appearing in the first season and Coq au Vin in the second. Child wrote that the first 13 episodes were lost at one point, but that the first 7 were found. However, PBS posted 23 episodes from the first season to YouTube in June 2022, with only French Onion Soup and Dinner In a Pot missing. Those two episodes were later posted in October 2022. The first few episodes were sponsored by S&H Green Stamps ; starting with Chicken Breasts and Rice, this season
475-462: The unexpected collapse of an Apple Charlotte . The October 31, 1971 episode of The French Chef (on its ninth anniversary) was the first U.S. television show to be captioned for deaf viewers. The show was produced by Ruth Lockwood and directed by Russell Morash , Russell Fortier, David Griffiths and David B. Atwood. Film composer John Morris wrote the second theme song for The French Chef. The show eventually became so popular that Child's use of
500-437: The use of butter (with margarine invariably referred to as "that other spread") and cream ; her standard issue "impeccably clean towel"; and her closing line at the end of every show: " This is Julia Child, Bon appétit ! " So good is she that men who have not the slightest intention of going to the kitchen for anything but ice cubes watch her for pure enjoyment. Child's first appearance cooking on TV had been by happenstance:
525-722: Was a somewhat more ambitious work that was based on the color series but also added considerable extra material. Smart Travels with Rudy Maxa Rudy Maxa (born 1949) is an American consumer travel expert. Maxa is the host and executive producer of 85 half-hour travel shows on the world's great destinations that are broadcast on public television in the U.S. with titles such as Smart Travels: Europe with Rudy Maxa , Smart Travels: Pacific Rim with Rudy Maxa , and—since 2008— Rudy Maxa's World . Maxa began his career in journalism after graduating from Ohio University as an investigative reporter, magazine writer, and personalities columnist at The Washington Post . His reporting on
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#1732771940950550-824: Was renamed American Public Television (APT) on January 1, 2000. Also, with many fax requests from international outlets, an international division called APT Worldwide was started. With the digital roll-out , APT became the distributor of a couple of multicast networks. In January 2006, APT started distributing Create . They later began distributing World on July 1, 2009. APT also distributes two digital broadcast television networks with WGBH , WNET , and NETA: APT distributes more than 300 new program titles per year, including documentaries, talk shows, music performance content, dramatic and comedic series, how-to programs, children's series, and classic films. Shows currently or previously distributed by APT include, but are unlimited to, The Open Mind , Rick Steves' Europe , Live From
575-504: Was sponsored by Safeway Stores . This season was sponsored by Safeway Stores. This season was sponsored by Polaroid Corporation ; starting with Turban of Sole, Hills Bros. Coffee joined as co-sponsor. This season was sponsored by Polaroid Corporation and Hills Bros. Coffee. This would be the last season to be presented by the Eastern Educational Television Network. The sixth season would be
600-680: Was the distribution of Newsfront , America's first live and non-commercial daily news program, starting in 1970. EEN introduced Wall Street Week in November 1970 before PBS began distributing it nationwide in January 1972. EEN also began importing UK's BBC and Canadian CBC productions to America in 1974, with Monty Python's Flying Circus as one of them. In 1978, the EEN started the Free Library. In 1980, Eastern Educational Network started
625-551: Was the first company to bring a high-definition series to public television with the premiere of Smart Travels with Rudy Maxa . On January 1, 2018, the PBS Kids 24/7 channel started airing Peep and the Big Wide World and Pocoyo until December 26, 2021. The French Chef The French Chef is an American television cooking show created and hosted by Julia Child , produced and broadcast by WGBH ,
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