KEN BURNS PRESENTS "THE GENE: AN INTIMATE HISTORY"
PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: Part 2 of 2. This two-part, four-hour documentary has Ken Burns as its primary executive producer, and is based on the book by physician and New Yorker writer Siddhartha Mukherjee. Veteran Burns collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward is co-writer, and anything he has a hand in writing, going all the way back to The Civil War, manages to be both emotionally involving and eye-openingly instructive. Last week’s first two-hour installment of The Gene was precisely that, managing to invest your heart in the story of some dedicated doctors and brave patients, while engaging your brain with its detailed explanations of the history, breakthroughs and potential moral quandaries regarding genetic research. If all this sounds more boring than fascinating, that’s because I’m no Ken Burns, and no Geoffrey C. Ward. But trust me. And my advice is to trust them. Check local listings.