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
Showcasing PBS - Tuesday Afternoon
The first full day of the PBS Showcase conference kicked off with a preview of the revamped kids' classic, The Electric Company and the announcement of a new host for Masterpiece Mystery!
Sesame Workshop, producers of Sesame Street, hosted the breakfast session. First they presented "Talk, Listen, Connect: Deployments, Homecomings, Changes;" it's a multimedia outreach project designed to help support military families with children ages 2-5 who are experiencing the effects of multiple deployments or parents who have returned home with combat related injuries. Muppet characters Elmo and Rosita help illustrate the anxiety that these young children feel during homecomings. Such outreach programs are likely invisible to most public TV viewers, but they're an important part of what we do to help our communities.
We also saw clips from the 39th season of Sesame Street, which introduces a new human character with an Indian background. And, of course, the Muppets will have fun spoofing pop culture in segments such as "Are You Smarter than an Egg-Layer," "Pre-School Musical" and my favorite, "30 Rocks," which recasts Tina Fey's TV character Liz Lemon, as--naturally enough--an actual lemon.
Finally, we got to see the first extended clip from the newfangled version of The Electric Company, which will premiere as a weekly series in early 2009. While it covers basic reading and grammar skills just as the original series did--and incorporates Rita Moreno's famous introductory cry, "Hey, you guuuuuuys!"--it's been reconceptualized to meet the expectations of today's young viewers, incorporating hip-hop rhythms in addition to animated and comedy segments.
PBS President Paula Kerger (pictured) was the keynote speaker. In a rousing speech she addressed some of the programming areas that PBS will focus upon in the coming year, including a renewed emphasis on the performing arts, and made the case that PBS remains an essential part of the TV landscape.
The first of several sessions devoted to primetime PBS programming featured previews of what will be coming up in the fall and beyond. Upcoming Great Performances highlights include Sir Ian McKellen in "King Lear," and Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner in "Cyrano de Bergerac." There will also be a special tribute to a recently departed opera star in "Luciano Pavarotti: A Life in Seven Arias."
Rebecca Eaton, longtime producer of Masterpiece, had a big announcement for the group. As you may know, Mystery! will be folded into its parent series beginning this summer and rebranded Masterpiece Mystery! We saw the new title sequence, which retains the charming, familiar Edward Gorey illustrations, and we treated to the first official announcement of the new host, Scottish actor Alan Cumming.
Lunchtime was sponsored by The American Experience, which presented its upcoming miniseries "We Shall Remain," a provocative project that establishes Native American history as an essential part of American history. In addition to the five televised episodes, many different Native Americans have been invited to share their own stories online, and some of those segments will also be seen in film festivals. It will delve into the duality of today's Native Americans, who retain their tribal identities while remaining Americans.
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