The north star
Vision
Every household in America can see what a story is doing, and still want the evening.
Live Historic · 1776 to 2026
250 years in the making.
A house was the first school a child entered. The screen came later. The joy is not a louder ad. It is the lift when the number is already there, the song is good, and the night still has an end.
Score it before you press play. The desk is new. The household is not. We do not pretend otherwise, and that is the pleasure of it.
The purpose, under the waterline
What holds the brand up
Branding is the tip. Under it, in order: the strategy, the mission, the vision, and the values that do not move. Press a layer.
Eight tests of a purpose
Clear, concise, credible, aspirational, achievable, aligned, consistent, memorable. Our reading, not a certificate. Five is the far end.
Memorable
Score it before you press play. People can say it without us in the room.
Brave. Relevant. Authentic. Novel. Distinct.
Set beside two neighbors a household already knows: a tomato score, and a parents' guide. The bars are our reading of the category, so we do not grade ourselves alone.
Live Historic5 / 5
A tomato score2 / 5
A parents' guide4 / 5
We stake a point of view: a story is doing something to a house. A tomato counts critics. A parents' guide warns. We measure, and we still let you press play.
The number has to serve the night
What a careful treasurer would ask
- A score that can be bought is not a measure. A gift pays for the desk. It does not move the number.
- We will not print a spending ratio, an audit, or an impact count until a year of figures exists.
- The Living Meter is a strategy number: did the house see the story, and did the set go off. It is not a vanity number.
Growth, with the promise kept
Where the work actually is
We are here. The problem is a house that presses play before it knows what the story is doing.
A nonprofit, stated plainly
The papers
- Name
- Live Historic
- Form
- A Michigan Nonprofit Corporation
The house is not for sale
Privacy
- The shelves, the scores, and the people a parent types stay on this device.
- A letter you ask us to answer is kept so we can write back. It is not sold.
- A question to Annie is not kept. It is sent, answered, and not stored by us.
- We never ask for a streaming password. A child does not get an account.
The joy of this rule is simple. You can hand the desk to a neighbor without handing them your house.
Every room
What it is for, and where it opens
50 open
The house
The desk
Name a show and get a score before the evening starts.
Someone says “can we watch this?” You answer with a number, not a guess.
Open The deskThe house
Living Meter
One arc, 0 to 100, that a house can see across the room.
Drag the evening to the range you will actually allow.
Open Living MeterThe house
The reviews
The full written measure of every title, not a clipped line.
Read the verdict, the essay, the eight, and the charge before anyone presses play.
Open The reviewsThe house
Just measured
A moving row of what was just scored.
Glance at what is new without opening a feed.
Open Just measuredThe night
I'm Feeling Lucky
One evening, picked from the highest recent scores.
You are tired and the house is waiting. Press it.
Open I'm Feeling LuckyThe night
The Guide
One evening: a song, a picture, a chapter, and one thing for the house.
Do the four in order. Change a part if it does not fit. Then turn the set off.
Open The GuideThe house
Family Hub
The people at your table, and the titles that clear every floor.
See what a grandparent and a five-year-old can sit through together.
Open Family HubThe house
Pass a story on
A grown person writes why a show is worth keeping. It stays on this device.
Nana tells the girls why a story mattered, and they read it on this same screen.
Open Pass a story onThe house
Tell your story
The children tap a name, a picture, and how it felt.
Annie, Louise, or Kiki tells the house what they liked, in their own words.
Open Tell your storyThe house
Telling
Six ways to tell a story so more than one age can hear it.
Before you press play, choose how the room will hear it.
Open TellingThe house
Narratives
Specific family stories, marked for the table, for sitting together, or for older people.
Pick the shape of the evening: a father who stays, a house that keeps a child, a lie that costs the house.
Open NarrativesWatch
Discover
The highest measures on the desk.
Start here when you want the best of what has already been scored.
Open DiscoverWatch
Movies
Films shelved by the Living Meter.
Find a picture the household can finish.
