"The American Experience" Kinsey (2005)

Directors:

Barak Goodman
John Maggio

Writer:

Barak Goodman (written by)

TV Series:

"The American Experience" (1987)

Original Air Date:

14 February 2005 (Season 17, Episode 5)

Genre:

Documentary | History

Plot:

Documentary examining the impact and continuing influence of 'Alfred Kinsey' 's groundbreaking research on human sexuality.

Plot Keywords:

Scientist | Homosexuality | Teaching | Professor | Extramarital Affair

Cast

Campbell Scott	...	Narrator (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kenneth Anger	...	Himself
John Bancroft	...	Himself
Bob Bayer	...	Himself
Alice Binkley	...	Herself
Morris Binkley	...	Himself
T. Coraghessan Boyle	...	Himself (as T.C. Boyle)
Brad Cook
Bradley Douglas Cook	...	Alfred Kinsey (as Brad Cook)
Martin Duberman	...	Himself
Julia Ericksen	...	Herself
Jamie Gagnon	...	Himself (as John Gagnon)
Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy	...	Himself
Paul Gebhard	...	Himself
Alice Ginott Cohn	...	Herself
Caroline Harting
Miriam Hecht	...	Herself
James H. Jones	...	Himself
Ann Kinsey Call	...	Herself
Joan Kinsey Reid	...	Herself
Alfred Kinsey	...	Himself (archive footage)
Edward Laumann	...	Himself
Clyde Martin	...	Himself
Jefferson Mays	...	Voice
Joan Mister	...	Herself
Jeff Post
Barbara Seaman	...	Herself
Patricia Franck Sheffield	...	Herself
John Tebbel	...	Himself
Leonore Tiefert	...	Herself

Directed by
Barak Goodman
John Maggio

Writing credits
Barak Goodman		(written by)

Produced by
Catherine Allan	....	executive producer
Glenn Fukushima	....	post-production producer
Barak Goodman	....	producer
Sharon Grimberg	....	series producer
Caroline Harting	....	associate producer
Steve Krahnke	....	executive producer
John Maggio	....	producer
Susan Mottau	....	coordinating producer
Mark Samels	....	executive producer
Gregory Shea	....	post-production producer

Original Music by
Gary Lionelli

Cinematography by
Stephen McCarthy

Film Editing by
John Maggio
George O'Donnell

Production Design by
Alison Kennedy		(series designer)

Production Management
Eugene Brancolini	....	production manager
Nicole Rodgers	....	production manager
Nicole Rogers	....	production manager
Steve Solie	....	production manager
Michael W. Watkins	....	production manager

Sound Department
Dominick Barbera	....	sound re-recording mixer
Scott Cannizzaro	....	sound re-recording mixer
Jim Goodwin	....	sound
John Jenkins	....	sound mixer
Joe Maggio	....	sound
Mark Mandler	....	sound recordist
David Novack	....	sound mixer
Ken Preis	....	sound
Ken Pries	....	additional sound
Jacob Ribicoff	....	sound editor
George Shafnaker	....	additional sound (as George Shafnacker)
George Shafnaker	....	sound
Jerry Stein	....	sound
Tom Williams	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Yorgo Alexopoulos	....	visual effects supervisor

Camera and Electrical Department
Chris Athy	....	gaffer
Chris Athy	....	key rigging grip
Alex Esber	....	assistant camera
Phil Gaylin	....	additional camera operator
Phil Gaylin	....	camera operator
Matt Hale	....	gaffer
Roger Holliday	....	assistant camera
Diane Koronkiewicz	....	assistant camera (as Dianne Koronkiewicz)
Ed Marritz	....	additional camera operator (as Eddie Maritz)
Rick Robertson	....	additional camera operator
Rick Robertson	....	camera operator
David Tyson	....	additional camera operator
David Tyson	....	camera operator

Editorial Department
Eric Alvarado	....	colorist
Aaron Curran	....	assistant editor
Spencer Gentry	....	on-line editor
John Maggio	....	additional editor

