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Happy Hour #180: Tuning in to PBS · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I'm welcome stuff I'll
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: never told you a prediction of by Heart Radio, and
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: welcome to another edition of Happy Hour. As always, if
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: you choose to drink or whatever you choose to do,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: please do so responsibly.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Samantha, are you sipping on anything?
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: I got my bubbly water ready to go. All right,
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: what about you?
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: I got my red one ready to go.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, So, if you've been listening, I guess it's kind
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: of early in the month, so some of this hasn't
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: come out, but we're doing a lot of kind of
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: nostalgic episodes or look backs on things that we enjoyed
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: during childhood. And we recently were trying to pick the
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: movie we're going to do for the month, and in
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: there mentioned or we could just talk about PBS. So
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I this is like a it's sad in the sense
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: that our national our publicly funded media in the United
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: States has lost one point one billion promised amount of
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: money from the federal government and so they're scrambling. But
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  Speaker 1: we're not really going to dig into that sad part today.
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  Speaker 1: I just wanted to talk about well I liked it
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: and what I liked when I was growing up. And
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: we have talked about this before, because wasn't your Anne
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: of green Gable.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, So there was two things that I loved from
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: PBS specials whenever they were doing their marathons to GPB
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: or PBS as we knew it. For me, that was
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: Channel eight, Willie.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: But obviously Sesame Street was something that I watched on
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: there as a young kid learning English. But the two
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: things that I remember is the Ann of Wing Gay
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: and they would sell these off and you would have
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: like chunks of the series being on here, and then
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: they would sell you the cassette tapes with whatever things
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: if you pledge certain amount of money. This girl did
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: not have that money. But I recorded the hell out
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: of those specials and I would be like.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Go, stop go.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: I was the queen, and I don't know where those
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: tapes are, but yes, I end upreen Gables was one
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: of them. And lay Miss, which had LEAs Long and
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: if you don't know who that is, she is a
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: famous Broadway musical artist who really killed it in any
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: of these musicals. And she to me, we just talked
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: about representation with one of those people that I'm like,
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: oh my god, it's an Asian woman singing on Broadway
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  Speaker 3: in a classic Broadway play, which I've already talked about.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: Lamessbying a great book, but I watched the musical first
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: and then read the book. Loved, loved, loved Singing Rendition.
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  Speaker 3: It wasn't the actual play that just came on stage
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  Speaker 3: and saying they had that as a special and they
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  Speaker 3: sold those DVDs off to the point that my best
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  Speaker 3: friend at the times, mom, bought it for us so
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: we could keep watching it. She pledged money and got that.
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  Speaker 3: We sat around and watched and I sang like I
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  Speaker 3: was Eponine from l Miss and I adore those specials
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  Speaker 3: and every time I still see clips of it. Y'all
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: don't know the joy that I that BROBA, But PBS
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  Speaker 3: or GPP were the ones that were really doing this
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  Speaker 3: as public broadcasting. I did not understand at the time
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  Speaker 3: why we had to have so many breaks from my
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: amazing view and so, but we would have talked about
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  Speaker 3: that and how much I remember that and how really
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: did affect what I loved about those series.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And we have talked about Sesame Street as
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  Speaker 1: well in representation with that as well. I loved it
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  Speaker 1: I don't know how I missed the Sesame Street Train
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: because as I mentioned, and that fictional Women around the
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: World episode. I like, as an adult have found clips
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: that I just love and find so much joy in.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: But as a kid, I really loved Arthur was probably
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  Speaker 1: my big one. Yeah, Arthur was a it was a
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  Speaker 1: cartoon who was an ard arc a r v Oka
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: d b a Ark you would always spell it. There's
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  Speaker 1: also an Arthur board game that I bought that was
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  Speaker 1: just like you check out books from the library and
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  Speaker 1: read them.
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  Speaker 2: That's how into Arthur I was.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, I loved it, and I know that they had
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  Speaker 1: kind of a reunion like a newer episode or like
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: some I think Buster was.
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  Speaker 2: Gay and oh really I think so, And of course
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: everybody was mad, but of course, but you know, it
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  Speaker 2: was just it was a.
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  Speaker 1: Sweet like friendship navigating relationships type of thing. Remember the
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: one where Francine was embarrassed her father was a garbage
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  Speaker 1: man and it turns out he's super cool and his
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  Speaker 1: job was cool. Like it was just like stuff like that,
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  Speaker 1: and you left with a good feeling and felt like
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  Speaker 1: you'd learned something. That was my child's takeaway from it.
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  Speaker 1: That's what I remember. I also have a friend who
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: I shall not name, who wrote Arthur fan fiction. It
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  Speaker 1: was about being friends. It was no, it was very
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: very sweet. But yeah, that that was a big one
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  Speaker 1: I loved. I loved Zoom.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know this one.
