Is there anything worth watching on PBS these days?

I'm watching S.2 of The Tunnel, Sabotage.

Also enjoying Tennison, the very nicely done prequel to Prime Suspect. Excellent cast, good writing and lots of great period stuff.

Is 'This Old House' still airing? Norm Abram is so hot.

Yes, This Old House and Ask This Old House are still going. I watch them on the Create channel.

The last few seasons of TOH have been marked by the kind of entitled spoiled brat homeowners most of us would love to slap to death, but they've done a series on rebuilding Detroit that has been interesting to watch.

Norm is sexy as ever and sends his love.

Great British Baking Show

Don't knock it till you've tried it

Martha Stewart bakes, America's test kitchen, and other frauey shit.

I love it.

Can't miss Great British Baking Show. Victorian House? Its a retelling of British life in the 1800s with modern participants

What's the story with the gardener guy on this old house? What's in his pants?

Is Poldark ever coming back? Will I ever get to see George Warleggan receive his comeuppance?

Grantchester is a good show.

I second Grantchester. The actor is a hot piece of ass.

If I watch one hour of TV, it's going to be the PBS Newshour. I love Judy Woodruff (and William Brangham).

Grantchester is an abominably badly written and acted show, and not even the extraordinary hotness of James Norton is enough to keep me interested.

Me too, R12. I like Robson Green, James Norton, Al Weaver and the cantankerous housekeeper played by Tessa Peake-Jones but the series is so boringly white bread it's unwatchable.

In another thread someone who had read the Grantchester short story collection said the terrible love story doesn't exist that the PBS series has stuck Norton in. I've looked at that woman and wondered who she must be blackmailing, married to or screwing that made someone think she was attractive. I would enjoy the show without her.

This season they've got Robson Green having an affair with a woman at work. Totally unnecessary.

[quote] This season they've got Robson Green having an affair with a woman at work. Totally unnecessary.

Not to me.

In DC we have an added pbs channel, WETA-UK. Shows Brit & Australian shows 24/7. Old and newer shows. Great stuff. Been watching Ordinary Lies which is quite good. A Place Called Home out of Australia is a great soap. A bunch more.

On regular PBS Victoria is great - now in reruns leading up to Season 2. Tennison is surprisingly good. I love love love the GBBShow - both of my PBS stations show it at different times. I also really like those shows about how regular people lived back in the day - mostly poorly.

I wish PBS showed some of the more daring British programming. That's not to say I don't like a well balanced, satisfying period drama, too. But, yeah, from Sherlock to Granchester to the sailor one, they do seem to skew very... frau. No offense, fraus.

I did actually catch a couple of episodes of the first season of Indian Summer and quite liked that one. Any views on Call the Midwife?

It seems we have to go to Netflix and Hulu for those harder edged drama and comedy imports (River, Happy Valley, Black Mirror, The Fall, The Missing) etc.

What about that other new one, Friends of my Mother or something.

I wish PBS would cut back on the amount of music/concert shows they're airing.

Remember the days when PBS showed Tales of the City? Those were good times.

Antiques Roadshow.

"He wouldn't know a Bedermier from an Oscar Mayer."

R17 - unfortunately, those concerts make them a lot of money during pledge drives and, overall, have much lower production/development costs than costume dramas or high-production-value documentaries.

I know OP already mentioned Frontline, but I have to express my appreciation for it. So so good.

Second series of The Tunnel is great.

The Prime Suspect prequel is very good. Sam Reid plays DI (Detective Inspector or Divisional Inspector...I don't know) Len Bradfield. He's drop dead gorgeous with a sexy, smoky voice.

oh fuck, R22, he IS hot.

While I love Grantchester (James Norton is my TV boyfriend), I'd be the first to say the writing (outside of the murder mystery du jour) has gone wonkus. Still, the production values are great, I enjoy the characters and I'll keep watching it as long as they want to make it. Prime Suspect: Tennison also has terrific production values, and while the case is interesting I'm not sure how much it has to do with the Helen Mirren seasons. (As far as both shows go, could the writers *please* find some other B-plot for their leading characters other than getting romantically involved with someone they shouldn't?)

