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Biography (TV program)
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<p><i>Biography</i> is an American <a href="/facts/Documentary_television_series/bWSuqGJo">documentary television series</a> and <a href="/facts/Media_franchise/IBzGhQjA">media franchise</a> created in the 1960s by <a href="/facts/David_L._Wolper/4K1mPUl7">David L. Wolper</a> and owned by <a href="/facts/A%2526E_Networks/Xx1YoMK8">A&E Networks</a> since 1987. Each episode depicts the life of a notable person with narration, on-camera interviews, photographs, and <a href="/facts/Stock_footage/WhaCBur9">stock footage</a>. The show originally ran in <a href="/facts/Broadcast_syndication/kdDQIW1Y">syndication</a> in 1962–1964, and in 1979, on <a href="/facts/A%2526E_(TV_channel)/59sshgH8">A&E</a> from 1987 to 2006, and on The Biography Channel (later Bio, now <a href="/facts/FYI_(American_TV_channel)/B7RV0974">FYI</a>) from 2006 to 2012. After a five-year hiatus, the franchise was relaunched in 2017. Over the years, the <i>Biography</i> media franchise has expanded domestically and internationally, spinning off several cable television channels, a website, a children's program, a line of books and records, and a series of made-for-TV movies, specials, and miniseries, among other media properties. <i>Biography</i> has won a <a href="/facts/Peabody_Award/pC7Q1kqp">Peabody Award</a> (1962) and three <a href="/facts/Emmy_Awards/M6GvMDJc">Emmy Awards</a> (1997, 1999, 2002). </p><p><i>Biography</i> began as an early 1960s syndicated television series produced by <a href="/facts/David_L._Wolper/4K1mPUl7">David Wolper</a> and narrated by <a href="/facts/Mike_Wallace/t8Ct9CVt">Mike Wallace</a>. It won a Peabody Award, launched Wallace's journalism career, and became a standard in biography films, widely shown in classrooms. After a one-year revival in 1979, the show returned on A&E Networks in 1987. In 1990, A&E began producing new episodes, and expanded the show into a multimedia franchise. By the turn of the century, <i>Biography</i> became A&E's "flagship" program, winning three Emmy Awards, growing from one night per week to seven, and spawning its own cable television channel, several spin-off shows, a website, made-for-TV movies, mini-series, books, audio books, records, and even a board game. The show's ratings eventually slipped and its airtime was reduced to one night per week, then exclusive to The Biography Channel (now <a href="/facts/FYI_(American_TV_channel)/B7RV0974">FYI</a>). Production of new episodes ceased in 2011 and <i>Biography</i> was almost entirely off the air by 2012. In 2017, A&E relaunched the <i>Biography</i> franchise with a series of TV specials and miniseries. As of 2022, episodes are also shown on <a href="/facts/Story_Television/va7BHDSA">Story Television</a>. </p>