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  Speaker 1: Zoom was just a show where a bunch of kids
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: would do experiments. They would do science experiments, and they
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: were generally there was pretty good representation in there. But
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  Speaker 1: I would always pick like one or two favorites I loved.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: But they would just do science experiments and I was so.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: Into I love that. There's so many things that I
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: think about. The show ghost Writer was one of my favorites.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: Do you know anything about that show? No, it was
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: kind of spooky, but it's about an enslaved ghost who
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: died and comes back to tell his story to this
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: whole family. But like that level, I don't even remember
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: that part, but I remember loving it because it was
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: pretty intense, like he would tell stories of his past
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  Speaker 3: and they would do re enactments and they would solve
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: these mysteries. But I'm like, oh my god, wow, they
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  Speaker 3: really they really put this in the eighties. So ghost
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  Speaker 3: Writer was a huge one that had a similar level
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: of that Zubale Zoo, which I look back on it
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: now that I'm like, that should have given me nightmares,
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: but I love that, and Ben Vereen coming in as
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: the mayor. They all dressed up as animals. There was
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: a tucan An adult playing all these things. So there
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: was a show which was I didn't think it was,
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: but I guess it was Thomas a tank engine and
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: George Carlin played a tiny conductor like that would pop up.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know if it was supposed to be reminiscent
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  Speaker 3: of like the Train, because I think it originally maybe
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  Speaker 3: with the train from Mister Rogers, but there was a
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: king involved in that, which yes. So these were the
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  Speaker 3: shows that I grew up. And this is the difference
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: between your generation and my generation. Captain Kangaroo ghost Writer,
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: which was really kind of like really revolutionary if I
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: think on it. Of course, like senesme Street is, I
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: feel like all generations, Thomas the Tank was a big
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: part of that generation as well. So like in Zubale Zoo,
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: which again it looks like a nightmare, like tripping a
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: little bit because you're like, what is happening? But then
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: you think look at things like what are those little
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: tubbies tell a tubbies that's scarce? That at me? At why?
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: But anyway, all that is a Those are the things
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: that I specifically remember growing up. George Carlin, who ended
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: up being like famous, a comedian who had some points.
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: I did not put those two together, but he was
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: a part of the Thomas the tank Engine.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, I didn't know that either.
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: Things I remember now Shining Time Station is what it
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: was called.
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  Speaker 1: Shining Time Station. Okay. See I love this because I
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  Speaker 1: feel like you could ask whether you know it or not,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of this public broadcasting media has seeped into
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  Speaker 1: our subconscious.
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  Speaker 2: It has it's part of our media landscape. So many
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  Speaker 2: people know. Like Sesame Street, for instance, I really loved.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: Wishbone after my generation too was a.
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  Speaker 1: Dog who would dress up and tell you like a
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Tale of Two Cities, and I would that was a
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: show I would watch like my friends and I would
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  Speaker 1: go to our separate homes and watch it in silence
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  Speaker 1: and then call each other and be like, oh my.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Gosh, let's talk about Wishbone.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: Did you really yes? Well, we also talked about Carmen
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: San Diego and Bybees was the introduction for me for
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: where in the world is Carmen San Diego with the
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: rockapillas if you know, you know where in the world
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: is Carman. I don't know why I did that, Octavi,
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: but you should definitely like these are the things that
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: I remember. And I'm really sad that with I don't
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  Speaker 3: think maybe this is meaning too hopeful that they're going
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: to die out because they're too much of a legend
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: and they have talked about the five that they are
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: raising money we know with other other organizations as well,
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: but that if they don't get to experience this level
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  Speaker 3: of childhood that really like coming back to this taught
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: me this, This showed me this, this. I don't know
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: if I learned any lessons from Zubualezu, but man, do
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: I remember those costumes? Well?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And the thing is that was a lot of
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: it was really informative and educational and it was, but
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  Speaker 1: it was still something as a kid that I was like, oh,
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  Speaker 1: I'm so into this.
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  Speaker 2: I want to learn about this.
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  Speaker 1: We've had conversations about you know, in our specific areas.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: For instance, I but I had four or five stations,
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  Speaker 1: you had what three or four, but PBS was always
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: one or GPB, Yes, and it was like.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: A reliable thing I knew and I could watch, and
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: they did. They have a lot more.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: They have a lot more programming than I think you
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  Speaker 1: might know if you haven't gone to their websites. They
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: have so many documentaries. I mean they did they did
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: down Navvy, right, I mean they.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so they they released a lot of BBC series.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah that's right, yes, yeah.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that's kind of the CBC would have been
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: the uh Anne green Gable, which is the Canadian series
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: because he's a very Canadian obviously, but like they are
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: the reason I was able to watch that, the international
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: level of series.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, they just have They have so much stuff that
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: I don't think people realize that they do.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: Can't forget reading Rainbow.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Hello, hello, Yes, oh I loved Reading Rainbow obviously.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: Oh we still do the song. Oh yes.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: I was just talking to somebody I know you and
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: I've talked about this before, but I was talking to
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: somebody recently about the the Book Fair and how amazing
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: the Book Fair was and and reading Rainbow was kind
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: of like the.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: The TV version.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, of Oh I should go go to the library
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: get this book.
