By Steve Kabelowsky Contributing Columnist Published Apr 04, 2014 at 4:26 PM

When executive producer Dan Jones and his team at Milwaukee Public Television heard about the next Ken Burns project – "The Address" – they knew they had to do something special to help get the word out.

"We wanted to promote the next Ken Burns project and decided to do this rather than doing our own local 30-minute documentary," Jones said.

The "this" Jones was talking about, was a video project where members of the community would come to the studio and read Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

"These people sacrificed their time to be a part of this project out of great respect for the work of Ken Burns and Milwaukee Public Television," Jones said.

Members of the community that participated in the tapings include Tom Barrett, Milwaukee mayor; Chris Abele, Milwaukee County Executive; Dr. Gregory Thornton, Milwaukee Public Schools superintendent; Edward Flynn, Milwaukee Police chief; David Clarke, Milwaukee County sheriff; Dr. Howard Fuller, Marquette University; Alamelu Vairavan, MPTV "Healthful Indian Flavors" program host; Griselda Aldrete, Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee; Sue Black, Milwaukee Wave owner; Jim Peck, MPTV "I Remember" program host; John Gurda, historian; Paula Mae Kuiper, Miss Wisconsin; Joe Block, Milwaukee Brewers announcer; Dan Small, MPTV "Outdoor Wisconsin" program host; and Joanne Williams, MPTV "Black Nouveau" host.

Also featured is Lincoln re-enactor, Fritz Klein, from Springfield, Ill.

"I used a portion from each one in the commercial/promo that we put on the air," Jones said.

The full versions of the speeches are on the MPTV website with instructions on how to upload your own version of the reading of the address.

Burns’ film highlights the work at the Greenwood School in Putney, Vt., where the students memorize and perform the address. Through the story telling, Burns presents the impact now of the history and connection to Lincoln’s speech he delivered during the Civil War.

The first run of the Burns special will air at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15, on MPTV. You can find out more about "The Address" here.

Here is the promo that is on the air now:

STAR CROSSED: Emery and Roman’s epic romance comes to TVGN (TV Guide Network) with a mid-season catch-up marathon of the CW’s "Star-Crossed" on Saturday starting at noon. TVGN will be airing all seven episodes of the series so far and lets fans prepare themselves for the second half of the run. The next new episode will air at 7 p.m. Monday night on the CW.

SPECIAL PROGRAM: Fox News will present a one-hour special, "Fox News Reporting: Enemies of the State" at 9 p.m. Saturday about Americans who found themselves in battles against the U.S. government. Jon Scot, John Roberts and co-anchor of "America’s News HQ" Greg Jarrett present their investigations where private citizens become enemies of the state.

COMIC BOOK VILLAINS: The "Robot Chicken DC Comics Special II: Villains In Paradise" is a half-hour special that premieres on at 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, on Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network.

The show will feature a number of villains featured in the DC Comics universe of characters, that usually take on the likes of heroes such as Superman, Batman, the Green Lantern and others. This time around, the villains take charge of the narrative, and their unpredictable tale takes them from the swamps to the sky to the beach, where they finally face a, "mind-boggling threat to their very existence!"

The cast includes Seth Green as Batman and Robin, Zac Efron as Superboy, Alfred Molina as Lex Luthor, Sarah Hyland as Lex Luthor’s daughter Lena, Nathan Fillion as the Green Lantern, Alex Borstein as Wonder Woman, Clancy Brown as Gorilla Grodd, Giovanni Ribisi as the Joker, Tara Strong as Harley Quinn, Breckin Meyer as Superman, plus Hugh Davidson, Matthew Senreich, Clare Grant, Zeb Wells, and Kevin Shinick as the narrator.

Steve Kabelowsky Contributing Columnist

Media is bombarding us everywhere.

Instead of sheltering his brain from the onslaught, Steve embraces the news stories, entertainment, billboards, blogs, talk shows and everything in between.

The former writer, editor and producer in TV, radio, Web and newspapers, will be talking about what media does in our community and how it shapes who we are and what we do.