Hurray for Ira Glass! Hurray for Ira Glass!
From the Hartford Courant:
Ira Glass brings his series "This American Life" to television this spring - but the show that originates from Public Radio International and a public broadcasting station in Chicago, will be on Showtime, not on public television.
"Public television is terrible," says Glass. "This isn't the greatest thing for me to say, but it's the truth. In terms of innovation and what they do, you know, it's just not that interesting most of the time."
Though he likes shows such as "Frontline," Glass says, for the most part, public TV hasn't lived up to the innovations and service of public radio.
"In fact," he says, "the stations are more beholden to corporate interest than commercial TV."
Besides, he says, "Showtime approached me. Public TV did not approach me. Showtime wanted to do this series."
Had public TV even wanted to do it, the network would have taken two to three years to raise money to fund it first, Glass says.
"Whereas a network like Showtime, they say, `Come on. We're going. We're going.' And then they can write the check, and basically we're in production," he says.
The six-episode first season of "This American Life" starts March 22 on Showtime.
--
YES! PUBLIC TELEVISION IS TERRIBLE! PREACH, PREACHER!
Like this post? Click here to subscribe to the blog.
Ira Glass brings his series "This American Life" to television this spring - but the show that originates from Public Radio International and a public broadcasting station in Chicago, will be on Showtime, not on public television.
"Public television is terrible," says Glass. "This isn't the greatest thing for me to say, but it's the truth. In terms of innovation and what they do, you know, it's just not that interesting most of the time."
Though he likes shows such as "Frontline," Glass says, for the most part, public TV hasn't lived up to the innovations and service of public radio.
"In fact," he says, "the stations are more beholden to corporate interest than commercial TV."
Besides, he says, "Showtime approached me. Public TV did not approach me. Showtime wanted to do this series."
Had public TV even wanted to do it, the network would have taken two to three years to raise money to fund it first, Glass says.
"Whereas a network like Showtime, they say, `Come on. We're going. We're going.' And then they can write the check, and basically we're in production," he says.
The six-episode first season of "This American Life" starts March 22 on Showtime.
--
YES! PUBLIC TELEVISION IS TERRIBLE! PREACH, PREACHER!
Like this post? Click here to subscribe to the blog.
posted by Jesse Thorn at Tuesday, January 23, 2007
4 Comments:
Is this post sarcasm? New Sincerity? Craziness? Clowntime?
Absolutely not sarcasm.
There are good public TV shows (Frontline is a good example), but the dynamism of the past 20 years of public radio has been completely absent, imo, from public TV. Public TV is stunningly unresponsive to public needs, and the programming is remarkably mediocre.
Being a surviving veteran of Public TV, I can report that the organization was really great up through the 70s... so great that it never really LEFT the 70s. Their problem is that they feel so superior to commercial and cable television, that they refuse to watch and learn that the world has passed them by.
That sounds like a great explanation Carol. A lot of the things that were created in the 70s (or in the 70s model), like Frontline, the Newshour, Sesame Street remain the best on public TV.
I also like the Antiques Roadshow ;)
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home