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As Showtime has announced the premiere date for Dexter, Homeland, Masters of Sex, Ray Donovan and the LOL Specials, it also announced the dates for the documentary specials that is launching this summer season.
Among the new titles there are: Kingdom Come, Last Days Here, Richard Pryor: Omit The Logic, Knuckleball!, Rock ‘N’ Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen, and Virgin Tales.
And here´s what they are about, and the dates each of those will premiere only on Showtime.
Kingdom Come
Premieres: Wednesday, May 15th at 7pm (ET/PT)
Actor Daniel Gillies (The Vampire Diaries) makes a vow to not act again until he directs his first feature film. KINGDOM COME chronicles the incredible battles Gillies faces in creating and (more importantly) financing his independent film. Punctuated with interviews with some of the industry’s most popular names – Morgan Spurlock, Kevin Smith, Edward Burns, and Don Cheadle to name a few – KINGDOM COME gives an insider’s view into the struggles independent filmmakers confront every day. The world television premiere of KINGDOM COME will lead into the fruit of Gillies’s labors: the award-winning film Broken Kingdom.
Last Days Here
Premieres: Thursday, May 23rd at 9:30pm (ET/PT)
Cult rock legend Bobby Liebling has been churning out genre-defining hard rock for more than 36 years as the lead singer of the band Pentagram. Various acts of self-destruction, multiple band break-ups, and botched record deals have condemned his music to obscurity. Frozen for decades in his parents basement, Liebling is finally discovered by the heavy metal underground. With the help of Sean ‘Pellet’ Pelletier, his friend and manager, Liebling struggles to overcome his demons. Directed by Don Argott and Demian Fenton (Rock School, The Art of the Steal), LAST DAYS HERE chronicles the triumphs and downfalls of this underground icon who finds himself at the crossroads of life and death.
Richard Pryor: Omit The Logic
Premieres: Friday, May 31st at 9pm (ET/PT)
Comedians past and present recount the culture-defining influence of one of America’s most brilliant, iconic minds in RICHARD PRYOR: OMIT THE LOGIC. Directed by Emmy winner Marina Zenovich, the film looks at the legend whose voice was a blend of brutal honesty and uncanny observation and whose humor changed America. Premiering, Friday, May 31st, the documentary is executive produced by Roy Ackerman (Food Revolution) and Pryor’s widow Jennifer Pryor.
Knuckleball!
Premieres: Wednesday, June 12th at 7:25pm (ET/PT)
Knuckleball! follows Tim Wakefield and Mets pitcher RA Dickey through the 2011 Major League baseball season as they face struggles unique to the knuckleballer alone. Dickey is coming off his first successful season at the Major League level, at the hardly-tender age of 34. Armed with his first guaranteed contract of his career ($8 million over 2 years), he has to prove he has a place in the big leagues on a starting rotation. On the other hand, Wake – as his teammates and loyal legions of Red Sox fans call him – is weeks away from turning 45 (and the oldest player in the game) and he is seven games away from the remarkable milestone of 200 career wins.
Interviewees include 75-year-old Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, Jim Bouton, Charlie Hough, Tom Candiotti, Wilbur Wood, Ben McGrath, Roger Angell, David Waldstein, Dave Lennon, Tony Masserotti, Jason Varitek, Doug Mirabelli, Josh Thole, Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Terry Francona, Joe Torre, Bill “The Spaceman” Lee and Ron Darling.
Rich with footage from deep within the Major League Baseball archive, along with never-before-seen photos home video from the players themselves, we get a glimpse of the resonance of baseball through a single pitch.
Rock ‘N’ Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen
Premieres: Thursday, June 13th at 7pm (ET/PT)
From Led Zeppelin to The Rolling Stones, Elvis to Madonna, Bob Dylan to Bob Marley, John Lennon to Johnny Rotten, the world’s foremost rock ‘n’ roll photographer Bob Gruen has captured half a century of music through the eye of a lens. Grammy Award-winning filmmaker Don Letts explores Gruen’s life and work as he opens up his amazing archive on television for the very first time. Revealing the remarkable stories behind some of the most iconic photographs ever taken, Gruen gives an insight into the personalities behind the images and shares his memories of wild times spent with rock ‘n’ roll stars, as well as intimate and tragic recollections of his close friendship with John Lennon. The film features interviews with Gruen’s friends: Yoko Ono, Iggy Pop, members of Green Day, Alice Cooper, Tommy Ramone, Sean Lennon, Debbie Harry and many more.
Virgin Tales
Planned Airdate: July 2013
Evangelical Christians are calling out for a second sexual revolution: chastity! As a counter-movement to the attitudes and practices of today’s liberal culture, today one in eight girls in the U.S. has vowed to remain “unsoiled” until marriage. But the seven children of the Wilson family, founders of the Purity Ball, take this concept of purity of body and mind one step further: even their first kiss will be at the altar. For two years, the filmmakers follow the Wilson’s as some of their children prepare for their fairytale vision of romance and marriage and seek out their own prince and princess spouses. In the process, a broader theme emerges: how the Religious Right is grooming a young generation of virgins to embody an Evangelically-grounded Utopia in America.
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