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Why PBS Can't Save America
U.S. Public TV scrambles grating gurus, dead singers and major exposes no one sees.
Most people agree that PBS' Pledge Week is annoying. Certainly no fun for the folks at PBS, and no fun for us. Just aggravation.
The thing is, pleas for money are not the most troubling thing about Pledge Week. By this time we all understand the need for those wheedling requests that pop up like Robson panhandlers, continually breaking our complacent viewing reverie. Funds are required if PBS is to survive.
No, the most troubling thing about Pledge Week is the programming. It frequently sucks. And that suckage carries disturbing implications. If this the crap that brings in pledge money, what does that say about PBS and the people who watch it?
During Pledge Week entire evenings are suddenly devoted to the seminars of Dr. Wayne "The Public Dr. Phil" Dyer. On stormy Saturday nights Pledge Week drags John Denver from the grave, and Nat King Cole, and Crosby Stills and Nash, who aren't even decently dead yet. Soft, squishy concerts you can order on DVD or perhaps receive as a gift with your pledge. Shows like that one where a panoramic camera flies over the countryside come back again and again. There are yoga lessons in prime time. In about 15 years this stuff will be standard in-house programming at senior citizens' lodges.
How low can brow go?
Occasionally Pledge Week unearths legitimate classics like Ken Burns' Civil War series, just to remind you of what the American public broadcaster can be. And much regular programming, such as it is, does continue during these regular telethons. But watching the dreck that gets highlighted at pledge time makes you wonder just what sells in this allegedly more highbrow TV neighbourhood.
I don't begrudge PBS their pledges. There's nothing intrinsically evil about music shows or self-help gurus, either. But it's not exactly the sort of hard-hitting stuff that requires a publicly-funded broadcaster. Besides, it lends a frightening caste to the future of public broadcasting in America when you see the pathetic pandering that shores up its financial base.
In a perfect world, Pledge Week could feature a Frontline marathon. PBS' investigative newsmagazine is television journalism at its best, capable of opening up current events to show you the guts of the issue. Recent Frontline programs have shone light upon aspects of the Bush Administration's mendacious war-mongering, and on the way corporate-funded politicos helped pass ruinous legislation that led straight to scandals like Enron and WorldCom.
In fact, Frontline is so good it's depressing. One wonders -- is anybody watching? In order to be truly effective, a show like this needs to be seen by a large enough audience to create a buzz. This should be the stuff of water-cooler conversation. But is it? I rarely hear people talk about it, or see news stories following up its investigative forays. Almost every week Frontline swings its axe to topple another tree. But is anybody listening?
Culture of pandering
The question arises naturally when one sees recent poll results for the forthcoming U.S. presidential election. Currently the American public seems content with a bogus carnival strongman -- a leader fighting the wrong fight but at least fighting, as though a sufficient number of casualties overseas can take the place of potential terrorist victims back home. Meanwhile cheap smear campaigns like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth succeed in convincing enough undecided chuckleheads that hypocrisy is leadership and courage is cowardice.
Such election developments bring gloomy thoughts about the nature and quality of public discourse. And that gloomy frame of mind deepens when the Pledge Week schedule arrives. Is this what electioneering requires? Seeking votes or seeking pledges, must it always be about pandering?
Where TV is concerned, we all have our breaking points. For some it's Super Bowl nipples and gay smooching. For me it's that lethal combo of phone banks and "Take Me Home, Country Roads." I don't mind PBS asking for money. I just wish they'd ask more from us.
![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
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Anne (not verified)
7 years ago
Yes! PBS pledge week is annoying. For those who may not know, some Frontline documentaries are archived on the PBS website and can be watched online as "video on demand". Highly recommended.
The REAL barking mad fox channel (not verified)
7 years ago
What happened to all the comments that were posted here two days ago?
The reason why PBS runs New Age documentaries and John Denver concerts, and has those annoying Telethon pledge showmercials, is because that's their viewing audience. All those very sincere people who believe they've been abducted by aliens and go to workshops called 'The Tantric Art of finding your soul-mate harem," open up their chequebooks and send letters along with those donations which read, "I have to tell you how much I enjoyed your series on Ramtha. Life never made sense to me until it was all explained by a channeled three million year-old despot. Dead people have such a contribution to make!"
