Watch this Conversation again on CPTV, premiering Sunday September 26, 6 p.m. with repeat airings Tuesday, September 28, 11 p.m. and Saturday, October 2, 11a.m.
Also on CPTV Spirit: Wednesday, September 29 at 7p.m. Saturday, October 2 at 1p.m. and Sunday, October 3 at 6p.m.
Conversations On the Green is proud to announce we’re planning a full 2020 season, six to eight shows with many of the country’s most provocative thinkers, most influential voices and most stimulating headliners.
But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, all the programs will be virtual, allowing everyone to participate from the safety and comfort of their home, no matter where it’s located. All you need is a device that connects to the internet.
Our season opener, May 17, 2020 at 3pm, “Life After COVID-19: A Brave New World,” will examine how the pandemic will transform the country’s economic, political, social and cultural landscapes.
We’re thrilled to announce that the trio of extraordinary panelists who will share their vision of the post-coronavirus world includes:
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The historian Douglas Brinkley, the author of more than a dozen books
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The bioethicist Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a leading voice on devising COVID-19 policy and Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania
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NY Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof, an internationally renowned humanitarian.
Our second event, on May 31st, will be "The Politics of Justice” and will focus on threats to the rule of law. It will be headlined by MSNBC analyst Joyce Vance, a former U.S. Attorney and a nationally known scholar of the American legal system, and, we hope, Preet Bharara, the former prosecutor and legal author, among others. And in June, we’ll have “Democracy In Color” with noted television commentators Joy Reed, Maya Wiley, and Dr. Jason Johnson.
You can join these and the rest of the season's conversations on any of your electronic devices - we’ll send you precise instructions on how to sign up for the programs in the days before each event. We’ll be using a private Vimeo channel that allows us to live stream our programs safely and without interruption.
And like last year, CPTV will broadcast a one-hour version of each show three times. But this year CPTV also will make the program available to every PBS station in the country.
Conversations On the Green is proud of our full 2020 season featuring Conversations with many of the country’s most provocative thinkers, influential voices, and inspiring headliners.
UPCOMING CONVERSATIONS:
Our Season Finale October 25: The Soul of America: History's Lessons in Hope with Jon Meacham.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, all the programs will be livestreamed with a chat room for safe and interactive audience participation. No matter where you are you can join the Conversation - all you need is a device connected to the internet.
CPTV will broadcast a one-hour version of each show three times after the livestream event.
After this broadcast, the Conversations will be available to watch here and listen to as a podcast.
Join us in this exciting new format, promoting education through meaningful discourse!
Hear this Conversation again by tuning in to CT Public.
Does Democracy Need a Facelift? will be premiering on CT Public June 27 at 6p.m. EDT, with an encore Tuesday, June 29 at 11a.m. EDT.
Watch this Conversation again on CPTV, premiering Sunday October 10, 6 p.m. with repeat airings
Tuesday, October 12, 11 p.m. and Saturday, October 16, 11a.m.
Also on CPTV Spirit: Wednesday, October 13 at 7p.m. Saturday, October 16 at 1:30p.m. and Sunday, October 17 at 6p.m.
Watch this Conversation again on CPTV, premiering Sunday October 10, 6 p.m. with repeat airings
Tuesday, October 12, 11 p.m. and Saturday, October 16, 11a.m.
Also on CPTV Spirit: Wednesday, October 13 at 7p.m. Saturday, October 16 at 1:30p.m. and Sunday, October 17 at 6p.m.
COMMON GROUND SEASON 3 IS AIRING NOW - WATCH NOW
CLICK ON PROGRAM ABOVE TO WATCH NOW!
Since the Kardashians became America’s royalty – famous for being, well, famous – celebrity has defined the country’s culture, an essential element to win power and influence. Donald Trump took celebrity to new heights, using it to become the most powerful man in the world. Now a new generation of luminaries is coming of age. Who are they? What do they have in common? What do they tell us about the country’s direction and its future? Those questions are the focus of Common Ground with Jane Whitney’s sixth show.
Watch this Conversation again on CPTV, premiering Sunday October 24, 6 p.m. with repeat airings
Tuesday, October 26, 11 p.m. and Saturday, October 30, 11a.m.
Also on CPTV Spirit: Wednesday, October 27 at 7p.m. Saturday, October 30 at 1:30p.m. and Sunday, October 31 at 6p.m.
Hear this Conversation again by tuning in to CT Public.
Premiering on CT Public July 25 at 6p.m. EDT, with an encore Tuesday, July 27 at 11p.m. EDT.
Watch this Conversation again on CPTV, premiering Sunday October 10, 6 p.m.
- with repeat airings -
Tuesday, October 12, 11 p.m.
and Saturday, October 16, 11a.m.
Also on CPTV Spirit:
Wednesday, October 13 at 7p.m.
Saturday, October 16 at 1:30p.m.
and Sunday, October 17 at 6p.m.
We’re the first generation to feel the sting of climate change, and we’re the last that can do something about it” has become something of a cliché, a summary of the existential threat posed by global warming. As climate change moves from an imminent peril to a deadly reality for vast swaths of the country, a panel of nationally recognized groundbreakers discuss the gaping dichotomy between what scientists say needs to be done to moderate an impending disaster and the political reality of what is possible.
Watch this Conversation again
by tuning in to CT Public September 26 at 6pm. EDT and Tuesday September 28 at 11am.
CPTV Spirit Wednesday September 29 at 7p.m., Saturday October 2 at 1p.m. and Sunday October 3 at 6p.m. EDT.
This show will also be available to watch on our website September 27.
2021 SEASON
Our Season Finale - a discussion of the state of the country but through an intensely personal lens, a series of vignettes with influencers and thought leaders that, like a jigsaw puzzle, will provide a view of the broad landscape when pieced together.
