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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPBS Finds Its Niche With Drama, Documentaries, News As One-Time Cable Competitors Wallow In Reality
NEW YORK (AP) Honey Boo Boo, the management at PBS wants to thank you.
You, too, real housewives. And naked castaways, Long Island princesses, breakaway Amish, storage warriors, pawn stars and pickers. People at public television may not want to watch you, but they are happy to see you.
When Discovery, The Learning Channel, History, Bravo, A&E and similar networks emerged, there was a real fear it could lead to the death of PBS. Each specialized network would pick off a portion of PBS' audience for programs on science, nature, history and the arts. Founded as an alternative to commercial TV, PBS was losing what made it unique.
Yet in the past few years, these cable networks discovered that it was much more profitable to create reality TV stars. PBS' path was cleared, and it is making the most of its new chance.
"It is now once again something that the viewer can't get anywhere else," said Beth Hoppe, PBS' programming chief.
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http://www.cleveland.com/tv/index.ssf/2013/07/pbs_finds_its_niche_with_drama.html
Phentex
(16,334 posts)whether it's reality tv or sports or game shows or the amazing works on PBS.
Fix The Stupid
(948 posts)malaise
(269,054 posts)All of their dramas are full of smokers. I find that beyond strange.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)It's almost hard to credit how common and accepted smoking was not all that long ago.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)FunkyLeprechaun
(2,383 posts)PBS actually started the reality genre- with An American Family.
Hekate
(90,714 posts)There was, and by last December, she was made responsible for PBS' programming department.
Hoppe cites Animal Planet's mermaids shows as examples of something PBS would never do. "Mermaids: The Body Found" played like a documentary but was an admitted fake and was a huge success, spawning a sequel.
PBS, meanwhile, is a Snookie-free zone.
http://www.cleveland.com/tv/index.ssf/2013/07/pbs_finds_its_niche_with_drama.html
I love PBS -- and it really has improved lately. Now if it could only get a bit of funding from the government, like it's supposed to, instead of receiving death threats to Big Bird....