PBS and Ed Sullivan

[dlazarus6660]

PBS is looking for money like they do all year. I supported PBS for years but unfortunately I can no longer do so for several years now. They are showing Ed Sullivan comedy shows. The verity show is dead, and I miss them. I never liked reality shows and I think T.V. is the worst it's ever been. Watching this PBS broadcast brought back some memories of my family watching this show after Walt Disney. I grew up watching verity shows and wish someone would bring at least one back. The last verity show I remember watching was the Smothers Brothers Show in the 80's. I got to meet them in the late 80's after their show got cancelled again.

 

[LW Bercini]

Because I was a member of the Art Institute (museum) in Chicago, I got onto the mailing list for Chicago public television. Multiple times a year they contacted me with fund raisers. I finally sent one of the pledge cards back with a message written on it: "The only time you have any decent programming is during your pledge drives - otherwise it is talking heads and B&W slides. I find it insulting that you only show the good programming when you want my money" I never got another mailing from them.

As for Ed Sullivan and variety shows, like you, I grew up with them. It was definitely one format that had something for everybody in the entire family. Sure, when somebody like Peter, Paul and Mary came on, I could turn my attention to my Tonka trucks. But I knew that when I heard "Sabre Dance" it was time to watch the spinning plates!

Eddie, kiss me good night!

 

[hcmbanjo]

The verity show is dead, and I miss them. I never liked reality shows and I think T.V. is the worst it's ever been.

Oh, I agree! I recently bought some digitally restored Three Stooges DVDs on clearance. Probably the best restored film I've seen, clean and clear and black and white.
I put those on when the TV turns to crap.
Reality shows are cheap for the networks to produce. Most all the "created" contestants are out of work actors trying to get a SAG card.

From LW Bercini:
"But I knew that when I heard "Sabre Dance" it was time to watch the spinning plates!"
How funny, and true! You'd be surprised how many jugglers on the cruise ships still use Sabre Dance. I laugh out loud every time.

Sabre Dance holds a real memory for me. It was the last instrumental you had to master before graduating from book 10 of the accordion course series!
Yeah, the accordion and rockets were chick magnets in High School.

 

[cwbullet]

I have an issue with their political leaning. If federal money or my money is going to pay for it, it should be more even handed. That is why I am also against the national endowment for the arts.


I do miss these types of family shows.

 

[bill_s]

In a lot of ways America's Got Talent is a variety show, except with the contest thing instead of Ed or the Smothers ( :duck: ). The actual entertainment keeps getting shorter as the contest progresses, however, i.e. 10 90 second performances = 15 minutes, in a 2 hour show. Best to "watch" while building rockets for example.

 

[Target]

I have an issue with their political leaning. If federal money or my money is going to pay for it, it should be more even handed. That is why I am also against the national endowment for the arts.


I do miss these types of family shows.

I agree with 100% CWBullet.

 

[luke strawwalker]

PBS is looking for money like they do all year. I supported PBS for years but unfortunately I can no longer do so for several years now. They are showing Ed Sullivan comedy shows. The verity show is dead, and I miss them. I never liked reality shows and I think T.V. is the worst it's ever been. Watching this PBS broadcast brought back some memories of my family watching this show after Walt Disney. I grew up watching verity shows and wish someone would bring at least one back. The last verity show I remember watching was the Smothers Brothers Show in the 80's. I got to meet them in the late 80's after their show got cancelled again.

Are you talking about "variety" shows?? Verity is something else...

Yeah, I miss shows like Carol Burnett, Smother's Brothers, Benny Hill, Laugh-In, stuff like that...
But these hacks nowdays couldn't even begin to fill their shoes... I think we shall not see their like again...

I quit watching PBS when they quit showing the Red Green Show down here...

I watched part of the "Celebrity Roast" one day on satellite-- the new ones they're doing on Comedy Central IIRC.... (I don't pay much attention to what channel something's on anymore). I remember the old Dean Martin Roasts from the old days... great fun... This new "roast" was just an excuse for THE MOST foul-mouthed, disgusting, downright sleazy and NASTY "jokes" and stupidity I ever heard... BAR NONE! Seems like modern "comedy" has only two tenets-- to be as nasty and foul-mouthed as possible, and to be as stupid as possible... that's why I quit watching Saturday Night Live years ago (heck, decades ago now... though I'll still watch some of the stuff back when Eddie Murphy and Chevy Chase were on there, Dana Carvey and the like...) I came to realize after watching it regularly for most of a season that I hadn't laughed ONCE... didn't even giggle... it was just an endless parade of STUPIDITY, and just not funny... So I turned it off and have never looked back.

