----------------------------Original message----------------------------
        I've seen four episodes of this series on KCET in Los Angeles
so far, and I've not exactly been impressed with the series so far,
either.  I thought the opening show was interesting, as the producer
tried to identify/define "American Cinema."  But the rest of the
series has so far been less interesting.  I think, as the producer
mentioned in an article in the L.A. Times tv guide, that it really is
geared to folks who don't have a strong sense of the history of U.S.
cinema, but just watch old movies on tv and go out occassionally to
see some of the currently running Hollywood studio movies.
        I'm going to keep watching the series, because I am
interested in how the rest of the "chapters" are produced, and
perhaps I'll come away with a better diagnosis of the series by the
time it ends and is off the air.  But it certainly doesn't seem to be
a "definitive" video program/series on U.S. filmmaking.
        Doug Simpson