Music Department
Mark Adler	....	music theme

Other crew
Johanna Baker	....	publicist
Sara Beanblossom	....	research assistant
Laura Beatty	....	intern
Susan Bellows	....	series editor
Anya Bourg	....	intern
Jeanette Castillo	....	research assistant
Maria Daniels	....	multimedia director
Joshua Dotson	....	photo retoucher
James E. Dunford	....	series manager
George Egan	....	intern
Nancy Farrell	....	project administrator
Jay Fialkov	....	legal
Eric Garabrant	....	production assistant
Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy	....	production consultant
Georgia Gruzen	....	intern
Caroline Harting	....	additional voices
Catherine Heymans	....	intern
Ravi Jain	....	media coordinator
James H. Jones	....	production consultant
Maureen Jordan	....	legal
Jefferson Mays	....	additional voices
Lauren Moore	....	research assistant
Danielle Mussafi	....	intern
Daphne B. Noyes	....	publicist
Jeff Post	....	production assistant
Lauren Prestileo	....	publicist
Jared Ray	....	intern
Rich Remsberg	....	research assistant
Gerald Richman	....	executive in charge
Vanessa Ruiz Ezersky	....	project administrator (as Vanessa Ruiz)
Helen R. Russell	....	project administrator
Liz Seru	....	intern
Rebekah Suggs	....	project administrator
John Van Hagen	....	business manager
Kate Walker	....	production associate
Jamie Wong	....	research assistant

Thanks
Laura Congleton	....	special thanks

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Rocky Collins		multiple episodes
Henry Hampton		creator

Produced by
Rocky Collins	....	producer (multiple episodes)

Sound Department
Doug Madick	....	foley artist (multiple episodes)

Production Companies

• Ark Media
• Twin Cities Public Television Inc.
• WGBH

Distributors

• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (2005) (USA) (TV)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (2006) (Finland) (TV)

Runtime:

90 min | Finland:83 min (25 fps)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Ark Media

Trivia:

First American television documentary to be granted full access to the extensive collection of research materials at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, bringing to the public a wealth of never-before-seen archival material.

Fascinating and much more balanced than I'd expected.

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I was a bit apprehensive before I saw this documentary. No, it isn't because I didn't want to hear about sex but because Kinsey has often been praised lavishly in recent years instead of giving him and his work a more critical analysis. In many ways, it was brilliant and ground-breaking--but it others, it was very sloppy and a bit unscientific. And I did NOT want to hear nothing but lavish praise or harsh criticism--but both the good and the bad. Fortunately, "The American Experience" did a great job of providing balance--giving a rather thorough portrait.

I did not know that originally Kinsey was NOT a sex researcher but a biologist who was fascinated by bugs. However, after he began teaching sex ed in addition to doing his entomological research, he noticed just how incredibly ignorant undergraduates were about sex. For opening up frank discussions about sexuality and what was 'normal', Kinsey was an exceptional man. Not surprisingly, this led to Kinsey beginning to do research into sexuality--and he and his growing team of researchers began interviewing thousands and thousands of folks to learn about sexual practices. And, not surprisingly, he learned that the public view of sexuality and the reality were VERY different--again, an important contribution to the field. However, the show rightfully pointed out that there were many problems with the work as well despite its MANY advances. First, because Kinsey was bisexual or gay (it isn't really clear which he really was), the viewer may be left wondering how much this influenced his work. In other words, did his own expectations and values influence what he eventually found? Second, his research was NOT at all random--though I must admit, I am not sure how you can randomly interview people! Only people who are comfortable talking about their sex lives would agree to talk--and common sense would say that these folks probably are NOT a true norm (though Kinsey thought they were). As the show pointed out, you probably had few Pentecostals among his respondents!! Third, he often interviewed folks in prison and in the gay underground culture of the time and the groups were probably overrepresented in the studies. Fourth, he and his team, over time, lost their objectivity--and began exploring sexual boundaries within their group (i.e., everyone started sleeping with everybody and Kinsey actively encouraged this). Kinsey also filmed various researchers having sex, he himself explored sadomasochism in great depth and he even asked his own daughters about their own sexual history--showing a very odd lack of personal boundaries. It was as if the work so consumed him that it clouded his scientific objectivity.

Now my criticisms are covered or strongly implied by the show BUT it isn't to say that his work was necessarily bad. There was a woeful ignorance and sense of shame about sex and no one knew what was 'normal' (if there really is such a thing). And, he was groundbreaking because he had the temerity to say that women DID enjoy sex and have sexual appetites (a discovery which added to BOTH partners' enjoyment of sex). I am thrilled that this documentary did a complete exploration of the man and his work--a very thorough job!