''Muhammad Ali'' is a 2021 four-part documentary miniseries about
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...
. The series was directed by
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary film, documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle United States, American History of the United States, history and Culture of the ...
,
Sarah Burns
Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pio ...
, and David McMahon.
The documentary had its premiere at the
48th Telluride Film Festival
The 48th Telluride Film Festival took place on September 2–6, 2021 in Telluride, Colorado, United States. After the cancellation of the previous year's event due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Colorado, the festival required proof of vaccination ...
on September 2, 2021. It later premiered on
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
on September 19, 2021.
Episodes
Reception
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the series has an approval rating of 100% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. According to
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigned a weighted average score of 88 out of 100 based on 9 critics, it received "universal acclaim".
Jeremy Schapp of ''
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
'' called, "It is a stupendous achievement."
Finn Cohen of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called it, "A sweeping achievement."
Peter Keough of ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' called it, "Exhilarating."
Adam Buckman of ''MediaPost'' wrote, "The most satisfying, riveting and moving TV experience of the year."
References
External links
*
PBS original programming
2020s American documentary television series
Documentary television series about sports
{{Ken Burns