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  Speaker 3: The Scholastic Readers. Yeah, it was all in part because
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: of the Reading Rainbow.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Yes, oh, I'm so mad I forgot about Reading Rainbow.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: You're we almost we almost let a huge mistake.
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  Speaker 1: But also a lot of times our episodes end when
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  Speaker 1: we're talking about an activist around the world or someone
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  Speaker 1: with they had a show on PBS or like they
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: had something with PBS. Uh, And so I think it's
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: important in that way too. I'm not obviously, I'm not
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: tuned in into the youth programming on PBS right now,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: but when we do those episodes and they talk about
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: what they're doing on there, and I'm like, that sounds amazing.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: I'm glad to think. And I'm sure there's a deep
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: rooted history. But like things like the Antique Show, things
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: like the remodeling show, This Old House was a PBS
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: show and it grew into having its own kind of networks, HGTV,
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: the Garden Networks, the cooking I watched the racist Louisiana Guy,
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: which I feel very ashamed about now. I didn't know
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: he was racist, You damn racist, Justin, but he was
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: wonderful as a Louisiana chef that I loved. Julia Childs
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  Speaker 3: was featured on a lot of PBS shows. Yeah, the
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  Speaker 3: growth of what happened for one small network, it really
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: could be attributed. They could be attributed for that type
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  Speaker 3: of shows. Are we inundated now over the top with
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: those renovation shows? Sure, but PBS really had their hand
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: on that, I think before anyone else. To be very honest, Yeah.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that up, because that's true. A
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: lot of times over on the other show I Do Savor,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: which is about food and history of food, when we
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: spotlight a chef. A lot of times they had a
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: show on BBS that a lot of people connected with
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: and then from there they were able to publish their
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: own books, or open their own restaurants, or open their
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: own start their own line of cooking utensils or whatever.
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  Speaker 2: And it did.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Expose a lot of Americans to foods that they might
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: not have been exposed to, like even you know, Julia
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Child is a very like French food feels very you know,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: close to America right now. But at the time, people
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: didn't know how to do that right. They didn't what
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: all these ingredients were, and she made it really approachable.
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  Speaker 1: And there were so many examples of that that did
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: happen on PBS.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I feel like maybe we need to take
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: it into a actual series and look at the history
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: of careers that they did for, especially like in marginalized people.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: Surprisingly also people, but also marginalized people.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, both both for sure.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: You know we're mostly talking about PBS, but I do
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: want to shout out I know I've mentioned it in
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: the episode we did with Michelle Norris, but my mom
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: and I would listen to NPR in the kitchen together
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: and we would learn about cooking and I mean, All
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Things Considered was the show she was on.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: We would learn about all kinds of things.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: But I just have a lot of memories of being
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: in the kitchen with my mom and listening to that.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: And wasn't there were an overlapping of things like a
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: Prairie Home companion with PBS. Didn't they release some like
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: radio or like not like live shows, of which was
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: an NPR crossing.
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: Wow, you brought it back the Star Wars radio special.
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: That's NPR did that everyone, And it's amazing. It is
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: sixteen hours long and it is worth it.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: This is the thing. This is like when we throw
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: to so many things that we've lost, but like it
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: really started a different type of culture. Started podcasting and
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: started like they did so many things because PBS really
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: did link in with other public networks and making sure
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: that they were highlighting voices. So I think they did
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: a great job and that so this is also what
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: governments are trying to stamp out. Obviously, Yes, and we do.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll come back and talk about it more
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: in depth, but we do reference them periody often. I
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: remember in the Matosphere episode we referenced Invisibilia. I think
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: a lot about So they're doing great work and.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: I just don't I hope it doesn't go away.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: And I know people are fighting, and I'm part of
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: that fight. I know my mom is like, how can
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: I help? So we'll come back and get to the
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: more serious part. I just I just wanted to have
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: a a little nostalgic Yeah, yeah.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: Check go check out zo Zoo. Think they only have
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: one year of this. Usually I'm gonna find you an
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: episode you'll see. I was like, this is someone was
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: on something. We're like, because they're gonna love it. They
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: weren't wrong. I loved it. You brought it back in
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: two thousand and two.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: I've got to know more about this.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: I feel like you've told me about it before, and
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: I need to rediscover it. I looked up pictures and
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: then probably blocked it out of me.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: We did, because they have it's a thing. There's there's
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: a beaver. Okay, there's a two can, all right, there's
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: so many things.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Go ahead, Okay, Okay, I'm gonna look it up. I'm excited.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: I'm excited well, and I'm also excited to hear from
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: you listeners. If you have favorite shows or instances of
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: this public media that you want to share, please please
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: let no because I love hearing people have such specific
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: things that they remember from their childhood about this.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: So yeah, right in. You can email us at Hello
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: at Stephomnever Told You dot com. You can find us
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: on blue Sky.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: I'm also a podcast or on Instagram and TikTok at
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: stuff I've Never Told You.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: But we're also on YouTube and we have.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: A book you can get wherever you get your books.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Thanks as always, Sarah, super Duce, Christina or executive produced
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: to my and your contruder Joey, thank you and thanks
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: to you for listening.
• 18:24
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