I Remember Television on KVCR

If you live in the Southern California area you may be unaware that there are other PBS stations besides KCET. Obviously less monied than KCET and significantly less sophisticated as a result, San Bernardino County's KVCR has an interesting program line-up, one that seems almost curiously well suited to the media eccentric. Like all second (or even third) tier PBS stations, KVCR seems to specialize in television from the recent past, airing with charming regularity the BBC hits from ten years ago alongside current PBS staples like Charlie Rose and American Experience. Sadly, they also show all the typical musical schlock that PBS seems to specialize in as well. Recent developments in PBS musical programming seem to suggest that they have thrown over campy cappellmeister Andre Rieu for Shanghai's 12 Girls Band. The result is just as painful as ever, but I digress.

Amongst this random collection of PBS detritus is a charmingly eccentric homespun retro-focused show called I Remember Television. Hosted by "broadcast historian" Ed Rothhaar, I Remember Television features old game shows, sitcoms, and variety shows from the 1940s and 1950s, regularly showing episodes of The Dinah Shore Show and What's My Line? as well as sitcoms like My Friend Irma and specials like Four Star Playhouse. I've spent many a happy hour watching Boris Karloff dance with proto-goth-beatniks to the Chevrolet jingle "See the USA in your Chevrolet" at the closing of a special Halloween episode of Dinah Shore or Bennett Cerf breaking into the middle of an episode of What's My Line? to light up an impromptu (read heavily staged) cigarette in order to advertise Chesterfields. TV was different then and here's your chance to experience it.

Though the KVCR website has everything you ever wanted in the way of CHP traffic reports, USGS earthquake monitoring, and National Weather Service reports, they are amazingly short on scheduling information and background promotional information on their own programming. Mr. Rothhaar does maintain a single page listing his programs for the coming month, however, and I urge you to take a peek at it. A final word, beware the crazy stargazing guy who comes on immediately after the show. He worries me. I'm not sure he should be out walking around.