KCET Announces National Syndication Deal With APT to Distribute 'Your Turn to Care' Hosted by Holly Robinson Peete

Multi-platform SERIES represents KCET's first large-scale national distribution initiative since becoming independent

Caregiving series features leading experts on aging, including acclaimed author Gail Sheehy, as well as personal stories from Patricia Richardson, Monica Potter, Hector Elizondo, Robert David Hall, Sandra Tsing Loh and Steve Lopez.

LOS ANGELES, May 16, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- KCET, the nation's largest independent public television station serving Southern and Central California, has announced a syndication agreement with American Public Television (APT) to distribute its original series on caregiving, Your Turn to Care, hosted by Holly Robinson Peete. The unique multi-platform series can be seen on public television stations across the country beginning July 1, 2012. Your Turn to Care represents KCET's first large-scale national distribution initiative since becoming independent.

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Your Turn to Care explores the challenges facing America's growing generation of baby boomers who are taking care of ailing or aging loved ones.  APT will distribute four 30-minute Your Turn to Care programs that focus on the caregiving journey, as told by the caregivers themselves. Their personal stories offer hope as well as solutions and resources.  To date, more than 70 public television stations have placed the series in their schedules.

Your Turn to Care episodes will also air on producing station KCET in Los Angeles, the country's 2nd largest market. The series aired in its entirety on KCET this spring and 12 segments also ran on its award-winning news magazine SoCal Connected.

Viewers can also access the program's robust companion web site where the series can be seen in its entirety along with additional content provided through 50 videos and 40 articles (www.yourturntocare.org). This video-rich web content includes extended interviews and back stories / updates on the participants, helpful links and resources as well as tips from guest experts.

"We are pleased to be able to share this exceptional series with stations everywhere as caregiving has become an increasingly important part of a national dialogue," said Bret Marcus, KCET's chief content officer.  "These are remarkably complicated issues affecting millions of people every day. We are confident the series will help viewers carve out their own approach to handling some of these very difficult and emotional caregiving challenges and not feel alone in the process."  

One third of the U.S. adult population plays a caregiver role including 31% of all households. These caregivers provide an average of 20 hours of care per week, according to a recent study by the MetLife Foundation.

Host Robinson Peete, an acclaimed actress and award-winning author, shares her own experiences of caring for her father who had Parkinson's disease.  Viewers will also hear personal caregiving stories from Patricia Richardson (Home Improvement), Monica Potter (Parenthood), Hector Elizondo (Last Man Standing), Robert David Hall (CSI Crime Scene Investigation), Sandra Tsing Loh (NPR's Morning Edition, KPCC) and Steve Lopez (Los Angeles Times columnist).  

In addition, several expert voices across Southern California help contextualize complex caregiving issues for viewers. They include:

• Gail Sheehy, best-selling author of 16 books on key passages of adulthood, including her most recent, Passages in Caregiving: Turning Chaos into Confidence
• Dr. Gary Small, a renowned expert at UCLA who studies longevity, aging, Alzheimer's prevention and memory, and best-selling author of seven books, including The Alzheimer's Prevention Program
• Professor Fernando Torres-Gil, director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging at UCLA, and author of more than 80 articles and six books, including The New Aging: Politics and Change in America
• Dawn Clark-Johnson, eldercare attorney
• Shawn Herz, Director, Los Angeles Caregiver Resource Center
• Molly Forrest, Director, LA Jewish Home

Your Turn to Care is produced by KCET with executive producer Margaret Hussey, and Bret Marcus, KCET's chief content officer. The initiative is made possible by MetLife Foundation, California Community Foundation, The Lippey Family Trust and Gladyce L. Foster.  For more information, please visit: http://www.kcet.org/shows/yourturntocare/about/

ABOUT HOLLY ROBINSON PEETE
Actress, author, talk show host, activist and philanthropist, Holly Robinson Peete has been touched by the entertainment industry all of her life.  Her television career as an actress dates back nearly three decades. Her life experience has led her to becoming a voice for her father, her son and her community.

In 1996, Robinson Peete and her husband, former NFL quarterback Rodney Peete, formed the HollyRod Foundation, inspired by her father's courageous battle with Parkinson's disease, with the mission to help improve the quality of life of people with Parkinson's. Then in 2005, inspired by their oldest son's autism diagnosis, HollyRod Foundation's mission expanded to provide access to treatment, support and other resources to disenfranchised families affected by autism.  Through HollyRod Foundation and her family's personal experiences, Robinson Peete has become an advocate for consistent and reliable education, support and compassionate care for both Parkinson's and autism.  

Her autism advocacy also extends to her book co-written with daughter, Ryan Elizabeth Peete. In 2010, they released their award winning children's picture book about autism from the sibling's perspective, entitled My Brother Charlie (Scholastic).  A follow up book exploring autism and adolescence is due out in 2012.

Over the years, Holly has received numerous accolades and awards for her philanthropic work: from the Anheuser Busch John E. Jacob Community Service Award to her most recent honor, Thurgood Marshall Foundation Award. In addition to her philanthropic work through her own foundation, Robinson Peete has become involved in other organizations as well.  She currently sits on the Board of Directors of Autism Speaks, the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA) and the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

ABOUT KCET
On-air, online and in the community, KCET plays a vital role in the cultural and educational enrichment of Southern and Central California. KCET offers a wide range of award-winning local programming as well as the finest public television programs from around the world. KCET currently produces the Emmy®, duPont-Columbia and Peabody Award-winning SoCal Connected, a hard-hitting prime-time weekly television news program that examines the issues and people of Southern California. Throughout its 48-year history, KCET has won hundreds of major awards for its local and regional news and public affairs programming, its national drama and documentary productions, its quality educational family and children's programs, its outreach and community services and its website, kcet.org. KCET is a donor-supported community institution. For additional information about KCET productions, web-exclusive content, programming schedules and community events, please visit kcet.org.

ABOUT APT
American Public Television (APT) has been a leading distributor of high-quality, top-rated programming to America's public television stations since 1961. Since 2004, APT has distributed approximately half of the top 100 highest-rated public television titles. Among its 300 new program titles per year are prominent documentaries, news and current affairs programs, dramatic series, how-to programs, children's series and classic movies, including Your Turn to Care, Rick Steves' Europe, Moyers & Company, Doc Martin, America's Test Kitchen From Cook's Illustrated, Nightly Business Report, Globe Trekker, BBC World News, Diana Ross: For One and For All, Lidia's Italy, Rosemary & Thyme, Newsline, Simply Ming, Midsomer Murders, P. Allen Smith's Garden Home, The Best of Soul Train and For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots. APT also licenses programs internationally through its APT Worldwide service. In 2006, APT launched and nationally distributed Create® – the TV channel featuring the best of public television's lifestyle programming. APT is also a partner in WORLD™, public television's premier news and documentary channel.

SOURCE KCET