Tag: PBS

Screenshot via YouTube @PBS PBS has released a short film about a queer deaf Afro-Latino learning to accept himself. Ode to Pablo is a part of the 2019 Online Film Festival, which runs from July 15 to July 26. The festival, which started in 2012, features 25 films from PBS member stations and ITVS and POV. The short films produced offer diverse and complex stories of the human experience and existence. For Ode to Pablo, the story is focused on an athletic...

A Republican member of Congress is trying to de-fund PBS for airing an episode of Arthur that featured a gay wedding. The long-running children’s cartoon started its 22nd season in May with an episode that showed the characters’ teacher, Mr. Ratburn, marrying another man. Representative Doug Lamborn (R-CO), whose district includes Colorado Springs, introduced legislation to end funding for PBS and National Public Radio (NPR), citing the Arthur episode of evidence that PBS is “offensive to many conservatives and religious taxpayers.” “Enough...

Alan Poul with Olympia DukakisThe seven-time Emmy nominee Alan Poul is a fearless producer. Having worked on low budget films like Candyman through the 1980s and early 90s, Poul took on a job that would earn him distinction in the annals of television: producer of the landmark, if controversial, miniseries Tales of the City in 1993. Since then, Poul has produced other acclaimed, groundbreaking shows such as My So-Called Life, Six Feet Under, The Newsroom and Westworld. Poul also returned to produce...

“I’m really proud of that episode. And I will defend it to anybody who wants to talk about it. Why shouldn’t their teacher marry another man? We all know people who are gay, who are trans, and it’s something that is socially acceptable. Why is there this discomfort that it takes a leap into our national media? I don’t want children or people who are different to feel excluded. That’s not the kind of world we want to live in. And...

In its race to be the most draconian, antiquated state in the union, Alabama Public Television refused this week to air an episode of the beloved PBS children’s show Arthur because it depicts the title character’s teacher, Mr. Ratburn, marrying another male. “Parents have trusted Alabama Public Television for more than 50 years to provide children’s programs that entertain, educate, and inspire,” Mike McKenzie, a spokesperson for APT, said in a statement. “Parents trust that their children can watch APT without their supervision. We...

Continuing its campaign for most draconian, antiquated state in the union, Alabama Public Television has refused to run an episode of the children’s show Arthur that depicts the title character’s teacher marrying another man. The news came this week, just after Alabama passed a complete ban on abortion rights in the state. Mike McKenzie, a spokesperson for APT, told NBC “Parents have trusted Alabama Public Television for more than 50 years to provide children’s programs that entertain, educate, and inspire. More...