1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
HBO
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Home Box Office is an American premium cable and satellite television network that is owned by Time Warner through its respective flagship company Home Box Office, Inc. HBO is the oldest and longest continuously operating pay television service in the United States, in 2014, HBO had an adjusted operating income of US$1.79 billion, compared to the US$1.68 billion it accrued in 2013. HBO has 49 million subscribers in the United States and 130 million worldwide as of 2016, the network provides seven 24-hour multiplex channels, including HBO Comedy, HBO Latino, HBO Signature and HBO Family. It launched the streaming service HBO Now in April 2015, and has over 2 million subscribers in the United States as of February 2017. In addition to its U. S. subscriber base, HBO distributes content in at least 151 countries, HBO subscribers generally pay for an extra tier of service that includes other cable- and satellite-exclusive channels even before paying for the channel itself. Cable providers can require the use of a converter box – usually digital – in order to receive HBO, many HBO programs have been syndicated to other networks and broadcast television stations, and a number of HBO-produced series and films have been released on DVD. The new system, which Dolan named Sterling Information Services, became the first urban underground cable system in the United States. In that same year, Time-Life, Inc. purchased a 20% stake in Dolans company, in the summer of 1971, while on a family vacation in France, Charles Dolan began to think of ideas to make Sterling Manhattan profitable. He came up with the concept for a television service. Dolan later presented his idea to Time-Life management, though satellite distribution seemed only a distant possibility at the time, he persuaded Time-Life to back him on the project. To gauge whether consumers would be interested in subscribing to a pay television service, in a meeting of Dolan and some Time-Life executives who were working on the project, various other names were discussed for the new service. Home Box Office launched on November 8,1972, however, HBOs launch came without fanfare in the press, as it was not covered by any local or national media outlets. Home Box Office distributed its first sports event immediately after the film, Four months later in February 1973, Home Box Office aired its first television special, the Pennsylvania Polka Festival. Home Box Office would use a network of relay towers to distribute its programming to cable systems throughout its service area. Sterling Manhattan Cable continued to lose money because the company had only a small base of 20,000 customers in Manhattan. Time-Life dropped the Sterling name and the company was renamed Manhattan Cable Television under Time-Lifes control in March 1973, Gerald Levin, who had been with Home Box Office since it began operations as its vice president of programming, replaced Dolan as the companys president and chief executive officer. In September 1973, Time-Life, Inc. completed its acquisition of the pay service. HBO would eventually increase its fortunes within two years, by April 1975, the service had around 100,000 subscribers in Pennsylvania and New York state, in 1974, they settled on using a geostationary communications satellite to transmit HBO to cable providers throughout the United States
3.
NBC
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The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is part of the Big Three television networks, founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC is the oldest major broadcast network in the United States. Following the acquisition by GE, Bob Wright served as executive officer of NBC, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its entertainment assets with GE, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011, and acquired General Electrics remaining stake in 2013. Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBC Universal and was replaced as CEO by Comcast executive Steve Burke, during a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer Radio Corporation of America acquired New York City radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph. Westinghouse, a shareholder in RCA, had an outlet in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&Ts manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&Ts telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, the 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF maintained a schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with Outlet Company-owned WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric. In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were incompatible with the companys primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&Ts phone lines for network transmission, the divisions ownership was split among RCA, its founding corporate parent General Electric and Westinghouse. NBC officially started broadcasting on November 15,1926, WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On April 5,1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network and this was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18,1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network, initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco. The Orange Network name was removed from use in 1936, at the same time, the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations, in 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect Floyd Brown
4.
52nd Primetime Emmy Awards
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The 52nd Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 10,2000. The ceremony was hosted by Garry Shandling and was broadcast on ABC, two networks, Bravo and The WB, received their first major nominations. This remains the year in which a show from The WB or its descendants received a major nomination. For its second season, Will & Grace led all comedy series with three wins, including Outstanding Comedy Series. Ally McBeal became the first defending champion, that wasnt cancelled or ended, the drama field was dominated by first year series The West Wing. In addition to winning Outstanding Drama Series, the series won five awards total
5.
