PBS has always been know for their amazing documentaries and for airing many awesome tv shows from England, but I think they outdid themselves with the Pioneers of Television. The four part series presents the history of the kinds of shows that make television what it is today: sitcoms, variety, late night, and game shows. The series complements actual footage from the shows it showcases with interviews with the people who lived and worked through it all.
It's been making me think about all the great "old" shows I used to love and their impact on today's hits. Would we have Deal or No Deal without You Bet Your Life? Or How I Met Your Mother without I Love Lucy? And it's obvious that all of our late night programs would be snow filled channels without the contributions of Ed Sullivan, Jack Parr, and Steve Allen. And I never knew about the cultural impact of the Smothers Brothers! Did you?
So with this writer's strike still on, I think I'll use this opportunity not to watch more prime time game shows and reality, but to check out some of my favorite tv shows, courtesy of my local library. I'm in the middle of the third season of Quantum Leap, which I used to watch all the time. And there are more I'd like to see again. What would be great is if PBS could get the rights to show all those great tv shows again. The Carol Burnett Show would be awesome! Remember this clip:
Clip taken from YouTube,posted by EarlSinclair.
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I used to love the Carol Burnett show. The one skit that stays in my memory is her take on Gone With the Wind. What I remember the most is her walking down the stairs wearing the curtains, complete with curtain rod. I also loved the June Taylor dancers. All doing the same thing, at the same time!
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