Public TV has a strange business model: Give the product away until the customer decides to pay for it. Try that with HBO or Netflix.
Amazing, isn’t it, how the public TV service is an engine for our minds? Sesame Street. Downton Abbey. NewsHour… I caught my first glimpse of Monty Python’s Flying Circus on the Chicago PBS affiliate. I was probably 13 or so. My wife long ago surpassed me in every other area of intellect, but she doesn’t get the Pythons – yes.
For the cable crowd, PBS has its share of sex and violence – Nature or Nova – as viewers like you know.
In the town where I live, the PBS station continues to be more viewer-centric than its commercial competitors.
During a recent pledge drive, I was flanked on set by two 40 year personalities who have devoted a large chunk of their careers to public TV. Bette Jamison is an icon who started in children’s programming. Rudy Mancke is a naturalist whose Nature Scene program was syndicated for 25 years. After we wrapped, I asked Rudy about three things that you should never do in the wild – take heed, in this order:
• Never eat anything that you can’t identify.
• Never mess with animals. (“They may turn the tables on you.” However, snakes are likely to scurry from anything that they can’t eat.)
• Find water. More encouragement than admonition.
Public TV can strike even when you’re not watching. Go ahead, pledge now: https://www.scetv.org.