‘In Their Own Words’ is royally boring series
Over the next two weeks, PBS will present two documentaries in the series “In Their Own Words” (8 p.m., WKNO-TV Channel 10) using subjects’ own public speeches, interviews, writings and private musings to frame their profiles. As you might expect, these are fairly positive spins.
“Words” begins with the public life of the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II, whose six-decade reign has come to equal that of Queen Victoria. The gushing Anglophilia of the proceedings begins almost immediately when a royal expert informs us: “If you haven’t got a queen, you make do with film stars and pop stars, but if you have a queen, it’s obviously so much better.”
Listening to such condescending twaddle from an obsequious twit, I so wished Christopher Hitchens were still alive. Nobody so enjoyed thrashing royal worshippers as much as the late, hard-drinking, chainsmoking essayist. He died in 2011, still writing and raging against the inanity of those who scuttled after the sceptered set.
Right off the bat, “Words” seeks to link Elizabeth to six centuries of British royals, dating back to medieval times. Really? The British people were all too aware that her family was imported German royalty. So aware, that it took the wise public relations move of changing its name to the House of Windsor during World War I.
Britons with a sense of humor and a sense of history needed no reminding of the origins of these most “British” royals. Author Anthony Burgess (“A Clockwork Orange”) used to revel in mocking the “sausage-eating usurpers” on the throne, reminding his readers that the royal family had been German since George I, a guy who didn’t even bother to learn to speak English.
But there are few such discouraging details in “In Their Own Words.” It’s filled with celebrities and royalty scholars offering sweeping platitudes about the queen’s maternal warmth and reassuring nature.
“Her Majesty,” the last cut on the final LP the Beatles ever recorded, summed Queen Elizabeth II up as “a pretty nice girl who doesn’t have a lot to say.” But she obviously said enough for an hour’s worth of “In Their Own Words.”
Next week: Muhammad Ali.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
Twelve acts enter the semifinals on “America’s Got Talent” (7 p.m., WMCTV Channel 5).
A leopard’s DNA may hold key on “Zoo” (8 p.m., WREG-TV Channel 3).
A drug mule’s timepiece is evidence on “Rizzoli & Isles” (8 p.m., TNT).
Barry puts Rami in charge of the transition on the second season finale of “Tyrant” (9 p.m., FX).
A two-hour repeat of “Frontline” (9 p.m., WKNO-TV Channel 10) explains Vladimir Putin’s hold on power in Russia.