Walking with Dinosaurs
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Walking with Dinosaurs is a six-part documentary television miniseries created by Tim Haines and produced by BBC Natural History Unit. The series first aired on the BBC in the United Kingdom in 1999 with narration by Kenneth Branagh, the series was subsequently aired in North America on the Discovery Channel in 2000, with Avery Brooks replacing Branagh. The first entry in the Walking with, series, the program explores ancient life of the Mesozoic Era, portraying dinosaurs and their contemporaries in the style of a traditional nature documentary. The Guinness Book of World Records reported that the series was the most expensive documentary series per minute ever produced, the series received critical acclaim, winning two BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award in 2000. A feature film of the name, inspired by the series, was released in 2013. A re-edited version of Walking with Dinosaurs aired on Discovery Kids for the first season of Prehistoric Planet and it was made more appropriate for children by removing most of the graphic content and trimming down some footage to fit the run time. Creator Tim Haines contemplated the idea of a documentary in 1996. Together, with producer Jasper James and effects specialist Mike Milne, Haines shot a pilot in Cyprus as a proof-of-concept to BBC Worldwide. Filming consisted of wide landscape shots devoid of any live-action creatures, ILM projected a cost of $10,000 per every second of footage featuring a CGI shot, an estimate which BBC deemed too expensive for a television budget. Instead, Haines contracted Framestore, a local British visual effects company to create the CGI elements, Framestore consulted several paleontologists in assisting them with developing natural movements and appearances for the dinosaurs. The CG work was created over the course of two years, in the first episode of Walking with Dinosaurs, Postosuchus urinates copiously. However, Benton notes that nobody can prove this was a mistake, copious urination is the primitive state for tetrapods. He believes many other claims of errors identified in the first weeks fizzled out, as the critics had found points about which they disagreed, ornitholestes, a theropod dinosaur of the Late Jurassic, is shown with a small crest atop its head. However, subsequent studies have concluded that it most likely did not have such a crest, Tropeognathus is depicted as far larger than it actually was. However, these specimens have not been formally described, the largest definite Tropeognathus specimens known measure 6 metres in wingspan. The specimens which the producers of the used to justify such a large size estimate are currently undescribed. Unwin stated that he does not believe this highest estimate is likely, however, no other Early Cretaceous pterosaurs reached its size. Similarly, Liopleurodon is depicted as being 25m long in the series, Ben Bartlett composed the score for Walking with Dinosaurs
6.
American Broadcasting Company
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The network is headquartered on Columbus Avenue and West 66th Street in Manhattan, New York City. There are additional offices and production facilities elsewhere in New York City, as well as in Los Angeles and Burbank. Since 2007, when ABC Radio was sold to Citadel Broadcasting, ABC originally launched on October 12,1943, as a radio network, separated from and serving as the successor to the NBC Blue Network, which had been purchased by Edward J. Noble. It extended its operations to television in 1948, following in the footsteps of established broadcast networks CBS, in the mid-1950s, ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres, a chain of movie theaters that formerly operated as a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures. Leonard Goldenson, who had been the head of UPT, made the new television network profitable by helping develop, in 1996, most of Capital Cities/ABCs assets were purchased by The Walt Disney Company. The television network has eight owned-and-operated and over 232 affiliated television stations throughout the United States, most Canadians have access to at least one U. S. ABC News provides news and features content for radio stations owned by Citadel Broadcasting. In the 1930s, radio in the United States was dominated by three companies, the Columbia Broadcasting System, the Mutual Broadcasting System and the National Broadcasting Company. The last was owned by electronics manufacturer Radio Corporation of America, in 1938, the FCC began a series of investigations into the practices of radio networks and published its report on the broadcasting of network radio programs in 1940. The report