The PBS thread

PBS (Public Broadcasting System) was my first favorite channel on tv. For my generation it was for most of us. Thats the channel Sesame Street was on! Also the Electric Company and Romper Room which Im pretty sure no longer air.


Then the yeaes go by. I get hooked into cartoons, then Disney, then comic books, then movies, then video games, and then one day the epic of all epics, the R rated movie with abare bosums.


Now im 53 and find fiction to be less and less compelling. Watching the recent remake of the Stephen Kings "IT part 1" im laughing my balls off as others are terrified. I walk right out of the theater during "The Woman King" because the true story was diluted with Hollywoods glamorous filter, and become disinterested now in things that used to excite me (Star Wars/Trek, Horror, tv series that fall apart after the first season like Ozark). There are some exceptions.


Now im excited about true stories, and documentaries. Even some fiction if its grounded into reality, and can appreciate now a production with a touch of class. A stage play. Where better to go than to PBS. Ive come full circle.


Just downloaded the PBS app and made a $60 donation for a years viewing. Going to watch John Denvers Rocky Mountain High concert from 1974. Dont laugh younguns cause years from now youll be watching an old Dave Matthews concert, and appreciate it more than when it first came out.

I loved Ozark until the very end. Falling apart?

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Its not good enough to be on PBS

Besides the occasional science programs like Nature and NOVA I watch Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. and This Old House and Ask This Old House. The ones I try and catch every once in a while are Frontline and Antiques Road Show. Cooking shows like America's Test Kitchen, Pati's Mexican Table and Milk Street Television.

But for a while there the local Public station was running British sitcoms like Blackadder, 'Allo 'Allo, The Good Life, Open All Hours, Fawlty Towers, Are You Being Served?, Keeping Up Appearances, Absolutely Fabulous and The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin. I really got into those.

Oh and even though you need to set aside time and plan accordingly a Ken Burns documentary is always a rewarding watch. The last one I watched was The U.S. and the Holocaust but I've also checked out his Muhammad Ali, Country Music and of course The Civil War.

When I was younger and had TV service I watched a LOT of PBS shows and Whit just mentioned many of them: Nature, NOVA, This Old House, Antiques Road Show, Fawlty Towers, Ken Burns documentary and these too....Monty Python, The Nature of Things, Rick Steve's Europe, The Woodwrigth's Shop, Cosmos and Sneak Previews with Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel.

Monty Python! How could I have spaced out Monty Python's Flying Circus! And I remember watching The Woodwright's Shop on Saturday mornings. Everything by hand. No power tools.

Wasnt Benny Hill also on PBS?!

The only thing on PBS I ever watched on a regular basis was Keeping Up Appearances

It was, I had a friend in high school who really liked that show.

In my area, I think Benny Hill showed up in the late 70's on WOR (channel 9) for some odd reason. (It may have also aired on PBS.)

That network brought a few foreign shows to the U.S. I also remember watching the Paul Hogan show on that channel along with Benny Hill.

That sounds about right it was the late 70s when I seen Benny Hill (not really a fan myself).What show was Paul Hogan on? I do remember seeing an Australian series on PBS about women in prison, you know kinda seedy stuff.

His skit comedy show was just called "The Paul Hogan Show" and ran from 1973 - 1984 in Australia. (Not sure what years it aired in the U.S. but probably late 70's to late 80's - I believe that exposure helped launch him into the Crocodile Dundee movies that began in 1986.)

I missed that one. But I just thought of another one I watched as a kid No, Honestly (TV Series 1974- )

My mom loved the British comedies (too many to mention) and the dramas as well: Upstairs Downstairs, All Creatures Great and Small, Call the Midwife, Downton Abbey, Doc Martin, Atlantic Crossing, etc.

So PBS was on often in our house.

Many years ago, we got a PBS channel from Scranton, PA through our cable TV service, and they were showing the original Star Trek series, back before any other channels aired it, (at least in our area). My mother was so happy to watch Star Trek again that she pledged money to them.

When the PBS station ran their pledge drive during Star Trek, they advertised the episodes as "uncut and uninterrupted". But my mother told me that the episodes were missing scenes. She described the scenes that weren't in the episodes that we were watching.

We contacted the PBS station about the missing scenes, and they explained that they didn't cut the episodes, but they might have received copies that were already cut. They explained that some stations cut the episodes for time so they can show more commercials, but they're supposed to put the cut footage back before they send them back, but whoever had their copies previously must have forgotten, (or neglected), to put the footage back.

My mother told them that it was false advertising, and she only pledged money because of Star Trek. After that, they changed their wording during the pledge drives to say "We don't cut them, and there are no commercial interruptions".

Sure enough, when I saw those Star Trek episodes years later, I found out that she was right. Those scenes were in there, just like she described them.

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Patricia Routledge was hilarious. But I also loved her in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. Which also ran on PBS.

I don't remember catching it on PBS. Same with Sneak Previews. I'm probably remembering it wrong though.

"Austin City Limits" was a staple in the '70s & '80s.

You probably saw Benny Hill on WOR (channel 9 in the North East) pre-cable days.

I've lived in the West all my life but I do remember it was some obscure cable channel. And I definitely remember Siskel & Ebert being syndicated. Until I remember them being on PBS. Stupid brain.