I won't be watching the second season of Victoria, since the first did nothing for me. I wish I could say the same for Poldark, but it's SO beautiful (see also: Aidan Turner), even if the plotting induces whiplash. I am looking forward to the return of The Durrells in Corfu. Call the Midwife can be a bit twee, but I love the actors. (I still have no idea how they film some of the deliveries.)

Ken Burns' new documentary on the Vietnam War airs in the fall. So that should be excellent, if utterly depressing (and always one episode too long, Ken). I wish PBS aired more performing arts on Great Performances and also brought back Dance in America.

Which leaves the cooking shows. The Great British Baking Show is somehow the most gripping hour of TV. And one of the most delightful. I've been watching America's Test Kitchen and Cooks Country for years since I know someone on both. And Martha Stewart's recent foray into the cuisines of Saudi Arabia has been... interesting (and obviously backed by Al Jazeera and Qatar Airlines as sponsors).

R15: While I thought Black Mirror and Happy Valley were some of the best TV ever, I canNOT imagine either on PBS. The viewers who watch all those horrible pledge-week doo-wop concerts would have coronaries.

FIOS PBS is great! They have three PBS stations, including CREATE and New York PBS. Xfinity (a.k.a. Comcast) SUCKS!

I loved the first season of The Tunnel. I'm with a few others here. Love the actors but Grantchester is boring.

Poldark returns to PBS in October.

PBS has something for everyone. That's one of the many reasons I love it, and support it.

The British Baking Show is boring as shit, and all the food looks like slop. Those lesbian co-hosts are the most irritating cunts on planet earth, except for possibly Paul Hollywood, of dubious sexuality.

But people love this stupid show.

Basic.

I find PBS the best channel on TV, hands down. NOVA, American Masters, Secrets of the Dead, Live from Lincoln Center, Masterpiece-- the list goes on and on

Due to budget cuts, my PBS station ditched the Britcoms and then brought back just [italic]Keeping Up Appearances[/italic] and [italic]As Time Goes By[/italic] (zzzzzzz). They also used to run, at one time or another, [italic]Are You Being Served?/Grace and Favour, Dad's Army, George and Mildred, Fawlty Towers, Good Neighbors (The Good Life), Last of the Summer Wine, To the Manor Born, The Vicar of Dibley, Vicious,[/italic] and [italic]Waiting for God.[/italic] :(

Frontline is the best investigative news show on TV!

I like the Australian detective shows: Doctor Blake and Miss Fisher.

Don't forget Ken Burns' new documentary about Vietnam premiers on September 17th. Pretty sure that's the correct date.

The Vietnam War, that is.

I like Endeavour a lot

I used to watch PBS when they aired the original Poldark with Robin Ellis, The Duchess Of Duke St, Upstairs/Downstairs and The Forsyte Saga - the original one with fabulous Eric Porter playing Soames.

I want to support my local PBS station but how do I do it without being placed on mailing list hell? I once contributed a piddly amount to a hospital and they have not deleted me from their mailing list in 15 years. Even after repeated calls and letters informing them I no longer live at that address and that my mother was sick of their mail. I cringe at the amount of money wasted on the mailings which has far exceeded my one time donation.

I want to donate to PBS as it's by far, my favorite tv station but may be triggered when I check my mailbox.

[quote]What about that other new one, Friends of my Mother or something.

Do you mean "My Mother And Other Strangers" with Mad Men hottie Aaron Staton?

Yes r39. Is it any good?

PBS should show "Dallas." Maybe also "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island." They show all those old BBC series, why not show old US series?*

*That's a rhetorical question. I'm sure there's a good, boring reason.

IMO, it's ok, not great. It kind of plods along without any gripping plots.

I love A Place To Call Home! It's my weekly story. Sara suffers sooo much. It's a 3 hanky story.

Thanks r39. I've recorded it haven't started watching yet.

"Grontchester" is a bore.

The Dorells in Corfu is annoying and pointless.

My Mother and Other Strangers is something thats been done 100 times before, and done better.

Call the Midwife is maudlin and reduces women to creatures who simply must have babies to feel complete and who could never give their babies up for adoption (despite the fact that there were thousands of adoptions every year). If a woman doesn't want a baby, she's a nun. The old fart nun behaves unlike any elderly confused person on the planet. Senile/demented people don't speak in arch riddles. And we get it. She likes sweets.