recommended that RCA give up control of either NBC Red or NBC Blue, at that time, the NBC Red Network was the principal radio network in the United States and, according to the FCC, RCA was using NBC Blue to eliminate any hint of competition. Once Mutuals appeals against the FCC were rejected, RCA decided to sell NBC Blue in 1941, the newly separated NBC Red and NBC Blue divided their respective corporate assets. Investment firm Dillon, Read & Co. offered $7.5 million to purchase the network, Edward John Noble, the owner of Life Savers candy, drugstore chain Rexall and New York City radio station WMCA, purchased the network for $8 million. Due to FCC ownership rules, the transaction, which was to include the purchase of three RCA stations by Noble, would require him to resell his station with the FCCs approval, the Commission authorized the transaction on October 12,1943. Soon afterward, the Blue Network was purchased by the new company Noble founded, Noble subsequently acquired the rights to the American Broadcasting Company name from George B. Meanwhile, in August 1944, the West Coast division of the Blue Network, both stations were then managed by Don Searle, the vice-president of the Blue Networks West Coast division. The ABC Radio Network created its audience slowly, the network also became known for such suspenseful dramas as Sherlock Holmes, Gang Busters and Counterspy, as well as several mid-afternoon youth-oriented programs. S. From Nazi Germany after its conquest, to pre-record its programming, while its radio network was undergoing reconstruction, ABC found it difficult to avoid falling behind on the new medium of television. To ensure a space, in 1947, ABC submitted five applications for television station licenses, the ABC television network made its debut on April 19,1948, with WFIL-TV in Philadelphia becoming its first primary affiliate
7.
The Blue Planet
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The Blue Planet is a British nature documentary series created and produced by the BBC. It was premiered on 12 September 2001 in the United Kingdom and it is narrated by David Attenborough. Described as the first ever comprehensive series on the history of the worlds oceans. The underwater photography included creatures and behaviour that had never been filmed. The series won a number of Emmy and BAFTA TV awards for its music, the executive producer was Alastair Fothergill and the music was composed by George Fenton. Attenborough narrated this series before presenting the next in his Life series of programmes, The Life of Mammals, the series took almost five years to make, involving nearly 200 filming locations. The fact that most of the environment remains a mystery presented the production team with many challenges. Besides witnessing some animal behaviours for the first time, the crew also observed some that were new to science, the producers were helped by marine scientists all over the world with state-of-the-art equipment. Blue whales — whose migration routes were previously unknown — were located by air, the camera team spent three years on standby, using a microlight to land on the water nearby when they finally caught up with the creatures in the Gulf of California. The open ocean proved more difficult and over 400 days were spent in often unsuccessful filming trips, after six weeks, the crew chanced upon a school of spinner dolphins, which in turn led them to a shoal of tuna. Off Mexico, the behaviour of a flock of frigatebirds guided the cameramen to a group of sailfish and marlin, meanwhile, in Monterey Bay, orca were documented attacking gray whales and killing a calf. Filming in the deep ocean required the use of special submersibles, One of them enabled the crew to dive over a mile into the San Diego trench, where the carcass of a 40-ton gray whale had been placed to attract a large variety of scavengers. When first transmitted on BBC One, over 12 million people watched the series, the accompanying book, The Blue Planet, A Natural History of the Oceans by Andrew Byatt, Alastair Fothergill and Martha Holmes, was published by BBC Worldwide on 27 September 2001. The companion volume for the US market of the book was published by Dorling Kindersley. Deep Blue is a 2003 nature documentary film that is a version of The Blue Planet. Alastair Fothergill and Andy Byatt are credited as directors, and six cinematographers are also credited, the film was premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain on September 20,2003. It screened in more than 20 territories from 2003 to 2005, the Blue Planet was turned into a theatrical presentation entitled The Blue Planet Live. Which toured the UK from 2006 to 2008, the UK live shows were presented by World Class Service Ltd
8.
