Questions for our Programmer – January 2023

When viewers write in their programming questions, they’re usually answered by Chief Programming Officer Jim Wiener. Here are a few of the questions he received in January along with his replies:
-Jim Wiener, Programmer
Do you know why Amy Walter and Tamara Keith are no longer on the PBS NewsHour on Monday night? The Politics Monday segment has not been on the NewsHour since the last Monday of December.
Janet H., Highland Heights, KY
Good question. It’s one that’s been asked about all over the country. The NewsHour’s response?
“As we embark on 2023 with a new co-anchor team [Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett started January 2] we are hitting pause on our Monday “Political Stakes” segment. We’ll continue to cover politics intensely and we look forward to welcoming Amy Walter and Tamara Keith’s insights and reporting on the program again soon.”
-Jim Wiener, Programmer
I just received my February member guide. You list Yorkshire Vet, episodes 4, 5 and 6, but there is no 1, 2 or 3 in either January’s or February’s listings. What’s the deal? I think I would enjoy watching it.
Louise B., Mack South
Yorkshire Vet is a syndicated series that we bought AFTER the January listings went to press for our member magazine. Its first three episodes aired 1/12- 1/26.
It’s somewhat typical of other reality series in the veterinary genre, but this clinic is the same one where James Alfred Wight once plied his trade (aka James Herriot, author of All Creatures Great and Small). In fact, the older of the two vets here started out interning under Wight. The practice has remained in the Yorkshire Dales, but is now in a new facility.
The Yorkshire Vet series is licensed to CET 48 in Cincinnati, and can be seen in central & South Dayton via Spectrum Cable 1020. It airs Thursday 8pm, and repeated Sundays 7pm.
-J.W.
Where can I purchase tape yoga practice chair yoga?
Leontine L., Madisonville
I’d say that if there’s a particular yoga series you like, you can Google to see if they have a web page, and you may find video offers there.
PBS Home Video has a few series available (https://www.pbs.org/search/?q=yoga) including YNDI Yoga, Easy Yoga with Peggy Cappy and The Transformational Power of Yoga.
And there’s always Amazon. If anybody has DVD’s on any form of exercise, it’s probably them.
But the home viewing trend is moving towards streaming (ie viewing via a web service). If you’re a subscriber to Netflix or Hulu, you may find yoga series there. DVD’s are slowly going the way of VHS tapes, though they take up less space and accumulate less dust on your bookshelf.
-Jim Wiener, Programmer
AND FINALLY…
to the fellow who left the anonymous phone message complaining of Antiques Roadshow becoming “woke” and having a “clear agenda promoting LGBTQ views,” let’s review the nature of your complaint.
The January 16 episode of Antiques Roadshow took place at the Filoli Estate and Garden, about 30 miles south of San Francisco. A young man brought a portion of his “Big Gay Collection” of vintage t-shirts. The shirts came from Gay Pride events and bars going back to the 1970s. The appraiser said many of these t-shirts had historical value and one shirt for Gay Freedom Day in 1978 was the event where the rainbow flag was first displayed, a reason why he thought that one t-shirt alone could sell for $600-900. In total, the appraiser’s price tag on the 15 shirts the collector brought with him could sell for $2,400- $4,100. Not bad since many were bought at vintage clothing stores for a couple of bucks!
This segment seemed worthwhile because the items were intrinsically local to the Bay area and proved to be a story we love on Antiques Roadshow: a collector buys items for cheap and finds out they were worth a lot of money. Was the segment promoting LGBTQ? It might seem that way ONLY IF the appraiser thought the t-shirts weren’t worth much more than what the collector paid for them. Since they proved to be a real find, the segment in my opinion warranted inclusion in the show.
-J.W.