Premieres Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025 at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. on KPBS TV + Encores Saturday, Nov. 29 at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 30 at 7 a.m. on KPBS TV / Stream with KPBS+
"We Heart Public Television!" is a three-hour program recorded live on Nov. 8, 2025 from PBS SoCal. A star-studded cast will honor 55 remarkable years of public television - America’s trusted, free public media service that reaches every city, town, and rural community across the nation.
Featuring music director Rickey Minor and appearances by Josh Groban, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ken Burns, Ziggy Marley, Lily Tomlin, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Noel Paul Stookey, Rick Steves, David Foster and Katherine MacPhee, Joe Bonamassa, Sheléa, Lucy Dacus, Celtic Woman, Lindsay Ell, Sarah Silverman, Martha Plimpton and so many more!
This Telethon celebrates the extraordinary musical artists and personalities who have graced PBS stages and screens, showcasing the cultural richness that public media and local PBS stations offer all Americans.
This fundraising special will include a variety of live musical performances, celebrity appearances and viewer testimonials, plus archival material from iconic public television shows including AUSTIN CITY LIMITS, GREAT PERFORMANCES and SESAME STREET.
The program will air on Thanksgiving night on PBS stations nationwide. Viewers will be able to donate to their own local PBS station to help them fill the budget gap from the recent loss of all federal funding for Public Media.
