PORTRAIT OF AMERICA was a five-year, $20 million investment originated by Ted Turner, who believed original programming was the key to the growth of cable television. He also created CNN for the same reason. POA consisted of 55 one-hour original documentaries about every state and territory in the USA (with two episodes about California, one about New York City, one about Washington DC, and one about island territories) -- all shot on film by leading documentary filmmakers, with original music scores, all hosted and narrated by Hal Holbrook (who won a Primetime Emmy Award for his work on the "Alaska" episode), and all aired in prime time on TBS, Turner's "SuperStation.". The series also won a Peabody Award and several Cable ACE Awards.
