Hey, It’s Photo Friday!

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If you’re ever a guest on our public affairs series STATE LINES, here’s what you’ll be drinking out of. As one might guess, any decent political/current events discussion program needs to keep its guests hydrated since a dry mouth can be the difference between making a cogent argument and looking like a fool on statewide television. So that why we had these drinking mugs made up with the STATE LINES logo. They showcase our brand and make nifty souvenirs (assuming guests get to keep theirs – I don’t know for certain).

Flashback: 25 April 1982

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Here’s what we were broadcasting in the afternoon and evening of 25 April 1982 on the airwaves of the University of North Carolina Center for Public Television…

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Deep Dive: Big Bird On Today

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We lost puppeteer Caroll Spinney in 2019 and if anyone should be a household name then it’s surely the man who brought Big Bird (and Oscar the Grouch) to life. Here’s a piece that ran on NBC’s TODAY in 2015 where Spinney was interviewed by Jenna Bush Hager. [Warning: Matt Lauer can be seen setting up the piece, if that’s something that triggers you.]

Monday Montage

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What’s happening, what’s on and what’s interesting this week …

Doc Martin star Martin Clunes embarks on an epic ocean wide adventure in search of the real Pacific. Don’t miss ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC – Tuesday night at 8 on the Explorer Channel.

Interesting … Domhnall Gleeson (Alice & Jack) has been cast in the remake/redo/continuation/sequel/whatever to the sitcom The Office.

Join actor, dancer and singer Dulé Hill as he celebrates community, humanity and the transformative potential of creative expression. Tune in for THE EXPRESS WAY WITH DULÉ HILL – Tuesday at 9pm on PBS NC.

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Hey, It’s Photo Friday!

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I often feature in this blog items that are produced to promote public television series within the world of public television. That means if you have produced a show and you want other stations to carry it, you might create some cool swag or souvenir that you can hand out at a PBS conference or send to programming directors throughout the system. This way, you help them remember your program so when it comes time to create the next schedule they might consider you. Some could call it a bribe or payola but trust me when I say no one in public television has enough money to call it either of those things. It’s promotion, pure and simple.

So check out this item produced by KEVIN BELTON’S NEW ORLEANS CELEBRATION…

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Wednesday Trivia Question

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Who starred as Dr. Andrew Manson in the MASTERPIECE THEATRE series THE CITADEL?

THE CITADEL was a ten-part series that aired in early 1983 on the BBC and beginning later that year on PBS. Adapted from doctor turned novelist A. J. Cronin’s 1937 novel of the same name, the series focused on a young doctor who navigates the complexities of the medical profession, facing moral dilemmas and personal sacrifices along the way. Cronin’s book was considered groundbreaking in its treatment of medical ethics and has been said to have directly influenced the foundation of the National Health Service in 1948.

The series featured, among others, Clare Higgins, Tenniel Evans, Gareth Thomas and – for the Whovians to note – Colin Baker. According to the New York Times, “Critics in Britain called the television series a ‘towering triumph’ and ‘a rattling good yarn.'” The star of the show plays Dr. Andrew Manson, a newly qualified Scottish doctor working in a small Welsh mining town. The actor was best known, at the time, for appearing in the winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture from the year before the series aired. He appeared in dozens of films and TV series before his death in 2020.

So who was he? Who starred as Dr. Andrew Manson in THE CITADEL?

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