Rick Sebak, a documentary filmmaker from Pittsburgh, is one of public television’s secret weapons. While he doesn’t have the name recognition of a Ken Burns or a David Grubin, Sebak in recent years has produced a string of wonderfully whimsical films about American culture for PBS, bringing a light touch to a lineup dominated by serious documentaries about heavy topics.
This isn’t to say Sebak is a lightweight, as he proves once again tonight with “A Cemetery Special” (7 p.m., KRMA-Channel 6).
His subjects may be great hot dog stands, flea markets, unusual regional sandwiches and strange roadside attractions. But while he often is amused by aspects of what he finds, Sebak treats these American quirks and the people who love them with respect, and there’s an underlying seriousness to his folksy storytelling.
One of the strongest aspects of “Cemetery” is Sebak’s avoidance of the predictable. Rather than offering a quick-glance nationwide tour of the burial sites of the famous and notorious, he visits places that make points about the American way of burial.
Sebak – who produces, writes and narrates his work – journeys to Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Cemetery for some history, Boston’s gorgeous Mount Auburn Cemetery for a discourse on the beauty of burial grounds and a cemetery in Key West for a discussion of the quirky and unusual in gravestones.
There are chats with people who go to cemeteries for the beauty and peace (the word “cemetery” is drawn from the Greek for “sleeping place”), and discussions with scholars who have spent lifetimes studying the symbolism of grave sites.
Sebak also finds time to look at the arts and cemeteries – the sculpture that adorns many graves and cemeteries, including one in Atlanta that offers performance spaces for music and poetry.
It all ends in a cemetery outside Fairbanks, Alaska, a burying ground that has grown up haphazardly but that beautifully reflects the diverse community it serves with special areas for Alaskan pioneers and Natives and uniquely designed headstones.
Sebak clearly enjoys his work, and his love of America and Americana shines through “Cemetery.” Done with intelligence, efficiency and charm, it is a fine piece of filmmaking.
Wallace “get” for NBC
Mike Wallace, a 46-year CBS veteran, will do the first TV interview about his new book … on NBC.
A taped, two-part Wallace sit-down with Katie Couric is scheduled for “Dateline NBC” Sunday (7 p.m., KUSA-Channel 9), with the third segment to run on “Today” the next day.
“Nobody was interested at CBS. It was quite apparent,” says Wallace, 87, whose second book, “Between You and Me” (Hyperion), went on sale Tuesday. “CBS knew the book was coming. It’s really strange. Nobody reached out.”
Not true, CBS says.
Wallace is booked for “The Early Show” on Tuesday, a network rep says. (Still, NBC has first dibs.) Hyperion pitched Wallace to all the networks, says a rep for the publisher, but the NBC deal was sealed “ages ago” by a personal letter to Wallace from “Today” co-anchor Couric, also a contributing anchor for “Dateline.”