Whither the GOP? When Donald Trump was sworn into office, the GOP held both houses of Congress and was considered untouchable. Two years later, the Democrats won back the House; two years after that, the Senate and the presidency. While the GOP dominates the South and still controls the majority of state legislatures and governorships, moderate Republicans have been marginalized and are fleeing. Demographic trends are challenging its recruiting, creating a potential existential crisis for the party, and it no longer has a platform beyond the support of Donald Trump. The 11th show of the season examines the future of the GOP, the party culture and politics, and the role of the two-party system.
We’re the first generation to feel the sting of climate change, and we’re the last that can do something about it” has become something of a cliché, a summary of the existential threat posed by global warming. As climate change moves from an imminent peril to a deadly reality for vast swaths of the country, a panel of nationally recognized groundbreakers discuss the gaping dichotomy between what scientists say needs to be done to moderate an impending disaster and the political reality of what is possible.
A century after the ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote, the uncertainty that foreshadowed the suffrage victory foreshadows the precariousness of women’s rights. “Finish the Fight!,” a rallying cry from the battle to win the final battle of the women’s voting rights movement, once again characterizes the ongoing struggle for full gender equality, and is the focus of the show’s ninth episode. The guests discuss the history of the women’s movement and the hurdles that remain.
In the wake of the January 6 insurrection, probably the most serious threat to our constitutional government since the Civil War, leaders of the FBI and law enforcement authorities have repeatedly warned that the threat of domestic grown terrorism is metastasizing. Are they overreacting to a momentary spasm of the body politic or does the danger to our democracy run deeper than previously acknowledged? The panel of experts address the question and discuss what the country can do to reinforce our democracy’s foundations.
Has America lost its preeminent place in the world? Emerging from World War II as the first among equals, the United States became the architect and leader of a series of overlapping international alliances and agreements that relied on cooperation to seed the unrivaled progress and prosperity of the post-war era. Panelists include Richard Haass, David Ignatius, and Robin Wright.
Since the Kardashians became America’s royalty – famous for being, well, famous – celebrity has defined the country’s culture, an essential element to win power and influence. Donald Trump took celebrity to new heights, using it to become the most powerful man in the world. Now a new generation of luminaries is coming of age. Who are they? What do they have in common? What do they tell us about the country’s direction and its future? Those questions are the focus of Common Ground with Jane Whitney’s sixth show.
Case by case, the Supreme Court has rewritten the rules that have long structured the way we live, how we are governed, how we worship, even who we are. Immigration. Health Care. Political representation. Reproductive and religious rights. . . It's hard to find any aspect of daily life beyond the reach of the court's sticky tentacles. In this program, some of the country's most celebrated court watchers will explore the political maelstrom enveloping the court and how the decisions from its just-concluded session will impact the way we live.
In the wake of almost weekly police killings of people of color and with one city after another smoldering over another case of unequal justice, the anguish and anger of bigotry is the focus of "Common Ground with Jane Whitney's" fourth show of the season. Part of an annual series of programs on racism in America, the forum brings together a group of trenchant voices to discuss how race and identity issues are systemic and shape every aspect of life in the country.
The effort to rebuild and fortify democracy in the face of worldwide gains by autocracies is the heart of "Common Ground with Jane Whitney's" third show of the 2021 season. The forum assembles a panel of renowned voices to discuss the escalating threats to undermine the rule of law and to disenfranchise swaths of Americans as well as how the country can rebuild its constitutional guardrails.
Common Ground’s second show of the season focuses on whether longing for common ground is nothing more than the vestigial dream of bygone era – or if the country can recapture the unity of spirit and purpose that has written America’s history in overcoming previous crises. The panelists talk about the formidable forces empowering the fringes and why the majority of Americans are relegated to the political sidelines to bemoan their diminishing influence.
Every shock, like every life, leaves a legacy to reverberate across time. Crises - such as The Great Depression, the fall of the Berlin Wall or the collapse of Lehman Brothers - sent shockwaves racing around the globe and provoked profound but previously unimaginable changes in the way we live and think. To help make sense of the ground shifting beneath our feet as this crisis unfolds, Conversations On the Green will open its ninth season with “Life Beyond The Pandemic.”
COMMON GROUND 2019 SEASON
Suze Orman
Danielle Allen is a political theorist at Harvard University, where she serves as a professor and the Director of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics. She has published numerous books on justice and writes about civics as a contributing columnist to The Washington Post. She formerly served as chair of the Pulitzer Prize board, and in 2021 she became the first Black woman to run for Governor of Massachusetts.
Anand Ghiridharadas
Sister Simone Campbell is a Roman Catholic anti-poverty activist, attorney, author, and recipient of the 2022 Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was the executive director of the progressive Catholic activism group NETWORK for 17 years and formerly led the “Nuns on a Bus” tours promoting awareness of social issues. Her organizing in support of the Affordable Care Act was so instrumental to its passing that she was a guest of honor at its signing and received a hug of thanks from President Barack Obama.
Ebony reed
Masha Gessen, a Russian-American journalist and New Yorker staff writer, is a leading voice on totalitarianism, LGBTQ rights, Russia, and Vladimir Putin. The author of 11 books, Gessen won the National Book Award in 2017 for the Future is History, a breakdown of how Russia regressed from the cusp of democracy to its familiar authoritarianism.
Louise story
Steven Pinker is an experimental cognitive psychologist at Harvard University. His writings on language development and cognition are popular among academic and mainstream readers for their groundbreaking discoveries and compelling, accessible writing style. Pinker is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, was on Time’s “100 Most Influential People” list in 2004, and was one of Foreign Policy’s “Top 100 Global Thinkers” in 2005, 2008, and 2010.