PBS at TCA: Reaction to Romney, Blowout Performances by The B-52s and Tony Bennett and a Grand Look Back at the Career of Johnny Carson

Ed Martin Live from the 2012 Winter Television Critics Association TourWhatever the broadcast and cable networks have planned for the remainder of the 2012 Winter Television Critics Association tour they will be hard pressed to top the presentations Wednesday and Thursday by PBSIn truth PBS always puts on a great show at TCA gatherings But there was a distinctive high energy this time around to their many typically diverse sessions which filled the first two days of this tour Perhaps it39s the aura created by the quotMasterpiecequot phenomenon quotDownton Abbeyquot the second season of which begins on Sunday Or it could be the extreme timeliness of PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger39s press conference Wednesday morning that pumped PBS into high gear During that session the morning after Mitt Romney39s success in Iowa Kerger fielded questions about his controversial call for an end to federal funding for PBS and his suggestion that it sell advertising to cover the lossquotWe do have restrictions through the FCC and so we can39t just take adsquot Kerger noted adding quota few years ago the Office of Management and Budget actually did an evaluation of the possibility of eliminating federal funding and they came to the conclusion that it would be impossible for us to become a broadcaster that was not at least supported in part by a federal appropriation And for those that say 39Well let the marketplace take care of it39 amp8230 there are a number of channels in the cable world that started out with really great ideas that they would be the commercial version of public television and all of them have gone down very different paths Programs like 39Pawn Stars39 and 39American Pickers39 are not the same as 39American Experience39 and Ken BurnsquotPerhaps the overall energy that distinguished PBS39 days at the tour had something to do with its music events which included a cabaret performance Wednesday afternoon by Michael Feinstein on behalf of quotMichael Feinstein39s American Songbook IIquot premiering in February a sensational concert Wednesday night by the timeless and apparently tireless band The B52s in support of their upcoming special quotB52s With the Wild Crowdquot which debuts in March and a performance Thursday night by the indefatigable Tony Bennett His special quotTony Bennett Duets IIquot will premiere January 27 on quotGreat PerformancesquotThere were many other panels and presentations of note including one with the cast of the second season of quotSherlockquot set to premiere in May and one for several quotIndependent Lensquot programs that will debut in February for Black History Month that included among its panelists author and activist Angela Davis But for many of the television critics and reporters here especially the older folks myself included the most rewarding session may have been yesterday39s press conference for the upcoming quotAmerican Mastersquot documentary quotJohnny Carson King of Late Nightquot premiering May 14 The panelists were frequent Carson guest and close friend Angie Dickinson comedian Drew Carey who got his big break on quotThe Tonight Showquot and the producer and director of the documentary Peter JonesSome of the excitement that came from watching vintage clips of Carson and his quotTonightquot sidekick Ed McMahon was lost on younger TCA members but the rest of us were entertained all over again As the panel progressed it became increasingly clear that there is nobody on broadcast or cable television today that has the kind of power and influence as an entertainer that Carson enjoyed throughout most of his now legendary 30year run as host of the onceformidable NBC franchise Carey supported this assertion when he recalled that an appearance on quotTonightquot could launch overnight an unknown comedian39s career especially if Carson motioned for said comedian to walk over to his desk for a brief chat at the end of his or her routine quotIt was like being saved by Jesusquot Carey said quotAll the comedians who got called over to the couch at the end of their first appearances became famousquot Carey cited as examples Ellen DeGeneres Roseanne Barr and Jerry Seinfeld all unknown until Carson calledOne highlight of the Carson session was Jones revealing that Joan Rivers whom Carson selected as his first permanent guest host was his quotpride and joyquot and that he was quotdevastatedquot in the Eighties when he learned from someone else that she was negotiating for a late night talk show of her own on the thennew Fox network When Rivers called to tell Carson about it he famously hung up on her and never talked to her again Rivers said Jones acknowledges in the program that she didn39t tell Carson what she was up to in advance of her meetings with FoxquotKing of Late Nightquot also covers Carson39s decision to step down as quotTonightquot host and his failed efforts to convince NBC that David Letterman should take his place the issues with his mother his many wives and his sons that compromised Carson39s personal life and his superstardom in the midSixties when he was commonly referred to in the press as the most famous person in America This is an quotAmerican Mastersquot production that is not to be missed by anyone who fondly remembers what broadcast television used to be

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PBS at TCA: Reaction to Romney, Blowout Performances by The B-52s and Tony Bennett and a Grand Look Back at the Career of Johnny Carson

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Ed Martin

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 10: Political Spending) - By Carl Mayer

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PBS at TCA: Reaction to Romney, Blowout Performances by The B-52s and Tony Bennett and a Grand Look Back at the Career of Johnny Carson

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