TV Worth Blogging
by David Thiel, Program Director for WILL-TV
An insider's view of public television programming and the issues that help determine what and how you watch
If PBS Doesn't Do It, Who Will?
I usually refrain from criticism of the commercial networks. If we're as good as we say we are, we shouldn't have to point out others' negatives. Besides, most people who watch public TV view other channels as well; why risk insulting their taste by slamming one of their favorite shows?
Yet, there's one programming decision on which I hope we can agree: the commercial broadcast networks' lack of interest in the Democratic and Republican National Conventions is appalling.
The upcoming U.S. presidential election is arguably the most important we've had in decades. The failing economy; the ongoing war in Iraq and Afghanistan; the energy crunch and the spectre of global climate change present generation-defining challenges for our nation and its new leadership. No matter one's political affiliation, we all have a stake in the outcome this November.
Yet the commercial broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC will only be devoting an hour each night to the Democratic National Convention, which started today in Denver. FOX and the CW will be complete no-shows. The same will apply to next week's Republican Convention in St. Paul. For the most part, they'll be relegating any extensive coverage or analysis to the gated community of their pay cable cousins.
USA Today's TV critic Robert Bianco puts it like this: "You'll find complete coverage on PBS and cable news, but not on the Big Three broadcast networks, which insist that the events have become scripted exercises in public relations and are no longer newsworthy. Compared to what? Deal or No Deal? High School Musical: Get in the Picture? How I Met Your Mother?"
Besides, is there really no story to be found in the match-up between Barack Obama and John McCain, a contest which touches on age, experience and racial identity? It's something that once might have been solely a province of a "made-for-TV movie," but now it's unfolding for real.
Fortunately, PBS and WILL-TV have stepped up once again to provide gavel-to-gavel coverage of both major party conventions, from 7:00 pm to at least 10:00 pm each evening. If events warrant, coverage may extend past 10:00 pm.
This is one (but by no means the only) case in which public television demonstrates how it offers what the commercial nets can't, or won't. I hope that you'll tune in for these historic, live TV events.
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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Chef
Here's something that you may not have known: Julia Child, the French Chef herself, was an agent for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II. She shared that honor with a Chicago White Sox catcher and a cast member from The Godfather, among many others.
According to an Associated Press wire story, Child was one of nearly 24,000 former operatives whose association with the OSS was confirmed by this week's release of 750,000 pages of previously-classified documents by the National Archives in Washington.
The article does not tell whether she was issued any spy gadgets befitting a culinary expert, such as a whisk that doubled as a lockpick or a pair of lobster cracker nunchuks. Though we can only hope.
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