PBS comparisons, rants, and more, I guess

I used to like the Rocky Mountain PBS, but then they decided that they
would have pledge drives through every single really good episode they
show. I just stopped bothering, except for the rare shows (like the
Memorial Day Concert).

Smokie Darling (Annie)

(Quoted from the Sci-fi thread)
===================================

The North Carolina PBS stations here are not autonomous and all show the
same thing at the same time. Needless to say, the idiots in charge not only
have no sense of humor, but are showing the same old tired old junk over and
over again.

I got spoiled by a year in Lewiston, Idaho. We got two PBS stations on
cable, one from Spokane, Washington and the other from Moscow, Idaho. Each
had the same national programming and different independent programs. I got
addicted to one called "The Red Green Show" which was like a more brutal
version of home improvement meets Hee Haw. Paul Gross had a re-occurring
role on it, as I recall, and the re-occurring motto was "If you can't be
handsome, be handy." Mandy, my daughter wanted their "re-cycled tire" girls
bedroom as it was totally gross and awesome as well.

On the Spokane PBS station the full afternoon was how to shows culminating
with "the Red Green Show." The Moscow station had similar programs, but
were in different order and included one or two that were directed at home
crafts as well culminating in "The Red Green Show." Needless to say, my
Saturday viewing flipped between the two stations. The evenings included
different comedies than the usual PBS fare including one about a
restaurateur and anther about a couple trying to work their lives out with
lots of differences between them and major animosity from her side of the
family. I laughed myself silly on both of them. The Spokane PBS showed
their mystery shows on Saturday night and it was hard to choose between the
two stations. I got Mike addicted to "Red Dwarf" from the Moscow station.
I also introduced them to Monty Python and Dr Who from the Spokane station.
Moscow showed the "All Creatures Great and Small" series and we were glued
to the set.

Ok, I raised a couple of red necked intellectual snobs. They were well
rounded and carry on with my love for the ridiculous and fascination with
the classics of all kinds.

Cut to here. I've seen one Red Green show. It was shown during one of the
three annual sweeps months NC PBS has. It was the "Duct Tape Forever" movie
and garnered enough support that it was given an encore performance. I
really hoped that it would mean that Red Green had pierced the hides of the
wine and cheese snobs that run the shows here, but nope. We weren't that
lucky. Saturday afternoons include victory garden, an encore performance of
Antiques Road Show (great, it frees my Monday nights so that I can watch
"The Closer" and "Saving Grace" and not worry about missing them) Rick
Steve's Europe which never shows enough to get more than a taste of maybe I
want to go there, a couple of BBQ shows, Ask This Old House, Woodwrights
workshop, Norm's tool showcase, This Old House, and Carolina Outdoorsman.
We watch "Antiques Roadshow" then flip it over to whatever Rob finds
interesting (an eclectic mix to be polite) then, hopefully back to "Ask This
Old House" then on to whatever tickles Rob's fancy. We don't bother with
Saturday night programming as it is mostly the same old stuff they've been
showing over and over for at least eleven years that we know of.

NC's PBS station keeps going on and on about needing funding for new
programs that they tease us with and never buy, although they almost always
make their pledge goals with extra on the side. The few good shows that
we've seen are the national ones that usually are shown during the summer
and rarely at good hours. I suspect that most of the pledge money they get
goes to rent the shows for the next pledge drive in four months. Pledge
drives are held every December, March, and June. There may be a mini drive
or two in there, but I don't watch it. I used to donate to PBS, but don't
anymore because the money never seems to go to real quality programs.

Pam S. dyspeptic

On Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:07:20 -0400, "tanadashoes" wrote:

Each
had the same national programming and different independent programs. I got
addicted to one called "The Red Green Show" which was like a more brutal
version of home improvement meets Hee Haw.

Red Green is funny stuff. :-)

tanadashoes wrote:
I used to like the Rocky Mountain PBS, but then they decided that they
would have pledge drives through every single really good episode they
show. I just stopped bothering, except for the rare shows (like the
Memorial Day Concert).

