PBS

Danny Heitman on PBS’s ‘The Durrells on Corfu’ and the island childhood that inspired Gerald Durrell’s career.

I was a little surprised last week to learn that Bill Loud, patriarch of the Southern California family depicted in the first reality-television show (An American Family, PBS, 1973), had died—at the patriarchal age of 97. But of course, I shouldn’t have been surprised: A generation or more has…

Mister Rogers doc has viewers wishing the kindly TV host were here to save us.

New documentary series pushes back at Kenneth Clark’s 1969 classic

A friend sent me an article, accompanied by several photographs, from the July 5 Daily Mail about the celebration of the playwright Tom Stoppard’s 80th birthday. The photographs, chiefly of English actors whom I’ve watched with much admiration on PBS and in the movies over the years, confirmed my…

A friend sent me an article, accompanied by several photographs, from the July 5 Daily Mail about the celebration of the playwright Tom Stoppard’s 80th birthday. The photographs, chiefly of English actors whom I’ve watched with much admiration on PBS and in the movies over the years, confirmed my…

Back when the Apollo astronauts were feted as heroes for pushing out into other worlds, a hero of another breed landed in Washington to be recognized for his high service to this one. Sir Kenneth Clark (1903-1983), the eminent British art historian, was invited to the National Gallery to accept a…

Back when the Apollo astronauts were feted as heroes for pushing out into other worlds, a hero of another breed landed in Washington to be recognized for his high service to this one. Sir Kenneth Clark (1903-1983), the eminent British art historian, was invited to the National Gallery to accept a…

This year's annual National Memorial Day Concert on the National Mall featured a stirring tribute to veterans of the Vietnam War. The concert, which aired Sunday evening on PBS, included a surprising addition: Hans Zimmer's "Honor" from the HBO miniseries The Pacific.

This year's annual National Memorial Day Concert on the National Mall featured a stirring tribute to veterans of the Vietnam War. The concert, which aired Sunday evening on PBS, included a surprising addition: Hans Zimmer's "Honor" from the HBO miniseries The Pacific.

The mini-storm over Mitt Romney, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and Big Bird pitted two visions of the show’s finances against one another. Mitt Romney claimed he’d cut funding so that Sesame Street would have to air commercials. Big Bird defenders imagined a world in which a lack of…

In a new television ad, the Obama campaign mocks Mitt Romney’s promise to end the federal subsidy to PBS:

The Obama campaign is out this morning with a sarcastic ad all about Big Bird, mocking Romney for wanting to eliminate the federal subsidy for PBS. The press is already pointing out the Obama campaign is playing "small ball" in the wake of Obama's disastrous debate performance, even as Romney has…

If I thought of Dwight Macdonald every time I came across a PBS pledge drive, I would think of Dwight Macdonald much more often than I do. But I do think of him now and then, and the pledge drive is usually the occasion for it. When America stares wide-eyed as its intellectual public TV network…

In two television interviews taped for Monday evening, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain denied any wrongdoing as he tried to clarify his story about the allegations he was accused of sexual harassment while serving as president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association in the late…

"Why Is PBS Linking to Fake Biographies of Conservatives?"

THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned that House Republicans are going to bring a bill to defund NPR to the floor next week. Colorado representative Doug Lamborn will be the sponsor.

I should explain, at the outset, that I am agnostic on the subject of public broadcasting. It's obvious that NPR suffers from a left-wing bias—so obvious that it seems not to be noticed by NPR—but the fact is that I seldom listen to its programming except the classical music on one (WETA) of the…

The unemployment rate is 9 percent and hasn’t been below that level since April 2009. The deficit, meanwhile, is projected to rise to $1.6 trillion this year. It hasn’t been below $1 trillion since 2008. More than $3 trillion has been added to the federal debt since President Obama took office on…

The sister channels PBS (television) and NPR (radio) must have radically different standards. What those are exactly isn't really clear. But we now know what is a firing offense at NPR, considering what happened to Juan Williams. As for PBS, the television station allows their employees to compare…