Yeah, I agree-- TV today SUCKS! I haven't watched network TV in YEARS, more like decades... the only "new" shows that I watched regularly were Star Trek: The Next Generation and it's successors, up until DS9 took a walk off the map, and I watched the first two seasons of Voyager and lost interest in it. Never even watched "Enterprise" in its first run... I'd burned out on "Trek" by that point and didn't see the point in another Rick Berman "abomination"... of course watching it in reruns now I'm sorry I missed it, and sorry it didn't last longer... it was by far the best work Rick Berman did on Trek... (and FAR better than these abysmal retreads that JJAbrams is cranking out). Used to watch JAG occassionally because my parents liked it and I usually enjoyed Donald Bellisario's stuff, like Airwolf... but I didn't go out of my way to catch JAG.

Honestly, the crap they put on TV now isn't fit to watch... these "crime dramas" are just an excuse to air the most filthy, degenerate, SICK crap they can possibly think up. My neice watches all those CSI crap and stuff like that when we're in Indiana, and it's just plain SICK... there was one episode going where some sicko had a girl tied up in a chair, and had cut her tongue out and was frying it up on a hot plate... disgusting!

Then we wonder why we see sick, perverted, degenerate nutcases doing stuff like that on the evening news... Bah... symptoms of our complete collapse of moral values and the sickness of a degenerate society IMHO...

I wouldn't have TV at all if it weren't for the History Channel and the science channels on DirecTV... before we got satellite, I just watched movies on tape or later on DVD... hardly EVER watched broadcast TV, ESPECIALLY from the "networks"...

Later! OL JR

 

[dlazarus6660]

Are you talking about "variety" shows?? Verity is something else...

Yeah, I miss shows like Carol Burnett, Smother's Brothers, Benny Hill, Laugh-In, stuff like that...
But these hacks nowdays couldn't even begin to fill their shoes... I think we shall not see their like again...

I quit watching PBS when they quit showing the Red Green Show down here...

I watched part of the "Celebrity Roast" one day on satellite-- the new ones they're doing on Comedy Central IIRC.... (I don't pay much attention to what channel something's on anymore). I remember the old Dean Martin Roasts from the old days... great fun... This new "roast" was just an excuse for THE MOST foul-mouthed, disgusting, downright sleazy and NASTY "jokes" and stupidity I ever heard... BAR NONE! Seems like modern "comedy" has only two tenets-- to be as nasty and foul-mouthed as possible, and to be as stupid as possible... that's why I quit watching Saturday Night Live years ago (heck, decades ago now... though I'll still watch some of the stuff back when Eddie Murphy and Chevy Chase were on there, Dana Carvey and the like...) I came to realize after watching it regularly for most of a season that I hadn't laughed ONCE... didn't even giggle... it was just an endless parade of STUPIDITY, and just not funny... So I turned it off and have never looked back.

Yeah, I agree-- TV today SUCKS! I haven't watched network TV in YEARS, more like decades... the only "new" shows that I watched regularly were Star Trek: The Next Generation and it's successors, up until DS9 took a walk off the map, and I watched the first two seasons of Voyager and lost interest in it. Never even watched "Enterprise" in its first run... I'd burned out on "Trek" by that point and didn't see the point in another Rick Berman "abomination"... of course watching it in reruns now I'm sorry I missed it, and sorry it didn't last longer... it was by far the best work Rick Berman did on Trek... (and FAR better than these abysmal retreads that JJAbrams is cranking out). Used to watch JAG occassionally because my parents liked it and I usually enjoyed Donald Bellisario's stuff, like Airwolf... but I didn't go out of my way to catch JAG.

Honestly, the crap they put on TV now isn't fit to watch... these "crime dramas" are just an excuse to air the most filthy, degenerate, SICK crap they can possibly think up. My neice watches all those CSI crap and stuff like that when we're in Indiana, and it's just plain SICK... there was one episode going where some sicko had a girl tied up in a chair, and had cut her tongue out and was frying it up on a hot plate... disgusting!

Then we wonder why we see sick, perverted, degenerate nutcases doing stuff like that on the evening news... Bah... symptoms of our complete collapse of moral values and the sickness of a degenerate society IMHO...

I wouldn't have TV at all if it weren't for the History Channel and the science channels on DirecTV... before we got satellite, I just watched movies on tape or later on DVD... hardly EVER watched broadcast TV, ESPECIALLY from the "networks"...

Later! OL JR

I agree, I think this country will be the shortest lived country in history the way were going.

 

[Scotty Dog]

I agree, I think this country will be the shortest lived country in history the way were going.

What?! You got issues with being "SHORT"?
Anywhoo- Sundaynight= Bath night and then watch Walt Disney.
Lots of good shows back then.
Thing is,like it or not,its not the same world now adays and I think that type of humor or seeing these shows as entertainment only applies to old people.
I know the kids today would find nothing interesting or see/find the humor in the shows I watched growing up.