9/11 (2002 film)
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9/11 is a 2002 French-American documentary film about the September 11 attacks in New York City, in which two planes crashed into the buildings of the World Trade Center. The film is from the point of view of the New York City Fire Department, the film was directed by Jules and Gedeon Naudet, and FDNY firefighter James Hanlon. On the morning of September 11, the firehouse, under the direction of Battalion Chief Joseph Pfeifer, was called out on an odor of gas at Church. Jules rode with Pfeifer to investigate, while Gedeon stayed behind at the firehouse with the probie, as the Battalion 1 firefighters examine the supposed gas leak, American Airlines Flight 11 flew overhead. The firefighters, under the direction of Chief Pfeifer, were the first responders on the scene, Jules, Chief Pfeifer and several other FDNY Chiefs were inside the lobby of Tower 1 when Tower 2 was hit by the second aircraft and when Tower 2 eventually collapsed. CBS aired 9/11 commercial-free on March 10,2002, to mark the six months since the attacks, the film was watched by 39.4 million viewers, bringing in a rating/share of 22. 3/33, and was the highest rated program that week. Hosted by actor Robert De Niro, CBSs broadcast was repeated on the first anniversary as well, the film aired in 103 countries in 2002 alone. The DVD of the documentary was released in proximity, although De Niros footage was edited out of the DVD release, CBS re-aired the film, hosted again by De Niro, on September 10,2006, the night before the fifth anniversary of the attacks. However, this version contained updates from the members of the documentary as of 2006. The film was noted for its use of profanity, which in regular circumstances on American broadcast media would be subject to censorship by the broadcaster or the Federal Communications Commission. However, a recent ruling by an appeals court had successfully granted a temporary halt to the FCCs enforcement of its indecency rules. This allowed CBS and any affiliates to air the documentary without edits, on Sunday, September 11,2011, CBS broadcast 9/11, Ten Years Later, once again hosted by Robert De Niro. DeNiro was to be joined by the Naudet brothers and James Hanlon, as with all previous broadcasts of the film, CBS aired repeated viewer discretion warnings before and during the broadcast. On August 22,2016, CNN picked up the rights to the film for the 15th anniversary, 9/11 was nominated for and won multiple awards including an Emmy for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special and won a Peabody Award. 9/11 at the Internet Movie Database
9.
CBS
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CBS is an American commercial broadcast television network that is a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major facilities and operations in New York City. CBS is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network, in reference to the iconic logo. It has also called the Tiffany Network, alluding to the perceived high quality of CBS programming during the tenure of William S. Paley. It can also refer to some of CBSs first demonstrations of color television, the network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters Inc. a collection of 16 radio stations that was purchased by Paley in 1928 and renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System. Under Paleys guidance, CBS would first become one of the largest radio networks in the United States, in 1974, CBS dropped its former full name and became known simply as CBS, Inc. In 2000, CBS came under the control of Viacom, which was formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971, CBS Corporation is controlled by Sumner Redstone through National Amusements, which also controls the current Viacom. The television network has more than 240 owned-and-operated and affiliated stations throughout the United States. The origins of CBS date back to January 27,1927, Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18,1927, with a presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, and fifteen affiliates. Operational costs were steep, particularly the payments to AT&T for use of its land lines, in early 1928 Judson sold the network to brothers Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of the networks Philadelphia affiliate WCAU, and their partner Jerome Louchenheim. With the record out of the picture, Paley quickly streamlined the corporate name to Columbia Broadcasting System. He believed in the power of advertising since his familys La Palina cigars had doubled their sales after young William convinced his elders to advertise on radio. By September 1928, Paley bought out the Louchenheim share of CBS, during Louchenheims brief regime, Columbia paid $410,000 to A. H. Grebes Atlantic Broadcasting Company for a small Brooklyn station, WABC, which would become the networks flagship station. WABC was quickly upgraded, and the relocated to 860 kHz. The physical plant was relocated also – to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street in Manhattan, by the turn of 1929, the network could boast to sponsors of having 47 affiliates. Paley moved right away to put his network on a financial footing. In the fall of 1928, he entered talks with Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures. The deal came to fruition in September 1929, Paramount acquired 49% of CBS in return for a block of its stock worth $3.8 million at the time
10.
