As we eagerly count down the days to the New Year, we thought it would be fun to look back on some unforgettable moments from 2023 before we bid it adieu. Thank you for being with us for so many amazing memories, and here’s to more in 2024!
1. New Faces
We kicked off the year with new hosts of PBS NewsHour, Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett. Viewers love this new dynamic duo, and we do too! (While we’ll miss Judy Woodruff and her on-camera gravitas, you can still catch the Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award winner on America at a Crossroads with Judy Woodruff.)
How to Watch: Stream now on the PBS App.
2. Lots of Love
It was weddings galore on our beloved Masterpiece and PBS dramas, with a record five couples tying the knot – James and Helen on All Creatures Great and Small, Charlotte and Colbourne and Georgianna and Otis on Sanditon, Trixie and Matthew on Call the Midwife, and Tom and Sophia on Tom Jones. Pass the Kleenex!
How to Watch: Stream All Creatures Great and Small, Sanditon, Call the Midwife and Tom Jones on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.
3. Going to the Dogs
Did you know foxes could climb trees? We didn’t either until we watched Dogs in the Wild, a new Nature documentary that brought us face-to-face with all kinds of carnivorous canids, including black-backed jackals, agile gray foxes, and more.
How to Watch: Stream now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.
4. Spaced Out
NASA’s brand-new James Webb Space Telescope let us peer deep in time to hunt for the first celestial bodies in our universe on NOVA: New Eye on the Universe. We eagerly watched as scientists looked for signs of life in the atmospheres of distant exoplanets. Talk about reaching for the stars!
How to Watch: Stream now on the PBS App.
5. The Right to Rock
We rocked out with Fanny, the groundbreaking band founded in Sacramento in the 1960s by Filipina American and queer teenagers, on Fanny: The Right Rock and with a special preview screening and homecoming performance at the historic Crest Theatre. As the first all-women band to release an album with a major record label – and revered by none other than David Bowie – these chicks truly rock.
How to Watch: Stream now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.
6. So Long, Farewell
Though Endeavour on Masterpiece wrapped this year with its ninth and final season, we’ll always remember brooding, brainy Detective Morse, the gruff but encouraging DI Thursday, and the entire complex Thursday clan. Murder mystery never felt so classy.
How to Watch: Stream now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.
7. This Land is Your Land
The beginning of 2023 brought a new season of America’s Heartland, our beloved local series celebrating the people, places, and processes of American agriculture. We encountered all kinds of produce, from oranges to walnuts and everything in between, and the amazing folks who grow the food that feeds our country.
How to Watch: Stream now on the PBS App.
8. Welcome Back, Doc!
With great joy, we welcomed lovable Cornish curmudgeon Martin back to our screens with two new seasons of Doc Martin that had us gasping, laughing, crying, and cringing along with the entire population of Portwenn.
How to Watch: Stream now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.
9. The Heart of an Artist
We got to know the woman behind the canvas in Becoming Frida Kahlo, a 3-part docuseries that explored the celebrated artist’s work, the events of her life, and her complicated relationship with fellow artist Diego Rivera. You know it’s love if you marry the same person twice!
How to Watch: Stream now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.
10. Going Once, Going Twice…
Our 42nd annual PBS KVIE Art Auction was a huge success thanks to more than 270 artworks donated by Northern California artists and to viewers like you, who kept the phones ringing off the hook with your generous bids to support local arts and PBS programming.
For More Information: Visit the Art Auction page.
Featured artwork from the 2023 collection: Steve Walters, “Near Portofino”
11. The American Buffalo
October brought the premiere of yet another stunning Ken Burns documentary, The American Buffalo. The 3-part series highlighted the dramatic story of America’s national mammal that was driven to the brink of extinction before an unlikely collection of people rescued it from disappearing forever.
How to Watch: Stream now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.
12. Protecting the Platypus
We fell in love with Zoom the platypus on Nature: The Platypus Guardian as she formed an unlikely friendship with Tasmanian photographer and activist Pete Walsh. Walsh took us on a journey into the platypus’ secret world to encourage us to protect Zoom and others like her from the dangers of urban development. Who could resist that face?
How to Watch: Stream now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.