Hey, PBS, want some of my money? Listen up...

I think I found a way to make a lot of people happy (including myself) and even get some people (including myself) to fork over some pledge dollars to their local PBS station instead of just turning the channel as soon as those shillathons take over the lineup.

See, this month I watched the 4-part Pioneers of Television miniseries. Each hour focused on a few prominent individuals who had a substantial impact on a given genre--game shows, talk shows, sitcoms, variety--with clips, interviews, and stills.

Each episode was unspectacular but an easy way to pass the time. Some of the footage was unique. Some of it wasn't, but it's always good to see old-school TV being celebrated today. I had a thought, though, while watching those clips: Why do we have to settle for clips? Why isn't PBS running full-length episodes of these programs?

Not all of them exist in that form, but many of them do. It surely wouldn't have been too difficult to run an old episode of Your Show of Shows or Truth or Consequences to accompany the appropriate installment of Pioneers.

Then I thought, "In fact, why can't PBS show this kind of stuff all the time?" After all, TV Land is abandoning 1950s and even early 1960s TV. Some perennials endure in local syndication, but it's extremely difficult to see black and white reruns anymore. Some great stuff is on DVD, but by no means all or even a majority of it.

I know there are a lot of classic TV fans who yearn for an equivalent of Turner Classic Movies--a network that would show uncut, commercial-free TV programs from the early days of the medium. Well, PBS is commercial-free (sort of), and it doesn't have to chop up 25-minute programs to fit a 22-minute window. It could start doing this sort of thing and use it as a way to appeal to frustrated TV lovers who feel abandoned by Nick at Nite and TV Land. And I'll bet a lot of them would gladly pledge a few bucks to reward and encourage the effort.

I'm not suggesting PBS devote its entire lineup to 1950s and 1960s TV, but it could easily devote a few hours a night, if not a big chunk of one of its many digital channels now available in many markets. How many public television stations show the same British comedies over and over again? Why not set aside some airtime for American classics?

If PBS wants to remain "upscale," it could even show the prestigious live TV dramas of the 1950s like Playhouse 90 or Studio One. Sure, there'd be an acquisition fee for a lot of it, but maybe there could be some discounts "for the good of the public" or something cheesy like that. A lot of people are sitting on a lot of old shows and not getting ANY return from them, so perhaps this would be a way to get something out of the old archives. Use PBS screenings to boost interest in DVD sales...and vice versa.

Oh, and if PBS is worried about turning off "younger viewers" with this kind of thing, well, screw younger viewers. We're always told how important the Baby Boomers are, but media is increasingly abandoning them. Let's give them a chance to put their money where their mouths are and pony up to relive some of their past. There should be a place for PBS for nostalgia, just as there is for science, kids programming, history, and prestige drama.

After all, isn't at least part of the point of public television to provide programming the public isn't getting anywhere else?