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Local PBS Programming

March 22, 2007 at 1:43am By: Mr. T Posted in Mr. T's Den

I am a member of NET Television, and was pleased to learn today that NET will begin broadcasting Doctor Who on Sundays this coming April. I’m not as big a sci-fi buff as I was when I was younger, but tuning in to Doctor Who again should be a guilty pleasure and a nostalgia kick, since I used to watch that program religiously when I was in grade school.

However, I should also say that I am still a bit miffed that NET doesn’t have a locally produced Nebraska news and human interest program anymore. They used to have a program called Statewide which was fantastic. It was educational, varied, and well-produced. Being a Lincolnite (and not a native Nebraskan) whose opportunities to go to other communities in the state is few and far between, I thought Statewide was a solid program that provided me with an informative window on events happening across the state, and I watched it regularly. If I had to choose between Doctor Who and bringing back Statewide or a similar incantation, I would choose the latter in a heartbeat.

I don’t understand why NET dumped Statewide. Although they don’t seem to want to push a Nebraska news and human interest program, they will continue to produce local programs like Backyard Farmer and the Big Red Wrap-Up. Between a statewide news program, a program on gardening, and a sports show, one would think that they would dump either the gardening or sports show and not the news program if they had to choose. Not to hate on the gardening show, but of the three of them, it’s the least Nebraska-specific. As for Big Red Wrap-up, isn’t it a tad bit redundant to have yet another Husker sports program when almost every single media outlet in the state also has some platform to talk about the huskers? And don’t get me started on why they have decided to inundate us with tripe like Antiques Roadshow multiple times in one week. What is that? Oh well, maybe someone can splain it to me.

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