In fairness to the local PBS station I ranted about for yanking "Doc Martin" in the middle of its second series, the British import will return in a few weeks. Apparently, the displacement was only a "temporary" consequence of another interminable pledge season, but as we all know, there is nothing about a public TV pledge drive that can fairly be considered "temporary." So I'll stick to my plan of catching the show via other outlets.
However, I have to doff my virtual bucket hat to PBS for the fun pledge drive special I saw last weekend: "The Legendary Bing Crosby." I haven't seen the recent DVD box set containing a sampling of Der Bingle's TV specials, but this program was a nice distillation of the many years' worth of programming they comprised. The talking heads who showed up to discuss the crooner weren't annoying (not even Regis!), and the performance clips were enjoyable.
One highlight: A clip (actually not from a Bing special, but rather from "The Frank Sinatra Show") of Crosby, Ol' Blue Eyes, and Dean Martin doing a number from "Guys and Dolls" in predictably loose fashion.
It seems that most of the programming I really enjoy on public television comes from APT, and this is no exception. Bravo, APT, and there's my positive comment about PBS. It delivered a solid special that made fast-forwarding through the commercials worthwhile. Of course, I'm pretty sure I saw this on the other PBS affiliate on my system, not the one that dumped the Doc, and so I reserve my right to feel spiteful about that outfit.
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