RunningAHEAD - Topic: Whenever I See Something Good On PBS And Turn It On To Watch They Are Asking For Money

gracerunner

posted: 1/26/2008 at 10:04 PM

Why should I give them money? Everytime something good is on, they interrupt the show for an obscene amount of time asking me to pay 200.00 for a DVD of the show I'm watching to get to Gold Level or whatever. I know they have some good shows like Nova and Charlie Rose, but when they have something that makes me go "I have to see that!" They are hounding me for moolah. They should just have commercials like everyone else, it would be better than what it is: The Always Begging For Money Station.

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rectumdamnnearkilledem

posted: 1/26/2008 at 11:29 PM

Do you pay for cable? 100+ channels of crap (with the exception of Discovery...mmm...I loves me some Mike Rowe) for several hundred bucks/year. I'd rather donate to PBS, personally. If more people donated freely instead of watching and giving nothing they wouldn't have to run pledge drives so often.

Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.

~ Sarah Kay

gracerunner

posted: 1/27/2008 at 12:05 AM

Quote from zoom-zoom on 1/26/2008 at 11:29 PM:

Do you pay for cable? 100+ channels of crap (with the exception of Discovery...mmm...I loves me some Mike Rowe) for several hundred bucks/year. I'd rather donate to PBS, personally. If more people donated freely instead of watching and giving nothing they wouldn't have to run pledge drives so often.

But the only time anything really good is on is DURING a pledge drive. The rest of the time it's kind of lowkey. They tout themselves as commercial-free, they're not. They have one long-running commercial: Give Us Money.

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rectumdamnnearkilledem

posted: 1/27/2008 at 12:09 AM

Well, you get what you pay for--product manufacturers each pay millions/ad, which is why network TV has ads and no pledge drives. PBS/NPR doesn't have that source of revenue. Don't like it, send them money or do some fundraising on their behalf or something.

Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.

~ Sarah Kay

gracerunner

posted: 1/27/2008 at 12:30 AM
modified: 1/27/2008 at 12:42 AM

Why don't they just have commercials? They'll say "made possible by a grant from" such-such a corporation--which is a commercial bought by the corporation. Why don't they just give up the pretense. I was just pointing out a fact about PBS. It is true, isn't it? You'll see something great listed like Bob Dylan At The NEwport Folk Festival, and you'll turn it on, and you get 10 minutes of Bob at a time, then 15 minutes of "GIVE US MONEY and you'll see programs like this!", but you don't see programs like that--only during pledge drives. That is what the station IS--a station to turn to to watch people try to raise money--the GIVE US MONEY Channel--GUM TV. I also think they are deceptive in their practices. they pull the old bait and switch. There is never a mention of a pledge drive in the TV listings. You put the show on, and 1o minutes later--Pledge Drive! Deceptive. I think I speak the truth here.

Run2Eat

"run" "2" "eat"

posted: 1/27/2008 at 5:56 AM

tivo what you want to watch & skip the commershals. duh.

i find the sunshine beckons me to open up the gate and dream and dream ~~robbie williams

PWL

Has been

posted: 1/27/2008 at 9:16 AM
modified: 1/27/2008 at 10:27 AM

Quote from gracerunner on 1/27/2008 at 12:30 AM:

I was just pointing out a fact about PBS. It is true, isn't it? You'll see something great listed like Bob Dylan At The NEwport Folk Festival, and you'll turn it on, and you get 10 minutes of Bob at a time, then 15 minutes of "GIVE US MONEY and you'll see programs like this!", but you don't see programs like that--only during pledge drives.

Actually, they tend to have good programming on pretty often--not just during pledge drives. And I have always found the ratio to be more like 10 minutes of programming and 3 minutes of pledge drive. But I'm sure you had your stopwatch out.

Quote from gracerunner on 1/27/2008 at 12:30 AM:

I also think they are deceptive in their practices. they pull the old bait and switch. There is never a mention of a pledge drive in the TV listings. You put the show on, and 1o minutes later--Pledge Drive! Deceptive.

I have never seen any mention of commercials in the TV listings for any non-public television show. Is that a bait and switch too? PBS has to do pledge drives all the time because of all the free riders. You got to watch your Bob Dylan program, (albeit with interruptions), without paying a dime for it.

"Years ago my mother used to say to me, she'd say, 'In this world, Elwood, you must be' - she always called me Elwood - 'In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant."

sully708

My legs are killing me

posted: 1/27/2008 at 9:19 AM

E/M, Your exactly right. The only time there is anything good to watch on PBS is when they have a pledge drive. I already give money to PBS through my tax dollars and I think it's about time the feds stop funding it. Time as pasted PBS by and either they can sustain themselves or go off the air.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4B-r8KJhlE

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rectumdamnnearkilledem

posted: 1/27/2008 at 9:22 AM

Quote from gracerunner on 1/27/2008 at 12:30 AM:

I was just pointing out a fact about PBS. It is true, isn't it? You'll see something great listed like Bob Dylan At The NEwport Folk Festival, and you'll turn it on, and you get 10 minutes of Bob at a time, then 15 minutes of "GIVE US MONEY and you'll see programs like this!", but you don't see programs like that--only during pledge drives. That is what the station IS--a station to turn to to watch people try to raise money--the GIVE US MONEY Channel--GUM TV. I think I speak the truth here.