I actually liked Home Fires. Francesca Annis and Samantha Bond are terrific. I was surprised it was cancelled.

Indian Summers was ludicrous. There was so much historically wrong with it and the acting was often atrocious. There was a very lively and funny recap section in one of the online periodicals about this show. It may have been The Guardian. The comments section was hilarious. Most comments could have been written by dataloungers.

The Tunnel is ok. But what is the deal with black people needing to be married to white people on British shows? It's kind of racist. The only black couples I've seen on British tv were from the Caribbean.

My PBS station reruns the same 10 episodes of Doc Martin and Midsomer Murders. Midsomer murders has been on tv for decades and my station only bought 10 episodes.

It also has started showing Are You Being Served again.

I like mysteries but I don't like George Gently -- episodes are too damn long and I lose interest. DCI Banks is always having out of control emotional outbursts that don't make sense. Same thing on inspector Lewis. Weirdly over emotional, inexplicably angry outbursts by Lewis.

Endeavor bores me but I understand it is very popular.

Poldark looks like a modeling photo shoot for shampoo or hair conditioner.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a current PBS show I look forward to except PBS Newshour. The best British series aren't shown by PBS.

Last night my PBS station showed The Lady Vanishes. It was unbelievably bad. I had to switch it off. The main character and her friends were atrocious. Miss Froy was inanely prattling on and on and had no personality. In the Hitchcock movie the main female character was not a snotty bitch and Miss Froy was warm and grandmotherly. We actually cared about what might have happened to her when she disappeared. The current Miss Froy was someone we would have enjoyed getting rid of.

The same atrocious treatment had been given to The 39 Steps with Rupert Penry Jones.

One of our PBS stations has Father Brown which is entertaining if not real exciting stuff.

I don't know what market you're in, OP, but if you're lucky, your Saturday afternoon might be #blessed by the presence of The Jazzy Vegetarian!

Oh, Jazzy, I love you!!!

I liked Scott and Bailey, but that's finished now.

I used to love NOVA but it's become boring most of the time. The last one I liked was about the Nepal earthquake. They kept it moving, which kept it interesting. I found Making North America boring.

I didn't like Sherlock. I felt it was unnecessarily muddled, but I watched most of them to see if I would change my mind. I didn't like how they turned the smart American opera singer into a British sex worker. Then there was the Abominable Bride, which gave us Sherlock Holmes mansplaning the history of women ...to women. And making Mary Watson a ninja assassin who "performed surgery" on Sherlock by shooting him was ridiculous.

Tennyson bores me. I guess the success of Endeavor inspired the Prime Suspect prequel. But Prime Suspect stands alone

Ken Burns is like a box of chocolates -- you never know what you'll get. Could be an interesting history of something, could be a drawn out mess like Baseball.

I'm surprised PBS never picked up Line of Duty. Probably too expensive.

Tavis Smiley has good guests but he doesn't ask interesting questions.

Mercy Street was pretty terrible. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was miscast.

Victoria was uninteresting but worse, it took far too many liberties with reality. And spent too much time below stairs with people whose stories were feh.

I like that my PBS station shows movies on Friday night, but i just don't happen to like the movies they've picked. Maybe that will change. (I can't believe Hepburn won an Oscar for Lion in Winter. She didn't act, she recited her lines)

It's a shame they've lost so much funding. They can't do interesting shows like the ones that are now on cable tv.

[quote]The best British series aren't shown by PBS.

r45, what do you consider the best of British series?

[quote]It's a shame they've lost so much funding. They can't do interesting shows like the ones that are now on cable tv.

And they're going to lose even more funding under Trump Administration. Their programming is so uninspired. And they're not going after a new generation of viewers. When all the old, rich doyennes die off, PBS will be dead.

R45 wonders why no one likes him.

A couple seasons ago, Wolf Hall. Breathtaking. Even if you're not a fan of Tudor history.

Endeavour is my current favorite, it is so well cast. I like The Tunnel as well. Poldark is an example of a badly cast show. The lead actor is all right but the actress playing Demelza is a featherweight. The rest of the cast are nonentities.

Season 3 of Broadchurch was disappointing but not as bad as season 2 and both were unnecessary.

