AceShowbiz -

These days Terrence Howard undergoing such a hectic schedules. The Oscar nominee actor has just finished his film project "Idlewild," and now he's been tapped to host the new season of PBS' Independent Lens, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this fall.

The set reportedly begins Oct. 24 with "The World According to Sesame Street," which examines the difficulties in producing international versions of the popular children's TV program. Later installments of the series include "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," "Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" and "Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life."

On his being tapped to host the set, Howard commented, "I'm a passionate believer in the power of independent filmmaking to take us to places we never thought we'd see, and to connect us to people we would likely never know. In this season alone, our filmmakers take us from Ethiopia to Cuba to small-town USA, with portraits of people as diverse as the jazz genius Billy Strayhorn, the people behind the Enron scandal, and a man who saves a flock of wild parrots -- even teenage beauty queens who skin muskrats for their talent competition."