The PBS Companion : A History of Public Television

Rating:
Summary: An informal history of the shows that defined PBS
Review: "The PBS Companion: A History of Public Television" represents an informal history of public television in the United States. David Stewart recalls he beginning of some major public television programs, such as "Masterpiece Theater" and "Sesame Street," that transformed "educational TV" into "public TV" in 1967. Noncommercial television programming has survived a half-century of government and corporate influence, institutional rivalries, administrative ineptness, frequent bouts of banality, and grandstanding politicians. Except for the first chapter, Stewart devotes each chapter to a specific series, which will appeal to readers in terms of their particular interest in such programs. Consequently, what we have is not a seamless history of public television proceeding from one notable series to the next, but rather a series of chapters devoted to notable programming that are essentially created to stand alone but still continue the general sense of history.

The line up for "The PBS Companion": (1) The Shakespeare Experience is about Frank Baxter bringing Shakespeare to television and setting the bar for educational television on both commercial and noncommercial television; (2) "An Age of Kings" was public TV's first unqualified national success, presenting Shakespeare's history plays in fifteen parts from Richard II to Richard III; (3) "The Ragtime Era" was the most watched noncommercial series up to that time, while the music rights were held by NET; (4) KQED traces the significant impact on public television of the San Francisco station; (5) WETA and the Battle of the Spanish Armada tells of the shaky beginnings of another station; (6) The (Improbable) Beginning of "Masterpiece Theatre" tells of what is probably the signature series for PBS, which began as an attempt to follow-up on the success of "The Forsyte Saga"; (7) The "Upstairs, Downstairs" Years is about the keystone show on that signature series; (8) Revisiting "Brideshead Revisited" is self-explanatory, as is (9) "Mister Rogers in His Neighborhood," made more poignant by the recent passing of Fred Rogers; (10) How They Got to "Sesame Street" provides too brief a look at the most important and beloved PBS program; (11) Fred Wiseman: No Simple Solutions looks at the PBS career of the distinguished documentarian; (12) Julia Child-The French Chef says it all; (13) Talking with Jim Lehrer turns the tables on the distinguished newsman; (14) "Wall $treet Week"'s Louis Rukeyser: One for the Money" is more about the show than the host; (15) Inventing "NOVA" draws a nice contrast between what this show was doing to popularize science compared with the rest of television and even "TV Guide"; (16) "The American Experience" is the most recent PBS success story, although critics originally objected it was not going in chronological order, although I was surprised that the most successful program in PBS history, "The Civil War," is reduced to a sentence fragment; and (17) "Frontline" closes the book with the most adversarial program offered by PBS.

Holding that critics have been perhaps too kind to public television programming, assuming any faults could be ascribed to inadequate funding rather than creative ineptness, Stewart suggests the reverse is true; program executives find "Fawlty Towers" hilarious but never think of considering producing anything similar. Stewart also dismisses the idea that PBS goes out of its way to avoid appearing to be elite (I am reminded of Ethan asking his mother on an episode of "Thirtysomething" if there was television in heaven and she replied, "Yes, but only PBS"). Stewart concludes instead that "public television programs simply reflect the social, economic, and intellectual interests of those who are professionally associated with public broadcasting." Stewart challenges the idea that PBS only makes "safe" program production choices because "public TV can no longer afford to fail" by noting the risks that have been taken, often with great success, as with "The Great American Dream Machine," "An American Family," Mark Russell's political satire, and "The Civil War." Stewart is right in characterizing his effort as an informal history, which should neither preclude someone else form undertaking a more formal history of PBS or distract from this pleasant little look at some classic television programs.

Rating:
Summary: An informal history of the shows that defined PBS
Review: "The PBS Companion: A History of Public Television" represents an informal history of public television in the United States. David Stewart recalls he beginning of some major public television programs, such as "Masterpiece Theater" and "Sesame Street," that transformed "educational TV" into "public TV" in 1967. Noncommercial television programming has survived a half-century of government and corporate influence, institutional rivalries, administrative ineptness, frequent bouts of banality, and grandstanding politicians. Except for the first chapter, Stewart devotes each chapter to a specific series, which will appeal to readers in terms of their particular interest in such programs. Consequently, what we have is not a seamless history of public television proceeding from one notable series to the next, but rather a series of chapters devoted to notable programming that are essentially created to stand alone but still continue the general sense of history.

The line up for "The PBS Companion": (1) The Shakespeare Experience is about Frank Baxter bringing Shakespeare to television and setting the bar for educational television on both commercial and noncommercial television; (2) "An Age of Kings" was public TV's first unqualified national success, presenting Shakespeare's history plays in fifteen parts from Richard II to Richard III; (3) "The Ragtime Era" was the most watched noncommercial series up to that time, while the music rights were held by NET; (4) KQED traces the significant impact on public television of the San Francisco station; (5) WETA and the Battle of the Spanish Armada tells of the shaky beginnings of another station; (6) The (Improbable) Beginning of "Masterpiece Theatre" tells of what is probably the signature series for PBS, which began as an attempt to follow-up on the success of "The Forsyte Saga"; (7) The "Upstairs, Downstairs" Years is about the keystone show on that signature series; (8) Revisiting "Brideshead Revisited" is self-explanatory, as is (9) "Mister Rogers in His Neighborhood," made more poignant by the recent passing of Fred Rogers; (10) How They Got to "Sesame Street" provides too brief a look at the most important and beloved PBS program; (11) Fred Wiseman: No Simple Solutions looks at the PBS career of the distinguished documentarian; (12) Julia Child-The French Chef says it all; (13) Talking with Jim Lehrer turns the tables on the distinguished newsman; (14) "Wall $treet Week"'s Louis Rukeyser: One for the Money" is more about the show than the host; (15) Inventing "NOVA" draws a nice contrast between what this show was doing to popularize science compared with the rest of television and even "TV Guide"; (16) "The American Experience" is the most recent PBS success story, although critics originally objected it was not going in chronological order, although I was surprised that the most successful program in PBS history, "The Civil War," is reduced to a sentence fragment; and (17) "Frontline" closes the book with the most adversarial program offered by PBS.

Holding that critics have been perhaps too kind to public television programming, assuming any faults could be ascribed to inadequate funding rather than creative ineptness, Stewart suggests the reverse is true; program executives find "Fawlty Towers" hilarious but never think of considering producing anything similar. Stewart also dismisses the idea that PBS goes out of its way to avoid appearing to be elite (I am reminded of Ethan asking his mother on an episode of "Thirtysomething" if there was television in heaven and she replied, "Yes, but only PBS"). Stewart concludes instead that "public television programs simply reflect the social, economic, and intellectual interests of those who are professionally associated with public broadcasting." Stewart challenges the idea that PBS only makes "safe" program production choices because "public TV can no longer afford to fail" by noting the risks that have been taken, often with great success, as with "The Great American Dream Machine," "An American Family," Mark Russell's political satire, and "The Civil War." Stewart is right in characterizing his effort as an informal history, which should neither preclude someone else form undertaking a more formal history of PBS or distract from this pleasant little look at some classic television programs.