Indian Summers was just a mess. It's like they couldn't decide any character's motivation. The lead male, was straight? closeted? incestuous? Julie Waters' character was too unbelievable, I figured she was his mother but no, it was her husband who cheated on her who was his father and that was enough to create this bond? Sheesh.

Still, I'd rather watch anything British over whatever is on US networks.

I always thought the lead male on Indian Summers looked like the love child of Ralph Fiennes and Jon Hamm.

To me he looked like a fuglier Ralph Fiennes with darker hair. Petty, but the lead actress on Indian Summers had totally inappropriate hair - what women had beachy waves in the early 30s?

Those who don't like PBS and I must disagree but as grandmother always said, 'There is no accounting for tastes.'

Charlie Rose's show is by far the most important news show in terms of guests in the past two decades. While he may not be the best interviewer, there is absolutely no one in news today who has interviewed the caliber of guests he has. He continues to get the best people for longer format conversations than any other person in news. Besides, he is the common law son-in-law of our own Babe Paley.

Recently I've enjoyed the three part 'American Epic' produced by Jack White and narrated by Robert Redford about the early history of American recorded music. Never would as much time have been given to such a passion project on commercial television.

In that theme, 'American Masters' is a wonderful show, especially for people that don't already have a lot of knowledge about modern culture. Where else can you get turned on to Calder and Sister Rosetta Tharpe?

The best quality of how-to shows: Martha, America's Test Kitchen, This Old House, all from the people who brought the world Julia Child.

PBS is an example of the best that America has to offer and it does so quietly, honestly asking you for your support and not by trying to sell you some shit sold by an asshole that gave them a bunch of money to shill.

I'm quite fond of Last Tango in Halifax

and Home Fires

I wish there were a second season of Crimson Fields

I don't understand the format of Charlie Rose. Some of the interviews end in mid-sentence,

I used to watch the White House Concerts, hosted by President Obama, that paid tribute to various musical genres (blues, country, gospel, Latinx). I doubt we will see that type of program again. Trump is not the type who would host a musical concert (unless the artists gathered to kiss his ass).

P. Allen Smith's Garden Home and P. Allen Smith's Garden to Table. Allen is insanely hot in a nelly way that has to be done just right to be any good at all. And that big blonde sissy nails it every time. I want to fuck him, but first I want to lick him all over.

Miss Fisher Mysteries. Thinly written but LAVISHLY produced. The settings, costume and musical score are each their own reason to check this one out. Together, they are heaven. The casting is also lavish. Essie Davis is gorgeous and wears that wardrobe to a fare thee well. The men are insanely hot in a very buttoned down way. You will want to collect them all.

The Great British Baking Show. There is an awful lot of filler, nyuk-nyuk, but they always cast a few hot men and Paul Hollywood is very fuckable in a grudge-fuck kind of way.

[quote]Poldark looks like a modeling photo shoot for shampoo or hair conditioner.

Absolutely. Perfect description. PBS keeps asking for my opinion on these shows and I keep telling them my mother was a devotée of what all of her children called 'hysterical fiction.' Poldark and some of PBS' post-Downton series (e.g. Mercy) are the ultimate bodice-busters. My mother would have loved them.

Aidan Turner is gorgeous, but that woman they paired him with, the one who is missing her chin? Dreadful. She obviously got the job because of her hair.

I loved the first season or two of Great British Baking Show but I'm off it now. I recently watched a bread episode on PBS online and was horrified when they gave the contestants a stunningly short window of 2-1/2 hours to bake a chocolate bread. When Mary Berry asked Paul Hollywood why he chose that bread, I wanted so badly for him to give her the honest answer -- "Because, Mary, we both know I'm a prick." When he didn't, I tuned out. I won't be watching any more of that.

I'm enjoying Tennison, but last week the two leads had the least passionate sex I've seen in years. Very strange. If they're going to put them in bed together that quickly, at least let them have fun when they're there.

The Tunnel is still very good and I watch every episode more than once.

Grantchester took two very good actors and made them totally boring.

Frontline is arguably the best show on PBS. Even when I don't think I'll be interested in the subject matter, it somehow draws me in.

