So last year, Tom Hanks and some other guy executive produced a documentary mini-series about the 1960s that aired on CNN (uh, isn't CNN supposed to be for news?).
This year, they've executive produced another documentary mini-series about the 1970s, and the debut episode deals with the television throughout that decade. No surprised, SST gets a mention.
Specifically, there's discussion about how public television and educational television really matured in the 70s, mostly thanks to Mister Rogers making it feel like it's okay to talk to children as if they're real human beings and not just talk down to them. And of course, SST was noted for being a who's-who cavalcade for all kinds of celebrities who wanted to hang out with the Muppets.
Before READING RAINBOW's time, obviously, but LeVar Burton is among the commentators on the program (remember, the mini-series his starred in, ROOTS, was from this decade).
I will admit, watching the program, I can tell you that there's really not much mentioned about PBS or SST in general (at least not compared to other topics, such as ground-breaking shows like ALL IN THE FAMILY, and the slew of spin-offs that shows were doing during that decade, for example), but if you're still interested in checking this out, look for THE SEVENTIES: TV GETS REAL on CNN.
This year, they've executive produced another documentary mini-series about the 1970s, and the debut episode deals with the television throughout that decade. No surprised, SST gets a mention.
Specifically, there's discussion about how public television and educational television really matured in the 70s, mostly thanks to Mister Rogers making it feel like it's okay to talk to children as if they're real human beings and not just talk down to them. And of course, SST was noted for being a who's-who cavalcade for all kinds of celebrities who wanted to hang out with the Muppets.
Before READING RAINBOW's time, obviously, but LeVar Burton is among the commentators on the program (remember, the mini-series his starred in, ROOTS, was from this decade).
I will admit, watching the program, I can tell you that there's really not much mentioned about PBS or SST in general (at least not compared to other topics, such as ground-breaking shows like ALL IN THE FAMILY, and the slew of spin-offs that shows were doing during that decade, for example), but if you're still interested in checking this out, look for THE SEVENTIES: TV GETS REAL on CNN.