Give me those reruns of "The Match Game" from the 1970s! I didn't get enough of the fashions the first time around.

And then there's "Behind the Music" (MTV), and all those stellar offerings by Fox Entertainment like the moon hoax special, not to mention "Dawson's Creek" and "Sex in the City". And the Home Shopping Network's Gallery of Garish Gems. There's quality.

You think we're not taxed for those? We are, though not by the government. Every time we purchase a product sold by a company sponsoring these programs, whether we like the program or not, some of the cost of that sponsorship gets passed on to us. Sort-of like what happens when one doesn't like what the government is doing but has to pay taxes anyway.

There's such a thing as reverse snobbery, which prompts people to say that they don't like Shakespeare or Austen or Hardy, or that they can't stand orchestral music (unless it's backing up some pop or country star).

When these same people rail against public television, they forget that programs shown on The History Channel, Animal Planet, and elsewhere were originally produced by public tv. They are also probably unaware that public tv produces and broadcasts niche educational programming scheduled specifically to allow it to be taped for use in classrooms and by homeschool parents, with a license for such educators to keep copies of their programming for reuse for a period of one year, to coincide with any curricular needs they have. Try to get a free use license from a commercial concern. That's not what their business is about.

Regards--
Mary Anne