Words of 'war'

"I'm Br'er Rabbit. I got to go back in the briar patch and tell more stories," Burns says, recognizing a good sound bite when he hears one. "I didn't change the essential integrity of the film. It was a win-win."

Politics (meaning potential funding) had nothing to do with it, Burns insists.

"In the political world, where I don't exist, people use rhetoric and yell at each other. I wanted to be above that. Politics, for me, has always been a small p. I like to see the larger, more complicated thing."

Burns is "fairly confident" the situation won't repeat itself with other groups in future projects.

Smart money says it won't be Hispanics. Burns says they'll appear in almost all six episodes of his next opus, on the National Park Service. After that, in '09 or '10, he'll take on Prohibition.

And at some point, he plans to update an earlier film - another Burns precedent - his '94 marathon Baseball.

On the personal side, Burns' life is equally full.

He and his second wife, Julie, 41, have a 21/2-year-old daughter, Olivia. His eldest, Sarah, 24, a writer, is married to one of his producers. Lilly, 20, studies history and film at Columbia.

Meanwhile, Burns' love affair with PBS continues unabated. He just signed an exclusive deal through 2022, which will mark 40 years with the public network.

"I'm leaving the dance with them that brung me," Burns says.

Assuming he leaves the dance.