TV tackles King’s turbo-paced life

Some subjects should be revisited often. That, of course, is why we have television.
One of those is Martin Luther King Jr., the focus of two shows:
— “I Am MLK Jr.,” which the CW network airs from 8-10 p.m. Monday (Jan. 15). That’s the federal holiday, which this year falls on his actual birthday; he would have been 95.
— “Genius: MLK/X,” which the National Geographic Channel airs in four two-hour chunks on Thursdays, Feb. 1-22, and will be on Disney+. It entwines the lives of men many considered opposites, King and Malcolm X.
Both offer an overview of a man who did a lot in a hurry. King was 25 when he became pastor of a Montgomery, Ala., church. “I don’t know if I’d let a 25-year-old borrow my car,” political commentator Van Jones says in the film.
King was 26 when he led the successful Montgomery bus boycott … 34 when he proclaimed “I have a dream” to a massive crowd (shown here) in Washington, D.C. … 35 when he won the Nobel Peace Prize … 35 and 36 when Congress passed the Civil Rights Act and Voters Rights Act … 39 when he was assassinated.
“In many ways, Dr. King is still winning,” Jesse Jackson says in the film.
In addition to the grand sweep, both projects offer intriguing details. Forgive me for being underinformed, but I never knew that this icon was originally named Michael King Jr. He was 5 when his father, fresh from a pastoral trip to Germany, announced that they were both changing their names to Martin Luther King.
Nor did I know that he reportedly once attempted suicide as a boy, jumping from the second-story window of his home. The mini-series says that was because he was depressed by his grandmother’s death; some accounts differ.
Or that his wife, Coretta Scott King, was a gifted soprano. At the New England Conservatory of Music, she won the lead role in an opera, the mini-series says.
Like previous “Genius” miniseries – on Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso and Aretha Franklin – this one is fair about pointing out faults. King often diminished the role of his talented wife, it says. He dropped or diminished key colleagues, even urging Bayard Rustin – who molded the non-violence strategy – to resign after reports surfaced of Rustin’s homosexuality.
But all of those are part of a bigger picture of a man triumphing despite fierce pressure.
Reviews of the National Geographic miniseries are embargoed until Jan. 25. The documentary, however, was actually made in 2018; it’s getting broader attention now, as the “I Am” films air on CW.
The others are on Saturdays and have focused on show business – Burt Reynolds, Chris Farley, Paul Walker. This one, however, is different.
There are ample clips, but the other portions – 22 interviews and eight brief gospel songs – were all filmed in historic churches where King spoke.
The timing was perfect. We can catch the perspectives of modern people (Jones, basketball’s Carmelo Anthony, actor Nick Cannon, etc.) and also get the memories of people who were with King.
There is the late John Lewis, describing the horror of a police beating during the Selma bridge march in 1965. “I thought I was going to die,” he says.
Or Andrew Young, now 91, describing the time King was taken out of jail for an unstated, latenight ride. “He was sure he was going to his death.”
That would come later. First, there were speeches to be made, marches to lead, laws to be passed, history to be transformed.