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capri0mni- Conspicuous by their absence: My public television station has been running a series called Pioneers of Television (and of course, it's been written with the assumption that all TV is American TV *wryface*), where each episode is focused on the early development of a particular genre.
The latest episode was "Local Kids' Shows": entertainment independently produced by television stations, each only available within the broadcast footprint of a particular city.
Because it was a nationally sindicated show (CBS), there was absolutely no mention of Captain Kangaroo, even though it aired from 1955 to 1992. Not seeing any reference to it reminded me of it. And it also reminded me that, when I was a wee thing, I dreaded (dreaded!?) the appearence of Mr. Green Jeans, the sidekick / best friend & helper of the Captain. And I can not, for the life of me, remember why (I probably had no clear reason, then, either). I had no problem with the puppet Mr. Moose, even though he had the power to drop pingpong balls by the hundreds down from the sky. And there was absolutely nothing sinister about Mr. Green Jeans (who wore green-colored denim overalls), and green plaid flannel shirt. Thinking back on him now, I realize he was, in fact, perfectly sweet. Maybe it was because he was an intermittant character: you knew he would probably appear sometime during the episode, but you could never be certain if, or when. And maybe it was that uncertainty that made my three-year-old mind nervous.
Okay, so Captain Kangaroo was national, so that gets a pass, since the episode focused on local programs. But where the hell was Wonderama (totally forgot the name of this show, until I did a Google search for "Local Children's Television 1960s, NYC), which was locally produced out of New York City, and ran from 1955 to 1977 (Hosted by Bob McAllister in the last ten years)? [IMDb.com says it ran until '87, but those last ten years were copies and spinoffs and repeats, and not real].
Okay, so this was syndicated, too, so it might've have been discounted on account of that, even though, technically, it was "locally produced," with local kids in the audience, and it wasn't syndicated everywhere in the country (unlike the primetime shows produced on the network level. Humph. It was local for me ...*pouts." Another example of "New York City is too Big and Fancy-Shmancy to be really American" bias.
These were the two biggest (commercial television) influences of my childhood, and about halfway through the episode, I was feeling totally snubbed, and tired of hearing about Pheonix, Arizona again. - A lightbulb went off, recently, thus: "'Experimental film' is to 'narrative film' what 'abstract art' is to 'representational art.'" In other words, it works on the same premise as a Jackson Pollack painting -- that a piece of art doesn't need to represent literal truth in a literal way in order to have meaning, or be beautiful and entertaining in its own right.
And once that lightbulb clicked on, I realized why I enjoy some experimental films, and not others: the ones that annoy me use film as a medium, but don't use the full scope of the medium's potential, such as showing a single image for fifteen minutes, or something. And I think I'd be more open to the genre, in general, if it were, in fact, called "Abstract." The term "experimental"... I dunno... implies you're out to prove something, or something. And if you're making art for art's sake, then going about with a chip on your shoulder is totally off-putting. - I have ambivalent feelings about valentine's day. On fingers one and two, I love hearts as a design element and imagining ways to use that design element, and I love any celebration with flowers that breaks up the grey monotony of late winter. On fingers three to five, however, I hate the promoted feeling of compulsory romance (especially when pushed on little kids, wtf?!), the sense of pity if you are not in a romantic relationship, and the narrow celebration of only a certain kind of love, particularly that of a sexual nature focused on a monogamous pairing.
I'd rather it were a simple: "Yay! Winter's almost over, and we ain't ded yet!" celebration (Speaking as someone living in the northern hemisphere; Ymmv, natch)
Video examples:
1iconic clips from Captain Kangaroo and Wonderama
2an 'experimental film' I happen to like: A state of play -- "Abstract" Irish step dancing in a few back alleys of London.
3A really clever and intriguing Valentine's day card (2009)
