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The PBS Whine A Thon

L

Legend City

How naive of me, I turned on Channel 8 to watch the 70's documentary.

Of course, every 20 minutes has 10 or so minutes of whining and cajoling for me to donate.

No.

Sorry, its 2008. I have Science Channel, Ovation, Discovery (and HD), Animal Planet, Military Channel, A&E Biography, A&E and on and on.

I'm not going to give channel 8 $100 to get 3 DVD's that cost them $4 to make.

Kids channels? My cable has a dozen of them.

But....PBS has no commercials! Nope, just the one minute at the beginning and end of each show showing off the sponsor.

And, the hours and hours of near endless pledge drive.

Now, if this were 1970, maybe you'd have a point, we just had 3,5,8,10 and 12. Channel 8 was 20% of our channels.

I have hundreds of channels on the dish. If I want to watch horseracing in Armenia, its there, if I want to see documentaries about Belgian painters, its there.

I don't need PBS.

I don't need them using tax payer money.

PBS, show some ads, or go away, you are a dinosaur, sorry, but that is life and I am happily guilt free about not giving you any money.
 
Sorry you think so.

As for me, 80% of my TV viewing is PBS. Nothing replicates them in my book. I don't personally have satellite, but I've been around enough friends with it to know there's basically nothing on worth watching.

That said, I agree with you on the stupid pledge drives. It's irritating as a regular viewer to have my programming interrupted for such things. I'm surprised they work.

- Trip
 
The pledge drives are awful.

And PBS has some great programming.

So does any number of channels. Why should PBS get taxpayer money though?

We don't NEED it. It needs to compete on a level playing field.
 
Seems pretty simple. Hit the record button on the DVR or VCR and go about your life for a few hours. Then watch the program later. Not exactly rocket science.
 
Legend City said:
So does any number of channels. Why should PBS get taxpayer money though?

We don't NEED it. It needs to compete on a level playing field.
Click to expand...

Relying on ads means PBS ends up as another network airing celebrity shows and their intellectual programming goes away. The NewsHour will have analysis of Paris Hilton and Nova will start its series "The Stove, Hot or Cold?"

You'd kill PBS.

- Trip
 
I rarely watch PBS but I was watching their "whine-a-thon" while watching those Arizona Memories from the decades. (Quite Good) But honestly I got so sick of that show being interupted every 20 mins for a 10 min whine. I also get so sick of them begging for money like a pan-handler...It wouldnt be so bad if they did those telethons every 6 months but not every month
 
But if PBS were to fold up, what would all the elderly ex-pat Brits who love to watch those old BBC comedies do for nightly entertainment?
Guess they could just knit more tea cosies while watching WWE Raw or Smackdown.

Seriously, those PBS "whine-a-thons" are incredibly irritating. :p
 
They can do what I do, watch BBC America, or buy the DVD's.

PBS is a dinosaur
 
I don't watch a lot of PBS, but I'd have to say the series that they recently aired "Carrier: Life on the U.S.S. Nimitz, was terrific. I found myself glued to the set every episode. I'm considering buying the DVD's.
 
I must say, with all honesty, that I like PBS programs, and that the efforts made by many people within KAET to produce these programs are tremendous. You might not agree with the pledge drives, but please, for god's sake, don't trash these people's works. It is unfair to them that their good works are trashed because of pledge drives. If you don't like pledge drives, TIVO the shows (like I did). Don't trash the efforts by these people to produce stuff for YOU.
 
I'm not trashing the works, there are great shows on PBS. Carrier was fantastic. I watch Nova and other shows.

But, its a dinosaur. I gladly pay for 7 or 8 channels on cable that have good similar programming. I don't have to endure the whinefests or the crap or them trying to make me feel guilty for watching their stuff without donating.

They get tax money already, they shouldn't. Its not 1970, the game has changed. PBS should compete and be funded by advertising.
 
Legend City said:
They get tax money already, they shouldn't. Its not 1970, the game has changed. PBS should compete and be funded by advertising.
Click to expand...

Which would destroy it.

- Trip
 
I like how PBS has the countdown, that would start at 10 minutes or something to get donations, and when it finally hits 0, it's not the end of it... They just play a two minute or more commercial right after, trying to get you to buy the DVDs, before they start the program back up!

Man, it's hard to watch, but sometimes they have good stuff on. I'm upset that I unfortunately happened to miss BOTH airings of Arizona Memories of the 70's! However, I can buy a 25 DVD set of it for half a grand... :eek:
 
I'm waiting for Channel 8 to offer $4.09 gallon gas for $10 to support their programming. That will be a big hit! ;D
 
tripinva said:
Legend City said:
They get tax money already, they shouldn't. Its not 1970, the game has changed. PBS should compete and be funded by advertising.
Click to expand...

Which would destroy it.
Click to expand...

Then again, take a look at CBC Television in Canada -- they're funded by taxes AND advertising, and is still widely watched by Canadian viewers. And they don't have begathons.
 
Are you people 2 years old? Adults understand the funding situation at PBS (whether you agree or not). If you don't like the telethons, then don't watch PBS. Good freakin' grief! ::) ::) ::)
 
BobinPhoenix said:
I don't watch a lot of PBS, but I'd have to say the series that they recently aired "Carrier: Life on the U.S.S. Nimitz, was terrific. I found myself glued to the set every episode. I'm considering buying the DVD's.
Click to expand...

Turns out I didn't have to buy the DVD. My wife and son got it for me for Fathers Day. We watched a few minutes of it tonight and my wife thinks it looks fascinating too.
 
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