Actually, I thought you were speaking more like a cheap old bastard. If you find a show you want to watch and don't want to sit through the pledge drive, then buy the DVD. Almost every show they televise can be purchased outright through Amazon.com (like Chicago and Earth, Wind, and Fire at the Greek Theatre--that was one such show I may buy because I got to preview it for free on PBS). Oh, wait...I forgot, you don't want to pay for premium programming...you want someone else to do so, or else you'll come here and rant about it. Roll eyes

Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.

~ Sarah Kay

cagery

posted: 1/27/2008 at 10:10 AM

Deep breath zoom-zoom....relax... Evil grin

Actually, according to an article of the National Review on line, one station would lose 1 mil. bucks if the feds stopped handing out cash. Seems like a lot until you see that they had 67 mil in revenue. Seems like they are already pretty self supporting... so if I read the thread, people are unhappy when they are asked to contribute some cash to watch something in the comfort of their own home that would cost hundreds of dollars if they could actually get a ticket for the event...hmm...seems like it isn't such a bad deal to watch some great performances and have it only cost a little bit in inconvience because you have to listen to someone tell you why you should support public TV. Heck, those are the times when you go to the bathroom to get rid of the beer and walk by the fridge to get another one. they are actuallly doing everyone a favor... One def of commercial is: prepared, done, or acting with sole or chief emphasis on salability, profit, or success: an acknowldegment of a grant from a corporation hardly seems to fit this definition. I also think it is pretty naive to think that a great show on PBS WON'T have a pitch for funds. I actually think they are LESS deceptive in this practice than some commercial on one of the shows trying to convince you to be a "consumer" and buy something you don't need. Bah...small minded people....

gracerunner

posted: 1/27/2008 at 10:28 AM
modified: 1/27/2008 at 10:29 AM

Quote from zoom-zoom on 1/27/2008 at 9:22 AM:

Actually, I thought you were speaking more like a cheap old bastard. If you find a show you want to watch and don't want to sit through the pledge drive, then buy the DVD. Almost every show they televise can be purchased outright through Amazon.com (like Chicago and Earth, Wind, and Fire at the Greek Theatre--that was one such show I may buy because I got to preview it for free on PBS). Oh, wait...I forgot, you don't want to pay for premium programming...you want someone else to do so, or else you'll come here and rant about it.

I pay for premium programming. I have HBO--great shows, no commercial interruptions where they ask for money. I just pay for it. I get the shows. I'm happy. Nor cheap. My point is this: I look in the TV listings, and on a NON-premium channel, PBS, one I am still paying for with my cable bill, I see something I want to watch that looks real good, I turn it on, and they interupt the show every ten minutes with what is essentially a commercial break ( a LONG one) asking for money. This happens almost every time I see something listed that is good on PBS. During the commercial, they tell me that my money would go to support seeing shows like the one I'm watching. But every time I turn on a show like the one I am watching on PBS, they interupt it every ten minutes with a pledge drive. It's a pledge drive station. They essentiallly want me to pay them to watch pledge drives. What is untrue about this this?

gracerunner

posted: 1/27/2008 at 10:35 AM

Quote from cagery on 1/27/2008 at 10:10 AM:

Deep breath zoom-zoom....relax... I also think it is pretty naive to think that a great show on PBS WON'T have a pitch for funds. I actually think they are LESS deceptive in this practice than some commercial on one of the shows trying to convince you to be a "consumer" and buy something you don't need. Bah...small minded people....

Commercial TV is not deceptive at all, it's been that way my whole life, and the shows are brought to us by the advertisers money. There is no bait and switch. PBS is practicing a bait and switch scam, although I should know better by now. I guess I feel like Charlie Brown trusting Lucy that she won't pull the football away when I go to kick it every time. I fall for it every time! I see a great show on PBS, and I forget, and it's a pledge drive! Damn!

Lank

posted: 1/27/2008 at 4:17 PM

People that complain about PBS are awesome.

"Good-looking people have no spine. Their art never lasts. They get the girls, but we're smarter." - Lester Bangs

scottaculous

posted: 1/28/2008 at 12:04 PM

I paid a dollar a day for NPR. Go me! Blush

Since the beginning of time, my birth, the only show on PBS I regularly watch is Nova. Is there a way to donate specifically to Nova?

Mile Collector

Abs of Flabs

posted: 1/28/2008 at 12:21 PM

Quote from scottaculous on 1/28/2008 at 12:04 PM:

I paid a dollar a day for NPR. Go me! Since the beginning of time, my birth, the only show on PBS I regularly watch is Nova. Is there a way to donate specifically to Nova?

Sure. Send a check to WGBH here in Bawston and mark it specifically for Nova. Better yet, just send the check to me Big grin

I don't know about your PBS station, but mine, which happens to be WGBH, allows me to specify the category of shows that my money goes to. EnduranceMan: I have the opposite problem. I don't care for the shows they run during fund drives. I like the standard stable of Nova, Globe Trotter, This Old House and so forth.

Beantown Runners | On the Bench

Whenever I See Something Good On PBS And Turn It On To Watch They Are Asking For Money (Read 741 times)