Where can I purchase a copy of the television special hosted by Jane
Pauley about the subject of Dan Brown's best seller The DaVinci Code.
It was on TV in either October or November of 2003.

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Request for Question Clarification by markj-ga on 21 Feb 2004 15:43 PST

cielo5 --

Are you certain that Jane Pauley was the host of the broadcast that
interests you?  There was an hour-long November 2003 prime time
special on a national broadcast network about the book and the factual
issues it raises.  That broadcast had a female reporter/narrator, but
it was not Jane Pauley.

markj-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by markj-ga on 24 Feb 2004 05:36 PST

cielo5 --

In light of 8556-ga's comment, I should add that the television
special I referenced in my previous clarification request is available
on DVD at a modest price.

markj-ga

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Clarification of Question by cielo5-ga on 24 Feb 2004 07:56 PST

This special was aired after Brown's novel The DaVinci Code became a
bestseller. The special dealt with the possibility that Christ had
decendants, that they were being protected from the Vatican by the
Knights Templar and their decendants, that Leonardo depicted Mary
Magdalen in his painting The Last Supper at the right hand of Christ
because she was Christ's wife/lover and primary disciple...the show
investigated this story/legend by visiting various sites that figure
in the novel: churches, museums, it looked at the paintings by
Leonardo, a supposed member of the Knights Templar, and compared two
paintings he did, both called The Virgin of the Rocks, one which
depicts Christ as supreme (for the church) and one that doesn't, and
an interview with Dan Brown.

cielo5 --

Thanks very much for your clarification.  I am confident that the
program that interests you is "Jesus, Mary and Da Vinci," which was
broadcast by ABC News on November 3, 2003.  The reporter on that
broadcast was Elizabeth Vargas.  The program received a great deal of
attention at the time, and -- other than the name of reporter -- fully
meets the description you have provided.

Here is link to a complete description of the broadcast that is
provided on the Web site of ABC News:
ABC News: "Jesus, Mary and Da Vinci
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/World/Primetime/davinci031103-1.html

According to ABC News:
"To investigate some of the claims in [The Da Vinci Code], ABCNEWS'
Elizabeth Vargas traveled from one edge of the Mediterranean to the
other. She found that not all the claims in the book are credible, but
that some of them appear to have elements of truth."

One expert on Leonardo who was interviewed on the broadcast had this to say:

"But Carlos Pedretti, one of the world's leading Leonardo experts and
head of the Leonardo Institute in Florence offered a rare word of
agreement, noting that a portrait of the figure next to Jesus,
sketched by one of Leonardo's top students, clearly appears to be a
woman."


Vargas also interviewed two Scottish brothers who are considered by
some to be descendants of Mary Magdalene and Jesus:

"Using the Priory of Sion documents from the French library, ABCNEWS
found a pair of noble-born Scottish cousins named Andrew and Niven
Sinclair."


One of those cousins apparently doubts his heritage but the other is a believer:

"Niven Sinclair does think they married into the Jesus bloodline. But,
he said, "by the time it gets to me, it will be very, very, very
diluted."

Finally, Brown, who was also interviewed on the broadcast, had this
conclusory statement:

"Whether you agree or disagree with the topics ? they're on the table,
and we're talking about them, and these are topics that for centuries
have been taboo."


A DVD copy of the broadcast is available online from the ABC News
Store for $29.95.  Here is a link to the page where you can order a
copy:
ABC News Store: Jesus, Mary and Da Vinci
http://www.abcnewsstore.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=customer.product&boutique=&product_code=S031103%2051


Search Strategy:

I used a variety of Google searches to find this information and to
reach the conclusion that this is the broadcast in which you are
interested.

The following initial search was the most useful in determining that
the ABC broadcast appears to be the only one that meets your
description:

"television special" "davinci code" OR "da vinci code"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22television+special%22+%22davinci+code%22+OR+%22da+vinci+code%22

The following searched led me to much information about the broadcast
in question and might also be of interest to you in exploring this
subject further:

"jesus mary and da vinci" abc
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22jesus%2C+mary+and+da+vinci%22+ABC

vargas davinci OR "da vinci" code
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=vargas+davinci+OR+%22da+vinci%22+code


Since you had mentioned the name of Jane Pauley (an anchor of
"Dateline NBC"), I also specifically searched for any comparable
broadcast that she might have hosted and came up with nothing.  Here
is the most useful search I employed:

"jane pauley davinci OR "da vinci" code  (only 10 irrelevant "hits" returned)
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22jane+pauley%22+%22da+vinci%22+OR+davinci+code%22


I am confident that the program described above is the one you are
seeking.  If anything is unclear, or in the unlikely event that you
doubt that this is the broadcast you remember, please ask for
clarification before rating the answer.


markj-ga

If you know when it was shown and on what network such as abc or cbs
or or Public television those numbers are listed in your tv guide that
comes in the sunday paper.  Then ask for the programming department or
customer service and they usually can get you to the right person or
agency or distributor.  It may be very expensive because it is
transferred from 3/4 " tapes to vhs or Dvd.  When they do this you
lose a little quality of the program but it should still be great. 
This is what I would suggest.  Please let me know if you need more
information
8556-ga

cielo5 --

Thanks much for the rating and the nice tip.

markj-ga