PBS Finds Its Niche With Drama, Documentaries, News As One-Time Cable Competitors Wallow In Reality

[Purveyor]

NEW YORK (AP) — Honey Boo Boo, the management at PBS wants to thank you.

You, too, real housewives. And naked castaways, Long Island princesses, breakaway Amish, storage warriors, pawn stars and pickers. People at public television may not want to watch you, but they are happy to see you.

When Discovery, The Learning Channel, History, Bravo, A&E and similar networks emerged, there was a real fear it could lead to the death of PBS. Each specialized network would pick off a portion of PBS' audience for programs on science, nature, history and the arts. Founded as an alternative to commercial TV, PBS was losing what made it unique.

Yet in the past few years, these cable networks discovered that it was much more profitable to create reality TV stars. PBS' path was cleared, and it is making the most of its new chance.

"It is now once again something that the viewer can't get anywhere else," said Beth Hoppe, PBS' programming chief.

more...

http://www.cleveland.com/tv/index.ssf/2013/07/pbs_finds_its_niche_with_drama.html

[Phentex]

1. I think there's room for many different kinds of programming...

whether it's reality tv or sports or game shows or the amazing works on PBS.

[Fix The Stupid]

2. NOVA is the best show on TV. N/t

[malaise]

3. I wonder if PBS is be collecting money under the carpet from cigarette manufacturers

All of their dramas are full of smokers. I find that beyond strange.

[Fumesucker]

6. If they are period dramas then the world was full of smokers

It's almost hard to credit how common and accepted smoking was not all that long ago.

[Blue_Tires]

4. The new Morse has been stellar so far...

[FunkyLeprechaun]

5. It's funny

PBS actually started the reality genre- with An American Family.

[Hekate]

7. Beth Hoppe sounds fantastic

She left PBS to join the new wave, taking a job at Discovery to produce science programming for its networks. She knew it was time for something else when an executive asked her to go to Los Angeles to "add sex and celebrities" to the "Curiosity" series she was working on. Hoppe talked to old friend Paula Kerger, the president and CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service, to see if there was room for her if she returned.

There was, and by last December, she was made responsible for PBS' programming department.

Hoppe cites Animal Planet's mermaids shows as examples of something PBS would never do. "Mermaids: The Body Found" played like a documentary but was an admitted fake and was a huge success, spawning a sequel.

PBS, meanwhile, is a Snookie-free zone.

http://www.cleveland.com/tv/index.ssf/2013/07/pbs_finds_its_niche_with_drama.html

I love PBS -- and it really has improved lately. Now if it could only get a bit of funding from the government, like it's supposed to, instead of receiving death threats to Big Bird....