Meredith Vieira, Host of THE GREAT AMERICAN READ
Courtesy of Stephanie Berger
- Gabrielle Union, Jason Reynolds, George R.R. Martin, Wynton Marsalis, Morgan Freeman, Junot D az, Margaret Atwood and Many More Featured in the Series, As America Goes in Search of Its Best-Loved Book -
- Show Premieres Tuesday, May 22, 2018, 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET on PBS Stations Nationwide -
ARLINGTON, VA; March 28, 2018 -- PBS announced today that television personality and journalist Meredith Vieira will host THE GREAT AMERICAN READ, a new eight-part television series launching on PBS stations with a two-hour special event on Tuesday, May 22, 2018 at 8:00 p.m. In THE GREAT AMERICAN READ, Vieira will take viewers on a journey across the country to uncover the nation's 100 most-loved novels, the people who love them and their authors.
As host of the series, Vieira will tie together the overarching themes of our national love of literature and guide viewers on a search to discover America's best-loved book. Vieira is known for co-hosting NBC News' Today and serving as moderator of ABC's The View. Throughout her career, she has gained national recognition for her reporting on such programs as The Meredith Vieira Show, 60 Minutes and CBS News. She entertained the nation with her role as host of the popular syndicated quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and has won 14 Emmys for her work, engaging and educating the American public with hard-hitting news stories and heart-warming programming.
It is a privilege to partner with PBS to bring THE GREAT AMERICAN READ to viewers across the country, said Vieira. The power of reading is extraordinary - it allows us to escape to new worlds, introduces us to a diverse range of people, opens our minds to different ideas, and allows us to keep learning no matter our age or background. THE GREAT AMERICAN READ offers a forum for readers to express what titles and stories they're passionate about and share how novels impacted their lives. I am honored to be a part of this discussion.
We are thrilled to have Meredith join us on this national quest to discover America's Most-Loved Novel', said Bill Gardner, VP of Programming & Development for PBS. Meredith brings a unique warmth and journalistic sensitivities that make her the perfect host for our exploration of American culture and our shared experiences as reflected by our favorite books.
As a fixture in American households for decades, Meredith's voice is the natural choice to guide the audience through this unique and multi-platform journey to find the most beloved novel, said Jane Root, founder and CEO of Nutopia. We are confident she has the ability to inspire viewers to read, vote and share their personal connections to the stories we explore in THE GREAT AMERICAN READ. Jane Root also serves as an executive producer on PBS' CIVILIZATIONS.
Many key authors, celebrities and notable figures in the entertainment, sports, news and literary worlds will join Vieira in lending their voices and passion to THE GREAT AMERICAN READ. Margaret Atwood, Jenna and Barbara Bush, Chelsea Clinton, Junot D az, Morgan Freeman, Lauren Graham, John Green, Gayle King, George R. R. Martin, Shaquille O'Neal, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jason Reynolds, Gabrielle Union, Ming-Na Wen and many others will share their personal stories and connections to their favorite titles throughout the series.
Following the two-hour launch event of THE GREAT AMERICAN READ, and throughout the summer, viewers will be encouraged to read and engage in the conversation by participating in local events, and by visiting the interactive website and voting for their favorite book on the list at pbs.org/greatamericanread. The series will return in September with a recap and additional themed episodes exploring the nominated books, leading up to the reveal of America's Best-Loved Novel on Tuesday, October 23.
To complement THE GREAT AMERICAN READ, PBS KIDS will host PBS KIDS READ as part of an annual summer learning initiative for children ages 2-8 and their families. PBS KIDS READ will encourage reading and related activities through a variety of resources for children and parents, including social media engagement, digital games and tools, and downloadable activities. In addition, PBS member stations across the country will host literacy and learning events in local communities throughout the summer months.
PBS will partner with its nearly 350 local member stations in support of THE GREAT AMERICAN READ through grants designed to support active creation, distribution and promotion of the series, as well as through the formation and strengthening of local partnerships.
Funding for THE GREAT AMERICAN READ is provided by The Anne Ray Foundation and PBS.
THE GREAT AMERICAN READ is a production of Nutopia for PBS. The program is executive produced by Jane Root, Michael Cascio, Bob Kirsh and Charles Marquardt; co-executive produced by Rebecca Ratliff Cameron; line produced by Rachael Jerahian; and produced by Nilam Agrawal-Desai, Katherine Linton, Kate Chumley, Justine Simonson, Michelle Smawley, Siobhan Lockhart, Annie Wong and Tomek Gross. Bill Gardner, VP of Programming and Development, is executive in charge for PBS and Bethany Latham is project director.
Amplifying the on-air and online series content will be a fully illustrated companion book, The Great American Read: The Book of Books, which will include information about the 100 novels, author profiles, rare images of original manuscripts and more, plus a foreword by THE GREAT AMERICAN READ host Meredith Vieira, to be published by Black Dog & Leventhal in August 2018.
About Meredith Vieira
Meredith Vieira is a 14-time Emmy Award-winning host, executive producer and anchor. Most recently, she s
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Meredith Vieira, Host of THE GREAT AMERICAN READ
