Monday, June 18, 2007
Foyled again
Happily, Foyle's War returned to NYC area last night, though was advertised for two weeks prior on the PBS website. There is little as pleasant in television drama as time spent in Hastings during WWII with D.I. Foyle and Samantha.
That's the good part. The bad part is two-fold. First, PBS had said they were also broadcasting two new episodes of Jericho (the British Robert Lindsay one) but they are nowhere to be seen on the NYC schedule. Fortunately, WMHT (Albany) did, but at 5:09 and 7:04 respectively on Sunday. Lots of people sit around at home on Sunday afternoon watching serious dramas, right? Yes, well, the broadcasts were actually part of - come on, you can guess - pledge drives! Thank heavens for Tivo. I would give my right arm if they'd just use regular commercials. Stop the fakery of "non commercial" and pledge drives. They're not non-commercial, really, if you notice the "brought to you by" pieces for cars and food and other things to buy (a/k/a commercials).
The other bad part, and another reason why PBS should hang their disingenuous head in shame, is that they used their now-usual lack of finesse to chop parts of the Foyle's War episode so as to cram it into the time they'd decided to give it. For details on proof of the editing, read Missy's post on this. One cut in particular (the circled date on the calendar) made a big difference in terms of what happened to the murdered girl, but apparently plot satisfaction is irrelevant to the PBS muckymucks who could be heard whispering, 'buy the DVD set if you want the whole thing.'
PBS has become a place that offers little of quality though it holds itself up with self-satisfied trendy smugness as they write and talk about how much better they are than commercial networks. They display little or no respect for their audience or the material. It's very frustrating and very sad.
That's the good part. The bad part is two-fold. First, PBS had said they were also broadcasting two new episodes of Jericho (the British Robert Lindsay one) but they are nowhere to be seen on the NYC schedule. Fortunately, WMHT (Albany) did, but at 5:09 and 7:04 respectively on Sunday. Lots of people sit around at home on Sunday afternoon watching serious dramas, right? Yes, well, the broadcasts were actually part of - come on, you can guess - pledge drives! Thank heavens for Tivo. I would give my right arm if they'd just use regular commercials. Stop the fakery of "non commercial" and pledge drives. They're not non-commercial, really, if you notice the "brought to you by" pieces for cars and food and other things to buy (a/k/a commercials).
The other bad part, and another reason why PBS should hang their disingenuous head in shame, is that they used their now-usual lack of finesse to chop parts of the Foyle's War episode so as to cram it into the time they'd decided to give it. For details on proof of the editing, read Missy's post on this. One cut in particular (the circled date on the calendar) made a big difference in terms of what happened to the murdered girl, but apparently plot satisfaction is irrelevant to the PBS muckymucks who could be heard whispering, 'buy the DVD set if you want the whole thing.'
PBS has become a place that offers little of quality though it holds itself up with self-satisfied trendy smugness as they write and talk about how much better they are than commercial networks. They display little or no respect for their audience or the material. It's very frustrating and very sad.
Labels: about me, reflections, tv
< home >