Aren't half of the old episodes basically obsolete now for various reasons?

I feel incredibly sorry for any parents who have to take their children to this in a community that's big enough to have a sizable contingent of bronies. 

@avclub-d4c5630db0ec3444ec43c0982a9e83d3:disqus I was thinking more about POV which sometimes does good stuff and sometimes does really lame bougie shit. I've got no quarrel with frontline.

I disagree with the image they're trying to set up int he advert though. Their schedule is never really that much better than mainstream TV. Mostly it's boring padding and kids shows, but even when they show something like, say, Sherlock? Sherlock is not high brow. I would not place Sherlock on a higher creative tier…

Can you give a reason why or is it just YOU'RE WRONG COS I SAY SO

Really? Because Wiseman's on the record numerous times criticizing documentary film-making for exactly that reason. vOv

The problem with PBS is that it thinks television should be good for you. To paraphrase Frederick Wiseman, pretty much any entertainment that pitches itself as improving is basically pompous narcissistic bullshit that should be viewed skeptically if at all. It's a childish, bourgeois pretension and these…

It's worse because the Real Housewives are a hilarious and funny soap opera format that will not mislead people into dying preventable deaths.

@avclub-767108ece09e429a9276387de4cb95a0:disqus Actually it's a means of describing how the consensus has shifted rightward following Carter and Reagan in a way that has been genuinely damaging and which is reflected in things like Obamacare being a more conservative-friendly version of Romneycare, and neither of them…

Have you guys thought about doing Brat Pack? I know a lot of people find it to be offensive or too on-the-nose but I've always liked it better than Watchmen.

@avclub-84ca205fe6bc691c41c3bfe5a2820a15:disqus They're totally playing off of smug satisfaction. The idea is pretty explicitly "Other TV is for dumb people. Let's laugh about how dumb and bad it is, and then you can watch Masterpiece Mystery!"

It legitimately would duder.

@avclub-84ca205fe6bc691c41c3bfe5a2820a15:disqus I don't care about children's programming. Because I'm not a child and I don't have any children. It's sort of cool that it exists but honestly I don't give any fucks because the overall society is conditioned to produce childish, gormless consumer-adults regardless of…

@avclub-472d722b57a4ed37e41e70c9c9d7d0f3:disqus I'd believe that public radio has a "liberal" bias if they didn't run APM programming like Marketplace and Planet Money. But when your reporters bend over backwards to justify poor working conditions in Chinese factories, or to try and make Elizabeth Warren sound freaky…

The point is that they're making a classist joke based on the idea that working class things are inherently less interesting and good than mainstream british television and mediocre documentaries about first world problems.

I'm not saying that they're "high class". I'm saying that they're better made, more consistently entertaining, and of more social value than mediocre british television and antiques roadshow.

Yeah it's a thing. Somebody's got to put the liberal in neoliberal and self-proclaimed liberals (Like Adam Davidson, who I mentioned earlier) regularly defend the economic status quo, bash unions, etc. i mean, the president is perceived as a liberal and he's said several times that he would've been a Reagan Republican.

@avclub-84ca205fe6bc691c41c3bfe5a2820a15:disqus When I say liberal I'm not referring to lefties. I'm a lefty. What I mean is people like, say, American Public Media's Adam Davidson who are essentially right-wing hacks that don't dislike gay people but aren't really interested in interrogating anything to do with class…

I dunno if I'd necessarily agree with that. First off, the majority of families showcased on T&T aren't lower class. They're predominantly middle class. The fact that the Thompsons so clearly aren't is part of what makes them a lot more sympathetic than other pageant families.

The only show on there that's any good is POV and that's largely dependent on what they're showing.