Arts on TV

[BigJon@Work]

This is from the front page of b.com http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/entertainment/15099511.htm

I've been cable-free for over 12 years now so I didn't know how badly Bravo and A&E had fallen. The programming sounds awful now.

My local PBS station has nights where they play nothing but arts videos. When I find those nights, I will set up a tape and let it run.

Does BBC America run arts programs besides period dramas? I see the channel advertised when I watch cable in a hotel room, but I've never seen the channel itself.

P.S. We will have cable again when they offer two-way, broadband Internet in my neighborhood. Unless the phone company beats them there first with DSL. No progress on either front. It's weird, I live in the sticks, but the homes surrounding me are pretty high income. I'd think the cable company would find our neighborhood to be a ripe plum for the picking if they offered two-way broadband.

[shostakovich]

Hi BigJon. I don't have Bravo, but for years I would tape classic films, art or music programs on PBS and A&E. I have a couple of hundred tapes. But for the last 5 years or so I've seen nothing worth taping. This week I checked on American Masters. That used to mean music or dance. This week it meant Walter Cronkite. He's a great guy, but not for taping.

Yes, arts quality has fallen because aesthetic values have fallen among audiences. Pity!
Shos

[shostakovich]

"When it comes to arts programs, I am at one with Herman Goering, who allegedly reached for his revolver when he heard the word "culture".

For instance, a book show currently screening on TV devoted perhaps 20 minutes out of a commercial half-hour (so it was probably less) to a man who is one of our major literary figure and has been for years. I don't know what his international standing is; perhaps someone could tell me if the name C.K. Stead rings any bells? He could have sustained the whole program himself, but no, we get once-over-lightly. Likewise with a travelling "art" show. Two guys (one of whom actually knew what he was taliking about) went around the country in a funky little VW, interviewing artists. We got about 10 minutes minus ad. breaks per artist. Once over very lightly.

So if something is billed as an arts program, I generally give it a miss.

One exception was a recent program about Michael Houston, a pianist of considerable standing both here & overseas. But he had the whole hour-long (minus ads) program to himself. He played exerpts from things, nothing complete, but as the program was about the man not the music I didn't mind all that much. I'd love to hear him play "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini". The snippet that was played sounded about as good as the Rubinstein/Reiner performance that is my benchmark."



The above is from Dai Bread, who is still having difficulties posting.

[barfle]

When I first got cable, my favorite channel was ARTS (which meant Artists Repertory Theater Station or somesuch). Then it disappeared, and A&E came along with a reasonable classical music schedule. I guess they discovered that biographies played to a larger crowd, because I haven't really watched much of it since it became a video version of People mgazine.

Bravo seemed to pick up the slack, but they seem to pick up the PBS reruns that have been rerun too many times on PBS.

I think the arts channel that bigjon was referring to is a channel that the founder of Adolph's Meat Tenderizer decided to put on a satellite. That channel is typically short clips from dance, symphonies, and films. It's OK as far as it goes, but it's not very satisfying to someone who wants to see Swan Lake all the way through.

Every now and then, PBS will have a Live From Lincoln Center that's worth watching, but you have to look for them in the listings, and I'm afraid I don't do very much of that.

But I have a decent collection of operas, ballets, symphonies and chamber work in my video collection. It's not as extensive as my record collection, but it suffices for now.