I hope BBC America picks this up when PBS goes away
If not, I'll have to download it.
shareI just hope PBS goes away. They have become worthless, compared to what they were forty years ago.
shareExactly
shareTheir audience is quite different from 40 years ago (just like all the other networks) and they have evolved with them. What's wrong with that?
shareThe audience is not "quite different" than it was forty years ago. Many of the audience members today are the same people who were watching then. The fact that they are forty years older does not diminish their importance in any way. If audience members who have only begun watching in recent years prefer an inferior version of PBS, then they've got what they want.
Forty years ago PBS frequently presented a great variety of ballet performances (other than "Nutcracker"), as well as other forms of dance. There were classical music concerts on many nights other than New Year's Eve. They showed dramatic programs from Britain without editing them for time and content. It was difficult, if not impossible, to infer any particular ideological point of view from programming choices or presentation. There were not lengthy interruptions to solicit donations every twenty minutes. "Evolved"? Compared to what it once was, PBS has devolved into a joke.
"Many of the audience members today are the same people who were watching then. The fact that they are forty years older does not diminish their importance in any way. If audience members who have only begun watching in recent years prefer an inferior version of PBS, then they've got what they want. "
I'm willing to bet in a 40 year period, a majority of these people have passed away...or 'grown into' PBS.
I, myself, was a teenager 40 years ago and not watching PBS (I was too old for kids programming and too young to appreciate the fine arts / dramas for it's adult programming). Now, in my 50s I've grown to enjoy and appreciate PBS and it's adult programming. As a matter of fact, I've been watching much of their older dramas over the past years on DVD, and appreciate them fully (I just finished the astounding 'Elizabeth K').
However, many people I did know who had watched PBS back then (teachers, family) are now mostly deceased or in their 80s or older. Not sure they are the viewers their still going after.
In Rebecca Eaton’s book, Making Masterpiece, she admits that PBS always shaved a few minutes from every episode in order to accommodate their sponsor info and the introductions and closing remarks.
And back then Mobil was underwriting Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery. At that time they were just renting programs from the vaults at the BBC, London Weekend Television, Granada Television, etc.
Eventually they ran out of programs that had already been produced and their uk partners began to expect them to help pay production costs. And then Exxon-Mobil withdrew their funding and Masterpiece and Mystery were nearly lost.
Eaton also explained that viewers of the extremely popular Sherlock series were downloading their episodes from torrent sites and were highly unlikely to support their local stations— memberships that were desperately needed to keep Masterpiece alive and well. If it hadn’t been for Downton Abbey, Masterpiece and Mystery would have been canceled by now.
Agreed about the fund drives.
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