Apple TV Plus debuts Franklin, about Benjamin Franklin venturing to France to get help for the United States in the Revolutionary War, on April 12. Ben was 70 when he made the secret mission, staying a step ahead of British spies, French informers and hostile colleagues.
Michael Douglas plays Franklin.
Tim Van Patten, showrunner and executive producer, said the U.S. probably does not win the war if Franklin never makes the trip. “If we did not have the French jumping in, we were done,” he said. “It was really desperate. This whole notion of a republic designed by founding fathers would’ve been sunk.”
The series is based on the Stacy Schiff book A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France and the Birth of America. Van Patten enjoyed the research. “The more you learn about Franklin, he’s probably the only one of the founding fathers who could’ve pulled this off,” he said. “You could not send John Adams to do this. He would’ve bollixed this up.”
The series was shot in France. Van Patten admitted he had a pretty basic knowledge of Franklin when producer Richard Plepler mentioned the idea. “I want to take myself someplace I’ve never been, and I also want to take the audience,” he said. “This presented itself as a story I didn’t know, a world I’ve never photographed.”
He added, “I really fell in love with the world, and the material and the man.”
The Express Way With Dulé Hill, which sees Hill trek across America to “explore the transformative power of the arts,” according to PBS, debuts April 23. The four-part series sees him in California, Appalachia, Chicago and Texas, as he connects with activists and changemakers putting their artistic passions to work.
Speaking at the TCA Winter Press Tour, Danny Lee, executive producer and director, said the series’ mission is to show how art fixes society’s issues. “We all know that we’re living during extremely challenging times — a lot of noise and a lot of clutter,” he said. “We wanted to craft a show that just addresses how art can be the antidote to a lot of these ills.”
As the producers kicked around the locales, they focused on what the problem was in a specific community, and how art is part of the solution.
Hill’s credits include The West Wing, Psych and Suits. He said The Express Way is the kind of show that never runs out of good stories to tell. “This is a vast country and it’s filled with so many diverse stories,” Hill said. “You can throw a stone and find a million stories to be able to be told. We all have a unique story.”