56th Primetime Emmy Awards
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The 56th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 19,2004. The ceremony was hosted by Garry Shandling and was broadcast on ABC, the HBO miniseries Angels in America had the most successful night. It became the first, and only, program to sweep every major category, going 7/7 and it also joined Caesars Hour, in 1957, as the only program to win all four main acting categories. Upstart comedy series Arrested Development won Outstanding Comedy Series and three major awards overall and its pilot became the twelfth episode to accomplish the directing/writing double. After years of winning everything but the top prize, The Sopranos finally took home the crown for Outstanding Drama Series and it led all dramas with twelve major nominations and four major wins. Entering its final ceremony, five-time series champion Frasier needed five major wins to tie The Mary Tyler Moore Shows record of 27 major wins, because it was only nominated in five major categories, breaking the record was not possible. Though it did not tie the record, Frasier finished its Emmy career on a high note and its 25 major wins put it at second of all time. When adding its wins in categories, its total rises to 37. Emmys. com list of 2004 Nominees & Winners 2004 Emmy Awards at the Internet Movie Database
11.
The Amazing Race (U.S. TV series)
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The Amazing Race is an American reality competition show in which typically eleven teams of two race around the world. Teams are progressively eliminated at the end of most legs, while the first team to arrive at the end of the final leg wins the prize of US$1 million. As the original version of the Amazing Race franchise, the CBS program has been running since 2001, the series was renewed for a 29th season, which premiered on March 30,2017. Numerous international versions have been developed following the core structure. The show was created by Elise Doganieri and Bertram van Munster, the show is produced by Earthview Inc. Jerry Bruckheimer Television for CBS Television Studios and ABC Studios. The series has been hosted by veteran New Zealand television personality Phil Keoghan since its inception, although it has moved around several prime time slots since its inception, the program has averaged about 10 million viewers per season. The Amazing Race is a reality competition, typically involving eleven teams of two, in a race around the world. The race cycle is divided into a number of legs, normally twelve, each leg ends with a Pit Stop, where teams are given a chance to rest and recover before starting the next leg twelve hours later. The first team to arrive at a Pit Stop is often awarded a prize such as a trip, some legs are non-elimination legs, where the last team to arrive may be penalized in the following leg. Some races have featured double-length legs, where the meet the host at what appears to be a Pit Stop. The final leg of each race is run by the last three remaining teams, and the first to arrive at the final destination wins the shows prize, the average length of each race is approximately 25 to 30 days. During each leg, teams follow clues from Route Markers—boxes containing clue envelopes marked in the red, yellow. Travel between destinations includes commercial and chartered airplanes, boats, trains, taxis, buses, and rented vehicles provided by the show, teams are required to pay for all expenses while traveling from a small stipend given to them at the start of each leg. Any money left unspent can be used in future legs of the race, the only exception is air travel, where teams are given a credit card to purchase economy-class fares. Some teams have used the tactic of begging to replenish lost money, clues may also describe a number of tasks that teams must complete before continuing to race. As such, teams are free and sometimes required to engage locals to help in any manner to decipher clues. Tasks are typically designed to highlight the culture of the country they are in. Such tasks include, Route Info, A general clue that may include a task to be completed by the team before they can receive their next clue, Detours, A choice of two tasks
12.
54th Primetime Emmy Awards
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The 54th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 22,2002. Nominations were announced July 22,2002, the ceremony was hosted by Conan OBrien and was broadcast on NBC. Two networks, FX, and VH1 received their first major nominations this year, the program America, A Tribute to Heroes was simulcast on every major network, and therefore, is not designated with one below. After four nominations during its first seven seasons, Friends won the Outstanding Comedy Series—as of 2015, everybody Loves Raymond led all comedies with nine major nominations and three major wins. Meanwhile, after eight nominations, Frasier was excluded from the Outstanding Comedy Series nomination for the first time. It would not be nominated for its two seasons either. For the third year, the drama field was dispatched by The West Wing. This tied the set by Hill Street Blues in 1982. The West Wing led all shows in major nominations and wins with sixteen and four
