--- description: The PBS saga premieres Sept. 14 and airs every night for seven days title: Review: The Roosevelts: An Intimate History image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5df3514cccf0c591/6986a16bf983e7156a04f6f0/s17030.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Review: _The Roosevelts: An Intimate History_ by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 29, 2014 5:57 PM CUT  President Theodore Roosevelt with his family, 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt with his family, 1903Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace NHS/PBS by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 29, 2014 5:57 PM CUT Documentarian Ken Burns issues another sprawling American ­story — 14 hours over seven episodes — this time exploring the legacies of the Roosevelts. Past histories of the family have almost always focused on Presidents (and distant cousins) Theodore and Franklin Delano, treating Eleanor (who was Teddy’s niece) and her activism as a sidelight. But Burns elevates the First Lady’s skillful promotion of social reform, putting it on equal footing as he takes on more than a century of politics and global change, from Teddy’s birth in 1858 to Eleanor’s death in 1962. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3221699/the-roosevelts-pbs-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3221699/the-roosevelts-pbs-review/"},"headline":"Review: The Roosevelts: An Intimate History","datePublished":"2014-08-29T17:57:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:55:45.826Z","description":"The PBS saga premieres Sept. 14 and airs every night for seven days","url":"https://time.com/3221699/the-roosevelts-pbs-review/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5df3514cccf0c591/6986a16bf983e7156a04f6f0/s17030.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5df3514cccf0c591/6986a16bf983e7156a04f6f0/s17030.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Theodore Roosevelt","caption":"President Theodore Roosevelt with his family, 1903Photo credit: Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace NHS","creditText":"Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace NHS/PBS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3221699/the-roosevelts-pbs-review/","name":"Review: The Roosevelts: An Intimate History"}}]}] ```