Culture

Pandemic, protests, polls: as you've heard a million times since March, this has been an unprecedented year. Throughout, Frontline has tried to help you make sense of it all. Revisit their investigative journalism and films from this year of upheaval.

The three-part, six-hour Hemingway from Ken Burns and Lynn Novick comes to WTTW and PBS in April, featuring the voices of Jeff Daniels and Meryl Streep among others, as well as authors Edna O'Brien, Mario Vargas Llosa, Tobias Wolff, and more.

Little about 2020 has been normal, but the holidays are still here to be enjoyed and celebrated, albeit in an adapted, safe manner. WTTW has as much holiday cheer as you need this December, in the form of PBS KIDS specials, holiday concerts, festive travel shows, and more. 

By blending a lowbrow style and the use of ledger art, Kanza artist Chris Pappan uses his art to undo the erasure of Native peoples' histories and identities.

As the holidays approach, we have warming holiday specials full of music and cheer, plus a look back on a tumultuous year with WTTW News, a documentary on Chicago's candied history, and more. 

2020 has been a year unlike any other in memory, with a worldwide pandemic, a recession, racial reckoning, and a presidential election. As COVID-19 turned life upside down, Chicagoans were left with more questions than answers, and WTTW News had to innovate as they tried to provide them.

The holidays are going to look different this year. But there are still ways to safely get a healthy dose of holiday cheer both in person and virtually in Chicago.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving airs Sunday, November 22 at 6:30 pm. A Charlie Brown Christmas airs Sunday, December 13 at 6:30 pm.

Maria Tallchief, a half-Osage dancer considered one of the epitomes of American ballet in the twentieth century, was recently honored in a Google Doodle that featured footage from WTTW's archive, in honor of Native American Heritage Month.

The documentary Chicago at the Crossroad shows how the failure of public housing has contributed to gun violence in the city today. "Your housing will dictate every other aspect of your life, from school to food to violence exposure to your percentage of the possibility of actually committing a crime,” says the producer.

A new special from Geoffrey Baer offering a unique vantage point on Chicago and an examination of gun violence in the city, plus new dramas from Masterpiece, which turns 50 this year.

The documentary Represent follows three women candidates in the Midwest as they run for local office, including a Korean American Republican running on Chicago's North Shore. "A woman called me a white nationalist," she says. "And I thought, 'Me?' "

A new look at the Great Chicago Fire from WTTW, two very different but equally worthwhile new dramas as well as a comedy, a documentary on the enormous power of the Latino vote this election, and more.

Discover WTTW's programming celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 through October 15.