What PBS arts show was narrated by Elaine Stritch?
This is delving into some obscure territory but sometimes trivia gets tough. See if you know this one.
PBS has a long history of programming devoted to the arts. From GREAT PERFORMANCES to ALIVE FROM OFF CENTER, viewers have been treated to Broadway’s Best and to avant-garde’s most unorthodox.
One of the arguably lesser known series was broadcast in the early aughts. I know that we aired some episodes on public broadcasting in North Carolina but cannot confirm how many. Moreover, it’s difficult to even ascertain how many seasons were produced (I get conflicting information online). But the show in question was produced by WNET/Thirteen in New York and ran for several seasons (PBS picked it up for national distribution with series two). The premise was to document both the famous and the unusual aspects and projects of classical and modern art. A quick look at episode titles and program descriptions shows pieces on puppetry, sculpture, bonsai, yodeling, photography, theatre, dance, polka, micro-cinema, grass-roots radio and so much more.
I remember seeing promos for the show when it aired but I can’t say I ever actually watched an episode. If so, I would have remembered the talented Elaine Stritch. The late actress may be best known for her roles on Broadway but she did appear in film and on TV as well (she won a Tony Award for her one-woman show ELAINE STRITCH AT LIBERTY and an Emmy for the HBO presentation of the performance).
Elaine Stritch was the narrator of the series. It seems she did appear on screen in at least one episode but primarily she provided voiceover (“Next time on…”) and the like. Again, I cannot say if she narrated all or some of the episodes (sources vary*) but she seems closely associated with the program.
So what was it? What was the PBS arts series narrated by Elaine Stritch that was broadcast in the early 2000s?
It was called EGG, THE ARTS SHOW.
*I think I’ve mentioned before but it bears repeating – we do not have a central database, locally or nationally, of programming that we’ve aired or PBS has aired over the years. I’ve always found that odd. Our current programming database only goes back a few decades and is incomplete the further you go back. I also have our CENTERPIECE monthly programming guide but it’s a hard copy thereby not searchable in the digital sense. So often when I do research for this blog, I turn to online resources which are not always accurate and rarely complete.
Want more trivia? Sparky plays quizmaster every Wednesday night at Tomato Jake’s Pizzeria in Durham, NC!
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