Benjamin Franklin (2002 TV series)

Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Directed by	Ellen Hovde; Muffie Meyer
Written by	Ronald Blumer
Produced by	Ellen Hovde; Muffie Meyer
Cinematography	James Brown; Robert Elfstrom; Boyd Estus; Tom Hurwitz; Joel Shapiro; Joe Vitagliano;
Edited by	Eric Davies; Donna Marino; Sharon Sachs;
Music by	Richard Einhorn
Distributed by	Public Broadcasting Service
Release date	November 19, 2002;
Running time	210 minutes
Language	English

Benjamin Franklin is a 2002 American documentary television series about United States Founding Father Benjamin Franklin which premiered November 19–20, 2002, and was re-broadcast August 22–September 5, 2005. The series was produced by Twin Cities Public Television of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Benjamin Franklin won an Emmy for Outstanding Nonfiction Special (Traditional) in 2003. Executive producers Catherine Allan and Jerry Richman accepted the award.^{[citation needed]}

Episode 1: Let the Experiment Be Made

Franklin's first 47 years, a period that saw the birth of the Enlightenment. He took this intellectual revolution to heart, writing aphorisms based on it for the publication he founded, Poor Richard's Almanack. Franklin made significant contributions to his fellow Philadelphians, contributions which included the ideas of public libraries and a volunteer fire department. Richard Easton plays Franklin; Colm Feore narrates.

Episode 2: The Making of a Revolutionary

In 1757 Franklin moves to London, sent from Pennsylvania on a mission to allow the colony to tax the Penn family's lands. Franklin arrived as an ardent admirer of the empire as well as a lover of the American colonies (“There's nothing I want more than the prosperity of both,” he says). Seventeen years later, he left—a revolutionary.

Episode 3: The Chess Master

The final 14 years of Franklin's life, nine of which were spent in Paris as ambassador to France from the rebellious American colonies. His primary objective was to secure financial and military aid. To this he brought the skills of a chess master, able to think many moves ahead in the game.