Yeah Frontline is good but my PBS station keeps bouncing it around on the schedule.

I took amazon's one week free trial of the PBS channel ($6 a month), so I could watch season two of The Tunnel because I missed some episodes. They cut it off after the third episode. I'd have been mightily kissed if I'd signed up for it monthly and paid for it.

[quote] Those who don't like PBS and I must disagree

Who said they don't like PBS?

That British Baking Show is so retarded.

I'd watch a French one that had amateurs with actual skill making classic French pastries using the correct techniques.

That pursed mouth Frau winner of the last season had zero talent and absolutely no taste at all. Everything she made looked like slop.

Fuck all of those no-talent contestants, hosts, and co-hosts.

R62, they cut off The Tunnel after three episodes because those are all the episodes that had aired. Now that we're through the fourth episode, it can be seen on the PBS streaming channel and Amazon.

OMG, pleeeeease cancel Grantchester. It seems to be on my two PBS stations all the time. Between Robson Greene fucking the police tart and Norton fucking that mole woman I get nauseous. Yes, I changed the channel, but please stop it.

I remember when you could just go to PBS website and watch shows for free. Current shows and past episodes of shows like American Experience. Now we have to pay. This is Trump's fault for defunding it.

I like the music on Tennison

In 1969 back in the days of three networks PBS served a purpose. Now paying half a billion a year to run half-hour daily Elmo toy commercials just doesn't have the same appeal.

Yes, because all pbs does is show Elmo.

Poldark, Grantchester, My Mother etc. are all good. Loved Mr. Selfridge, and if you knew anything about the real Mr. Selfridge--who was an over the top showman--you would understand Piven's portrayal. The Paradise was great. Downton is possibly the best series ever, for so many reasons, in spite of its hurried pace the last year. I like the somewhat silly Durrells for some of the eye candy. Still watch more PBS than the big 3--which we rarely watch, other than Dick Wolf's shows. Oh, I loved Wolf Hall too...zillion times better than the book!

[quote]This is Trump's fault for defunding it.

Actually, Trump's cuts haven't taken effect yet. This would be because Obama never made a budget.

[quote]Loved Mr. Selfridge, and if you knew anything about the real Mr. Selfridge--who was an over the top showman--you would understand Piven's portrayal.

You mean wooden line readings and zero emotion? Did you known Mr. Selfridge personally or did your mother date him or something?

Seriously, the only BAD thing about Mr. Selfridge was Piven. If they had chosen a more charismatic actor it would have been a more interesting show. Maybe Hugh Jackman should have played Selfridge. I would have even chosen Kevin Spacey over the wooden Piven.

"Between Robson Greene fucking the police tart and Norton fucking that mole woman I get nauseous."

And the gay guy getting a beard wife!

No dear, I can READ and RESEARCH...why the hatred for Piven? There are so many other more worthy people to hate...start with every tv series on ABC.

No need to be a hunty, r75. As I said, it was a great show except for Piven.

I already had r75 blocked. Must be an idiot.

[quote]And the gay guy getting a beard wife!

I actually think that story is something that character would have done at that time and is consistent with previous seasons, but when you combine it with Norton and Amanda and the police officer and his affair, it is a bit much.

The ending scene of the fourth episode with Sydney and Amanda on the stairs (which looked like it would have been painful with the steps digging into her back) might have been enough to make me quite watching. It was almost a satire of a love scene and seemed like someone stole it from a direct to video movie from the '80's. They are such a blah, chemistry-free couple, and the show has been trying to make them seem like this great forbidden love for three years. It seems like they have had the same scene about 1000 times now.

Whatever you do, don't watch POV tonight "The Last Men in Aleppo". It's pulling dead babies out of rubble. The city is destroyed. How do they endure it.

America's Test Kitchen; and Cooks' Country

The show on Aleppo was gripping and worthy of being watched. We owe it to them to witness it.

My favorite PBS show is "Death in Paradise," though I think it is a bit condescending that the St. Marie authorities need a white man from England to come down and solve their murder mysteries.

I bought the PBS subscription on the amazon sale the other day. is they any new recommendations you might have?.

R83, for a start, Finding Your Roots. Utterly fascinating if you're a fan of history and /or celebrities. Fascinating, and also very sobering at times.