I stopped donating when they stopped showing regular "Live from the Met"
broadcasts, and most "special" music prgrams became ordinary popular
music stars. Although at least, in Southern California, when they did
show them, they were on the days and at the times the Metropolitan's
web-page announced them - and I had three PBS sources: the Los Angeles
Public Schools channel, LA's KCET, and the channel from Orange County.
Here in Phoenix, even when we get them, it's usually some inconvenient
time like ten AM on a Sunday morning (probably because they figure most
folk here in the "Bible Belt" will be in church, so it won't "interfere"
with anything that gets higher ratings).

Of course, our PBS here leaves a lot to be desired in its adult
programming, anyway. There are plenty of kid shows in the daytime, but
Saturday night (after Lawrence Welk at seven) we get two hours of
endlessly recycled episodes of "Keeping up Appearances", "As Time Goes
By", "Last of the Summer Wine" (which I hate) and "Waiting for God".
(In case we miss the latest reruns of them, they are all shown again at
various evening times during the week.) "Masterpiece Theater" and
"Mystery" seem to have merged into "Mystery Masterpiece", so we get one
or the other once a week - even some new (to the USA) episodes recently.
But for someone who remembers PBS stations as a source for the
"high-brow" cultural programming that no longer appears on the networks,
they hardly seems worthy of my financial support any more.

"tanadashoes" wrote in
m:


On the Spokane PBS station the full afternoon was how to shows
culminating with "the Red Green Show."
..
..
..

Pam S. dyspeptic






Always loved Red Green.

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:

But for someone who remembers PBS stations as a source for the
"high-brow" cultural programming that no longer appears on the networks,
they hardly seems worthy of my financial support any more.

On the other hand, I can still see shows on PBS that would never be
shown on the networks or commercial cable because they challenge the
status quo a bit too much. Example: last week I saw a program about
a commemorative statue in El Paso, Texas, depicting a little-known (at
least to me) conquistador named Otono. --- (the "n" should have a
tilde over it, but my text-only email program doesn't support it).

Apparently Otono massacred hundreds of Indians (civillians, including
children), and was even brought up on charges for war crimes, and yet,
the artist who was commissioned to do the statue chose him for a subject.
One of your "what was he thinking?!" moments. Anyway, the documentary
interviewed the artist, several Indians who opposed the statue, and
people who supported the artist and the statue, so you got several
different points of view. I didn't think it was impartial, though - I
thought it made the statue-supporters look trivial and clueless. Or
maybe that was just me. I found it fascinating, incredibly annoying
at times (how dense some people can be about this stuff just floors me),
and very poignant.

I'm not very well educated about high-brow culture, so I don't
generally go looking for that on PBS, although I'll watch a ballet
or other dance or symphonic concert once in a while. But I'm glad
that they have shows like "POV" (Point of View) that allow people who
don't usually get a voice - certainly not on televison - to produce
and show very well-made programs about issues we don't get exposed
to on commercial TV.

--
Joyce ^..^

(To email me, remove the X's from my user name.)

On Aug 12, 3:56�pm, wrote:
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:

� But for someone who remembers PBS stations as a source for the
� "high-brow" cultural programming that no longer appears on the networks,
� they hardly seems worthy of my financial support any more.

On the other hand, I can still see shows on PBS that would never be
shown on the networks or commercial cable because they challenge the
status quo a bit too much. Example: last week I saw a program about
a commemorative statue in El Paso, Texas, depicting a little-known (at
least to me) conquistador named Otono. --- (the "n" should have a
tilde over it, but my text-only email program doesn't support it).

Apparently Otono massacred hundreds of Indians (civillians, including
children), and was even brought up on charges for war crimes, and yet,
the artist who was commissioned to do the statue chose him for a subject.
One of your "what was he thinking?!" moments. Anyway, the documentary
interviewed the artist, several Indians who opposed the statue, and
people who supported the artist and the statue, so you got several
different points of view. I didn't think it was impartial, though - I
thought it made the statue-supporters look trivial and clueless. Or
maybe that was just me. I found it fascinating, incredibly annoying
at times (how dense some people can be about this stuff just floors me),
and very poignant.

