Hey, It’s Photo Friday!

Check out this green screen set I spied some weeks back in one of our studios.

The green allows for the insertion of backgrounds not featured in real life. Sort of like a virtual Zoom background you may have used or seen in the last few years. I wasn’t sure what this was being used for so I asked around and discovered it was for FAR OUT, a production we create for PBS Digital Studios. Watch a few and you’ll see the wizardry of broadcast technology – along with the cautionary tale of don’t believe everything you seen on your screens.

Flashback: 29 June 1985

In 1985, June 29 fell on a Saturday. Here’s what we were broadcasting on the airwaves of the then University of North Carolina Center for Public Television…

Sounds Familiar

“Whoever heard of a hero called Jason? Now Hercules, that’s a name to father a legend.” – Hercules (Mark Addy) to Jason (Jack Donnelly), ATLANTIS

Wednesday Trivia Question

Who played Mr. Conductor in the 2000 feature film THOMAS AND THE MAGIC RAILROAD?

Okay, let’s start with the truth that this was NOT a PBS production. It was a box office bomb that can easily be dismissed in the legacy of the PBS Kids classic series SHINING TIME STATION. But it’s all attached in some way and that’s what makes for good trivia.

SHINING TIME STATION debuted on PBS in 1989. Although it featured Didi Conn in the role of station manager Stacy Jones and Brian O’Connor as comic relief Schemer, it was ex-Beatle Ringo Starr in the role of the diminutive Mr. Conductor that brought the magic. Ultimately, SHINING TIME was a way to re-package the British kids series THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE & FRIENDS for a US audience.

Ringo played the role for the first season of the show and comedian George Carlin replaced him for seasons two and three (technically, the original Mr. Conductor’s cousin). Mr. Conductor (not to be confused with DINOSAUR TRAIN’s Mr. Conductor, who is a Troodon) is an 18-inch tall man who lives in a signal house inside the train station’s mural and tells the stories taken from THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE & FRIENDS to the kids. He appears ever cheerful and has at his disposal some magic gold dust and a wishing star, which would seem pretty handy tools in any occupation.

Since the PBS series was a hit, it makes sense that a big screen movie would be in the works. Discussions began in the mid-90s, stumbled and eventually came to fruition around the turn of the century. THOMAS AND THE MAGIC RAILROAD premiered in July 2000 and featured Peter Fonda and Mara Wilson, among others (Didi Conn did appear as Stacy Jones). The role of Mr. Conductor was played by an actor who was well known then and now. He was nominated for an Academy Award for a 2003 film and has at times been plagued by what we’ll call some scandal. I will note that if you asked me to compile a short list of actors who might be suitable for the role of Mr. Conductor in the late ’90s, this actor would not have even entered my mind. Meaning while his career had at that point included some comedies and rom coms, he was best known for more dramatic roles.

So who was it? What actor played Mr. Conductor in the 2000 feature film THOMAS AND THE MAGIC RAILROAD?

Where Do I Know That Actor?

There’s a new series on Sunday nights, kicking off prime time. It’s RIDLEY, starring Adrian Dunbar in the title role as a retired detective inspector brought back in as a consultant. Certainly, sounds intriguing as a premise so we’ll see if it holds up. Each episode is split into two parts making for an 8-part series. So far, we’ve been treated to the first investigation and got to see a few faces that you may know from elsewhere.

Before we start, I will note that RIDLEY gives us a lot of actors who have appeared in other series we’ve aired but none who really rise to the level of main star. Still, that’s why I do this. You’re bound to recognize a Dame Judi Dench when she shows up on something but the bit players and character actors are harder to pin down. So let’s see who’s who…

Adrian Dunbar, of course, starts as former DI Alex Ridley. While there have been a few guest roles on shows like Death In Paradise, Scott & Bailey and Inspector Morse, it’s possible you may have seen him as Plantagenet in The Hollow Crown.

Monday Montage

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

Filmmaker Jon-Sesrie Goff returns to the coastal South Carolina land that his family purchased after emancipation, leading to a poetic investigation of Black inheritance, trauma and generational wisdom. Don’t miss AFTER SHERMAN on POV – tonight at 10 on PBS NC.

Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who) will be playing Scrooge in a holiday production of A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic in London.

In the 1950s and 60s, a community of cross-dressing men found refuge at a modest house in the Catskills region of New York. Pay a visit to CASA SUSANNA on AMERICAN EXPERIENCE – Tuesday night at 9 on PBS NC.

Hey, It’s Photo Friday!

Some weeks back, I shared a photo of one of our control rooms as it underwent renovation. Now the work is complete (or near as) and it looks like we have a spanking new(ish) control room.

This is the room where the director and assorted crew sit while recording many of our local in-studio programs. I can’t possibly tell you what all the buttons do because it’s been ages since I worked in production but I can say that on the surface it all looks very cool and technical. And that’s broadcasting in a nutshell, I think.

Flashback: June 1990

In 1990, here’s what the cover of our June Centerpiece looked like…

The featuring program was a production of RICHARD WAGNER’S DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN presented by THE METROPOLITAN OPERA. This was a massive four-night event and encompassed most of if not the entire evening. It was even simulcast on Wilmington public radio station WHQR-FM 91.3. It was a daring and impressive event if you weren’t there for it.

Sounds Familiar

“Who else is in this department?”

“Well briefly, sir, I am the Permanent Under Secretary of State, known as the Permanent Secretary. Woolley here is your Principal Private Secretary, I too have a Principal Private Secretary and he is the Principal Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary. Directly responsible to me are ten Deputy Secretaries, eighty-seven Under Secretaries and two hundred and nineteen Assistant Secretaries. Directly responsible to the Principal Private Secretaries are plain Private Secretaries, and the Prime Minister will be appointing two Parliamentary Under-Secretaries and you will be appointing your own Parliamentary Private Secretary.”

“Do they all type?”

“None of us can type, Minister. Mrs. McKay types. She’s the secretary.”

• James Hacker (Paul Eddington) to Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne), being introduced to his new position, YES, MINISTER

Wednesday Trivia Question

What was the name of the ship that was the subject of the PBS miniseries CARRIER?

CARRIER was a ten-part series that originally ran in spring of 2008. Described as “a character-driven, edge-of-your-seat, nonfiction drama and a once-in-a-lifetime total immersion in the high-stakes world of a nuclear aircraft carrier”, the program followed the deployment of a supercarrier from home port to the Persian Gulf during Operation Iraqi Freedom. It took seventeen filmmakers shooting 1,600 hours of footage to create the unique series.

The aircraft carrier that was the series’ focus was commissioned in the 1970s and has been nicknamed Old Salt and Uncle Chester. It is still in active service.

So what is the name of the titular carrier that was the subject of the 2008 PBS miniseries CARRIER?