Series: New Television
Program: New Television
Episode: 509
Date: 1988-01-01
Duration: 00:00:31

Subject: Television - Production and direction; Motion pictures - Production and direction
People: Boord, Dan; Durbin, Greg
Copyright Holder: Dan Boord and Greg Durbin

Clip Description
"The Great Frontier" juxtaposes dramatizations of two stories. In the first, Tracy Barnes, host of the cable access show "Oklahoma Yesterdays," prepares for a broadcast on Bill Jenkins, a film-maker who was attempting to make "real westerns." This alternates with vignettes depicting the life of Bill Jenkins.

Program Description
This episode of "New Television" features Greg Durbin and Dan Boord's "The Great Frontier."

"The Great Frontier" juxtaposes dramatizations of two stories. In the first, Tracy Barnes, host of the cable access show "Oklahoma Yesterdays," prepares for broadcast, having makeup applied and struggling to remember the name of her subject, Bill Jenkins. Jenkins was a local hero and somewhat mythological figure, who had been a train robber, a gubernatorial candidate, a filmmaker, and ultimately, a chicken farmer. When Tracy's show is underway, a feisty argument breaks out between her interviewees -- Bill Jenkins' nephew and fan Boomer Fuller, and Gina Rae Sloan, a local historian out to debunk the Bill Jenkins myth. After the broadcast, the cast and others gather for a party at the Barnes home. Tracy's husband congratulates her on the success of the show, assuring her that the fight made the show more interesting and hard-hitting. Eventually, Boomer and Gina Rae "bury the hatchet" at poolside. Tracy and a friend perform a singing duet that leaves Tracy berating her small-town existence and her inability to "make it" in a larger arena.

These scenes alternate with vignettes depicting the life of Bill Jenkins, ca. 1910. At this time, Jenkins was attempting to make "real westerns," films that refused to romanticize the details of western life. On the set of one such film, he expounds on this theory, embellishing his narrative with colorful details from his (suspect) life as an outlaw and robber. Cast and crewmembers are interviewed about his methods. Archival photographs and videotaped footage of the landscape are incorporated to evoke the Oklahoma surroundings. The script was written by Dan Boord and Greg Durbin, with additional dialogue by Hazel Leroy. Dianne Kahal performs a vocal rendition of a folk-style song at the opening of the work, which is just under a half-hour in length.

Series Description
The New Television Workshop originated at WGBH, a public broadcasting station in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1974 to support the creation and development of experimental video art. This experimental programming included dance, drama, music, performance and visual arts on video and film. As early as 1968, WGBH was committed to the development of video art through residency programs, with artists such as Nam June Paik, and the "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" project. Many of these early works (pre-1974) were broadcast both locally and nationally.

As an umbrella for arts related programming, the Workshop included "Artist's Showcase, " "Frames of Reference, " "Dance for Camera, " "Poetry Breaks," and "New Television," as well as acquired arts programming. Individual works were created for "Visions," a series produced by WNET (New York), and "Alive From Off Center," a series produced by KTCA (St. Paul - Minneapolis). The Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund was co-founded by the Workshop and Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in the 1980's, to commission works by video artists. In 1993 the Workshop ceased production at WGBH.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/NTW/FA/TITLES/Great127.HTML