I'm not very well educated about high-brow culture, so I don't
generally go looking for that on PBS, although I'll watch a ballet
or other dance or symphonic concert once in a while. But I'm glad
that they have shows like "POV" (Point of View) that allow people who
don't usually get a voice - certainly not on televison - to produce
and show very well-made programs about issues we don't get exposed
to on commercial TV.

--
Joyce � ^..^

(To email me, remove the X's from my user name.)

=============================================
I'm spoiled, I live in WGBHland where a lot of pbs programming
originates. I also get a New Hamshire station that shows some unique
programs. POV is a program I enjoy too Joyce. On Sat nights on GBH
there's a Brit Crime drama comedy, called New Tricks, about retired
cops who solve old unsolved cases. Unfortunately they no longer show
Red Green here.
Suz&Spicey

"tanadashoes" wrote in message
m...
I used to like the Rocky Mountain PBS, but then they decided that they
would have pledge drives through every single really good episode they
show. I just stopped bothering, except for the rare shows (like the
Memorial Day Concert).

Smokie Darling (Annie)

(Quoted from the Sci-fi thread)
===================================

The North Carolina PBS stations here are not autonomous and all show the
same thing at the same time. Needless to say, the idiots in charge not
only have no sense of humor, but are showing the same old tired old junk
over and over again.

I got spoiled by a year in Lewiston, Idaho. We got two PBS stations on
cable, one from Spokane, Washington and the other from Moscow, Idaho.
Each had the same national programming and different independent programs.
I got addicted to one called "The Red Green Show" which was like a more
brutal version of home improvement meets Hee Haw. Paul Gross had a
re-occurring role on it, as I recall, and the re-occurring motto was "If
you can't be handsome, be handy." Mandy, my daughter wanted their
"re-cycled tire" girls bedroom as it was totally gross and awesome as
well.

On the Spokane PBS station the full afternoon was how to shows culminating
with "the Red Green Show." The Moscow station had similar programs, but
were in different order and included one or two that were directed at home
crafts as well culminating in "The Red Green Show." Needless to say, my
Saturday viewing flipped between the two stations. The evenings included
different comedies than the usual PBS fare including one about a
restaurateur and anther about a couple trying to work their lives out with
lots of differences between them and major animosity from her side of the
family. I laughed myself silly on both of them. The Spokane PBS showed
their mystery shows on Saturday night and it was hard to choose between
the two stations. I got Mike addicted to "Red Dwarf" from the Moscow
station. I also introduced them to Monty Python and Dr Who from the
Spokane station. Moscow showed the "All Creatures Great and Small" series
and we were glued to the set.

Ok, I raised a couple of red necked intellectual snobs. They were well
rounded and carry on with my love for the ridiculous and fascination with
the classics of all kinds.

Cut to here. I've seen one Red Green show. It was shown during one of
the three annual sweeps months NC PBS has. It was the "Duct Tape Forever"
movie and garnered enough support that it was given an encore performance.
I really hoped that it would mean that Red Green had pierced the hides of
the wine and cheese snobs that run the shows here, but nope. We weren't
that lucky. Saturday afternoons include victory garden, an encore
performance of Antiques Road Show (great, it frees my Monday nights so
that I can watch "The Closer" and "Saving Grace" and not worry about
missing them) Rick Steve's Europe which never shows enough to get more
than a taste of maybe I want to go there, a couple of BBQ shows, Ask This
Old House, Woodwrights workshop, Norm's tool showcase, This Old House, and
Carolina Outdoorsman. We watch "Antiques Roadshow" then flip it over to
whatever Rob finds interesting (an eclectic mix to be polite) then,
hopefully back to "Ask This Old House" then on to whatever tickles Rob's
fancy. We don't bother with Saturday night programming as it is mostly
the same old stuff they've been showing over and over for at least eleven
years that we know of.

NC's PBS station keeps going on and on about needing funding for new
programs that they tease us with and never buy, although they almost
always make their pledge goals with extra on the side. The few good shows
that we've seen are the national ones that usually are shown during the
summer and rarely at good hours. I suspect that most of the pledge money
they get goes to rent the shows for the next pledge drive in four months.
Pledge drives are held every December, March, and June. There may be a
mini drive or two in there, but I don't watch it. I used to donate to
PBS, but don't anymore because the money never seems to go to real quality
programs.