As simultaneously hilarious and stultifying as this sort of stuff can be, I would rather grin and bear it than be forced to watch the simultaneously strident but dull monotones of mainstream media in the present USA with all its simultaneously simpleminded but hubristic debate. There should be room for more voices, not fewer.
Sam (not verified)
7 years ago
What the heck does Steve Burgess suggest we watch instead? His show? And what's this about "why PBS can't save America?" Who says that's their mandate? Their job is to provide quality television and sure, sometimes they try to reach a broader audience with shows like History Detectives, Colonial House or the completely brilliant Martin Scorsese presents The Blues. In the past few months, I've watched outstanding programs on PBS on The Hidden Art of Hollywood, John Lennon's Jukebox, Great Lodges of the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada, a great P.O.V. documentary on Texas politics, a delightfully odd program about sandwiches, numerous Frontline documentaries, American Experience profiles and Great Performances, not to mention the superb Austin City Limits and the new Soundstage concert series. Plus, Bill Moyers "Now" and Tucker Carlson's new "Unfiltered". I'm just one lowly viewer, but that's keeping me plenty busy and I know I'm not alone. So, what's the problem with pledge breaks if that's the return? I've suggested to KCTS that they maybe cool it with the zillion reruns of the Roy Orbison Black and White Night concert, but sorry Steve, the Peter, Paul and Mary pledge break was very entertaining. I think maybe Mr. Professional Gadfly should stop accentuating the negative and send PBS some of the money he's making from writing these shallow commentaries which, frankly, I find more annoying than the pledge breaks.
Matt (not verified)
7 years ago
It's easy to see why pledge week is accompanied by concert footage; simply take a look at how PBS sells membership packages. For 'X' dollars you receive a basic membership, BUT for 'Y' more $$$ you get the CD of the concert, and for even 'Z' more bucks they'll send you the DVD collection. You have to admit, John Denver is an easier sell for them than "Antique Roadshow".
Cameron, Frank (not verified)
7 years ago
I wish to buy a copy of the John Denver tape shown Sunday, Oct. 10 Please advise as to the route to follow
Sam (not verified)
7 years ago
To Frank: You can find John Denver's Wildlife Concert on Amazon.ca or get it as a thank you gift with an $80 donation to KCTS. The phone number is 1-800-937-5287. Good to see somebody enjoyed it.
anonymous (not verified)
7 years ago
http://www.coopradio.org/
Truman Green (not verified)
7 years ago
Loved your Winnie the Pook piece, but I'm not sure what your talking about here. I love all those old rock groups and John Denver too and Peter Paul and Mary, too. PBS is still way up there compared to all the detritus on tv. Hey, Steve, You gotta know this, eh. Come on! PBS is wonderful, I love it. I demand an answer Steve. What the hell are you talking about. You're just making the world a crazier place than it already is by writing stuff like this. So they ask for money. So what. I think you should maybe do a piece on Benny Hinn. Now that's pandering. I think I hear your mother calling you over at Geist.
Truman Green (not verified)
7 years ago
Steve, now you made me doubt your Winnie piece.
Truman Green (not verified)
7 years ago
Steve, now you made me doubt your Winnie piece. PBS is truly wonderful. Bill Moyers, LBJ's sidekick! Brilliant. Frontline, The Dylan concert. Here's your next assignment for Geist. Get a date with Ann Coulter and find out what she's really like or you can redeem yourself, Steve by doing a piece for us on the Frum-Pearl book. Okay. But trashing PBS. What's this?
Derek Curtis (not verified)
7 years ago
Steve Burgess: If you don't like PBS, don't watch it. And who said they were supposed to "save" America. It's about choice you goofball.
Derek Curtis (not verified)
7 years ago
Steve Burgess: If you don't like PBS, don't watch it. And who said they were supposed to "save" America. It's about choice you goofball.