 

[dlazarus6660]

What?! You got issues with being "SHORT"?
Anywhoo- Sundaynight= Bath night and then watch Walt Disney.
Lots of good shows back then.
Thing is,like it or not,its not the same world now adays and I think that type of humor or seeing these shows as entertainment only applies to old people.

I know the kids today would find nothing interesting or see/find the humor in the shows I watched growing up.

I don't think so. I recently found out a student of mine was interested in musicals because of her grand parents. I introduced her to a few musicals she hadn't seen. I have a new friend. Problem is she just graduated. Bummer.

 

[Scotty Dog]

I don't think so. I recently found out a student of mine was interested in musicals because of her grand parents. I introduced her to a few musicals she hadn't seen. I have a new friend. Problem is she just graduated. Bummer.

Does your son get into the oldies but goodies you speak of?

If so,you be a lucky man.
Mine son didnt.
Music,now thats different..I like alot of the stuff he likes and he digs some of the oldies I like.

 

[Dr. Quigley]

I quit watching PBS when they quit showing the Red Green Show down here...

Hah, they still occasionally show that up here in Maine (how fitting ), but not often sadly.

American TV has really gone by the wayside now. The British are actually doing pretty well, they've got shows like Sherlock and Dr. Who (though Matt Smith is ruining it). PBS is actively trying to counteract it, though, with some relatively humorous advertisements. Here's one:

 

[luke strawwalker]

What?! You got issues with being "SHORT"?
Anywhoo- Sundaynight= Bath night and then watch Walt Disney.
Lots of good shows back then.
Thing is,like it or not,its not the same world now adays and I think that type of humor or seeing these shows as entertainment only applies to old people.
I know the kids today would find nothing interesting or see/find the humor in the shows I watched growing up.

See, that's the point...

Not all "progress" is good... in fact, I think in a LOT of ways we're going backwards, and we'd be a LOT better off going back to the "old ways" in a lot of things...

Not that it matters I suppose... society would have to WANT to lift itself out of the gutter, and it seems apparent that it's anything but...

Later! OL JR

 

[dlazarus6660]

Does your son get into the oldies but goodies you speak of?

If so,you be a lucky man.
Mine son didnt.
Music,now thats different..I like alot of the stuff he likes and he digs some of the oldies I like.

No, he doesn't, like his mother. His sperm donor has more influence on him than I do.

 

[Bazookadale]

.

Sure, when somebody like Peter, Paul and Mary came on, I could turn my attention to my Tonka trucks.

I would be playing with my trucks while listening to Peter,Paul and Mary - still one of my favorite groups

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

PBS is looking for money like they do all year. I supported PBS for years but unfortunately I can no longer do so for several years now. They are showing Ed Sullivan comedy shows. The verity show is dead, and I miss them. I never liked reality shows and I think T.V. is the worst it's ever been. Watching this PBS broadcast brought back some memories of my family watching this show after Walt Disney. I grew up watching verity shows and wish someone would bring at least one back. The last verity show I remember watching was the Smothers Brothers Show in the 80's. I got to meet them in the late 80's after their show got cancelled again.

The ironic thing is that PBS was originally conceived as an alternative to what was seen at the time as crap on network TV. And what was that crap at the time? Things like the Ed Sullivan show and Lawrence Welk, which now also makes an occasional appearance on PBS. I don't mean to make a value judgement about those shows or other shows of the time that many people love, but it seems odd to me that they've found a home on PBS.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Yeah, I agree-- TV today SUCKS! I haven't watched network TV in YEARS, more like decades...

TV is undergoing a phenomenon known as "dumbelling" in which the markets for a product split into two very distinct ranges of quality and cost, and there is nothing in the middle. So for TV, what you get is a bunch of really terrible crap on network and basic cable that you can get for almost free, and some of the best programming ever produced on pay channels, with very little reasonably good programming in between.

 

[Fuse Eh!]

PBS is looking for money like they do all year. I supported PBS for years but unfortunately I can no longer do so for several years now. They are showing Ed Sullivan comedy shows. The verity show is dead, and I miss them. I never liked reality shows and I think T.V. is the worst it's ever been. Watching this PBS broadcast brought back some memories of my family watching this show after Walt Disney. I grew up watching verity shows and wish someone would bring at least one back. The last verity show I remember watching was the Smothers Brothers Show in the 80's. I got to meet them in the late 80's after their show got cancelled again.

I still remember a program promo for the Ed Sullivan show that ran on one of our Canadian networks back in the day. It was basically a dramatic polychoral voiceover repetition of the name "Ed Sullivan" with a slow motion scene of a Mercury/Atlas (or was it a Gemini/Titan?) rocket at liftoff, with cascading plumes of smoke and fire. All very way cool for this impressionable youngster. And who can ever forget "Chief Astronaut" Jose Jimenez?!