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Clad in an array of elegant outfits, Patrick Stewart hosts TCM's three-part profile of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer--better known as MGM. As he proclaims in his best stage diction, "There's magic in the very name!" Part one, "The Lion's Roar," examines the partnership Louis B. Mayer and Irving G. Thalberg formed in 1924, leading to a vast Culver City back lot, crowd-pleasing productions like Grand Hotel, and legendary stars, such as Greta Garbo and Lon Chaney. "The Lion Reigns Supreme" picks up the story after Thalberg's passing in 1936 (the brilliant, fragile production head would go on to inspire F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon). Afterwards, Mayer assembles a new creative committee, and the milestones continue, namely The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, and an all-out support of the war effort. The concluding chapter, "The Lion in Winter," covers MGM's masterful musicals, the arrival of socially-conscious producer Dore Schary, and the ouster of Mayer (TCM's Ted Turner also figures in the narrative). Along with a cavalcade of clips, each part presents exclusive and archival interviews with the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Charlton Heston, and Stanley Donen. If the Emmy-winning series starts out as a glorified puff piece, director Frank Martin doesn't overlook the studio's biggest blunders, from their resistance to sound to their mishandling of the outsized talents of Erich Von Stroheim, Buster Keaton, and two-time Oscar winner Luise Rainer, who felt like a mere cog in Mayer's star-making machinery. Missteps aside, he and Thalberg were two of the key architects behind Hollywood's Golden Age, and When the Lion Roars stands as a fitting testament to their creation. --Kathleen C. Fennessy