Pam S. dyspeptic


I hear ya. And I'm a PBS diehard. What I can't stand is this parade of
glorified infomercials my local PBS puts on again and again. Money
management, menopause, self-esteem, all crap from self-appointed gurus
selling something.
What really burns me is how they put on certain programming only during
pledge drives, and then they say "If you love (e.g.) movies about kangaroos,
you know that this is the only place you can see movies about kangaroos."
Well, right. But only during pledge drives. And then you interrupt them
every five minutes with pledge pitches.

--
Theresa, Stinky and Dante
drtmuirATearthlink.net

Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh

Kreisleriana wrote:

I hear ya. And I'm a PBS diehard. What I can't stand is this parade of
glorified infomercials my local PBS puts on again and again. Money
management, menopause, self-esteem, all crap from self-appointed gurus
selling something.

Ugh, Suze Orbach. Or Orman, or whatever her name is. Spare me!

What really burns me is how they put on certain programming only during
pledge drives, and then they say "If you love (e.g.) movies about kangaroos,
you know that this is the only place you can see movies about kangaroos."
Well, right. But only during pledge drives. And then you interrupt them
every five minutes with pledge pitches.

You don't need PBS to see kangaroos. Animal Planet has kangaroos coming
out of your ears. OK, they're not movies, but I'm not that picky.

Actually, I've been turning to PBS more lately because it seems like
every channel is showing more and more annoying commercials, more
frequently and for longer periods. If I see one more "Vehix" commercial
I'm going to scream. (If you're outside the US, you will probably never
see that - consider yourself lucky.)

Sure, PBS has pledge drives, but I'm lucky - my cable provider gives
us 4 PBS stations to choose from. So while it's pretty much guarateed
that at least one of the 4 will have a pledge drive going on at any given
time, I can always find one or two that aren't. Besides, I think it's
sad that federal funding for PBS is so bad these days, that PBS is reduced
to constant shilling for money from the public, or else giving us *real*
commercials from their corporate sponsors. So while I won't actually
*watch* a pledge drive, I try not to hold it against them too much.

However, I'm with Pam on the musty old shows that have been around for
eons. Give 'em a rest already!

How about Austin City Limits, though - anyone like that? I think they
almost always have great music. It's good as background music for Saturday
night sewing projects.

One of my favorite programs in recent years was called Do You Speak
American? Robert MacNeil (of MacNeil/Lehrer fame) went all around the
USA to interview people and just talk to them about their regional,
ethnic, or subcultural dialects of the English language. I found him
to be very respectful and curious about everyone, including their
group's history, values, tastes and interests, as expressed in their
language. PBS is still worth it in my book because of shows like that
one.

--
Joyce ^..^

(To email me, remove the X's from my user name.)

Suz wrote:

I'm spoiled, I live in WGBHland where a lot of pbs programming
originates.

Ah, WGBHland, my old stomping grounds. I agree that GBH has a lot
of great programming, as does WNET. KQED (San Franciso) doesn't do too
badly for itself, either.

This topic could be extremely boring for folks across various ponds
or borders, but, heh, PBS is one of the ways we get their programs!

--
Joyce ^..^

(To email me, remove the X's from my user name.)

Ah, WGBH! We used to go sit in on some of the panel shows, what fun; wine
ALWAYS served! The garden for the garden show was planted in the parking
lot! Cool!
Charleen who misses New England


wrote in message
...
Suz wrote:

I'm spoiled, I live in WGBHland where a lot of pbs programming
originates.

Ah, WGBHland, my old stomping grounds. I agree that GBH has a lot
of great programming, as does WNET. KQED (San Franciso) doesn't do too
badly for itself, either.

This topic could be extremely boring for folks across various ponds
or borders, but, heh, PBS is one of the ways we get their programs!

--
Joyce ^..^

(To email me, remove the X's from my user name.)