They Lie, But They Lie Nicely

I’ve been taping some PBS programs for a friend who is a member, but does not have access to a vcr this weekend. Nor does she have my availability to hang out for the entire program and eliminate the begging parts.

“This is what PBS can do for you … these are the types of programs we can bring you.” It’s all claptrap, of course; we’re going to get the same stuff, week after week, that we always see. The exceptional offerings will show up during pledge months, with an occasional bone thrown in at other times. Yeah, they’re not being honest, but we know it and they know it; it’s the network’s version of pro wrestling.

So it’s a good time to get a lot of nice programming on tape. All you have to do is be around for the pledge breaks to stop the machine and get it going when the show starts again. Miss it today? It’ll be on later in the week, or the next week, or overnight. If it sells, it shows; if it shows, you can hardly miss recording it. Then, when you look at the tv schedule and “there’s nothing on,” you pull a tape and watch one of these programs over again.

Now, if we can only convince PBS to:
a) Stop telling us these are the kinds of programs you will only see on PBS when the right wording is, “The programs we only run during pledge months.”
b) Start running programs like this at random through the year.
c) Underwriting announcements are nearly commercials, so just charge more.