Open MoviesWatch
TV Shows
Series, scored and sorted.
See whether a show is one evening or a habit.
Open TV ShowsThe house
My List
The titles this house is following.
Keep the ones you mean to come back to.
Open My ListThe house
Watch later
Set a title aside without losing it.
Not tonight. Not never.
Open Watch laterThe house
Library
What this house keeps.
The shelf you would hand to someone who just arrived.
Open LibraryThe house
Favorites
The ones worth sitting with again.
The short list for a Sunday.
Open FavoritesThe house
Annie
She scores a story you name, and she can sing it.
Ask out loud when you do not want to type.
Open AnnieThe standard
How the meter works
What the number is measuring, and why it matters.
Show a guest the rule before they argue with the score.
Open How the meter worksThe standard
Calibrate
Age, interests, and the range each measure must meet.
Set the house once. The shelves follow.
Open CalibrateThe standard
Literacy
The questions a family asks, by age.
After the story, you already know what to ask a seven-year-old and what to ask a fifteen-year-old.
Open LiteracyThe standard
Character
Whether a person in the story grows, holds, or falls.
Decide if the change is one you want copied.
Open CharacterThe standard
The rubric
The eight measures, and how a score is made.
When someone asks “who decided?”, open this.
Open The rubricThe standard
Measures
One minute of film for each virtue.
Teach the eight without a lecture.
Open MeasuresWatch
Classics
Stories a house already knows, scored the same way.
Start from a book you trust, not from the chart.
Open ClassicsWatch
The companies
Who owns the shelf, and how their measure has moved.
Look at the network, not only the title.
Open The companiesWatch
Record labels
The houses behind the songs.
See the label, not only the chorus.
Open Record labelsWatch
Music
Songs scored, including the old public-domain ones.
Put on something the whole table can hear.
Open MusicThe night
Kitchen
What a house puts on the table.
The evening is not only a screen.
Open KitchenThe night
House Trail
A wagon game. Keep a bad story out.
A child practices the same choice the desk is making.
Open House TrailJoin
Commons
Groups and evenings near you.
Find a house that is already doing this.
Open CommonsThe house
Homestead
A family's own record of the evening.
Keep the account of what you watched, on your ground.
Open HomesteadThe house
Commonplace
The measures you kept on this device.
Come back to a score you already trusted.
Open CommonplaceThe house
Your house
Your name on the door, and the family desk.
See the evening as a household, not as a profile.
Open Your houseThe standard
Nation Trail
The shelves, by company and by year.
Watch whether a network is getting better or worse.
Open Nation TrailWatch
Watch
Free films and the scored shelf.
Press play on something that already cleared the bar.
Open WatchJoin
Guild
A seat at the desk. Vote on the next story.
The house helps choose what gets measured next.
Open GuildJoin
Forward
Pass a month to another house.
Someone you love does not have this yet.
Open ForwardJoin
Tickets
Reserve a seat at a house screening.
The story is watched in a room, not alone.
Open TicketsJoin
Desk hours
Live hours, and the recording after.
Sit in when the desk is open, or catch it later.
Open Desk hoursJoin
Shop
The films and the mark, yours to keep.
Take a copy home.
Open ShopThe house
Pictures
The folder of stills from the desk.
Use a picture when you pass a measure on.
Open PicturesJoin
Get the desk
Put Live Historic on your phone.
The evening starts in the kitchen, not at a computer.
Open Get the deskThe promise
Settings
The lamp, the sound, the name on the door.
Make the desk fit the room.
Open SettingsThe promise
Design
How the desk is drawn, and what it will not do.
When someone asks why it looks like paper.
Open DesignThe promise
Type
How a name and a sentence are paired.
See why the title and the verdict are not the same face.
Open TypeThe promise
About
What the desk is, and the plain terms.
Hand this to someone who wants the short version.
Open AboutThe promise
Help
How the desk works.
You are stuck. Start here.
Open HelpThe promise
Privacy
What stays on the device, and what does not.
Before you write a family note, read where it lives.
Open Privacy