Television Critic

On Sunday our local PBS station changed its programing. I was caught by a boring pledge drive and didn’t get to see the Inspector Lewis mystery originally scheduled.

So what difference did it make? I could have changed channels and watched something else. But what? Football? I’m not a rabid sports fan. Besides, the people I talked to at breakfast the next morning were dejected. They watched for hours as the Cowboys went down to a dismal defeat. They felt almost as frustrated by sports as I was by PBS.

What do I like to watch for entertainment? The programs our local PBS station imports from England. “Masterpiece Mysteries” are better than all the CSI, Law & Order, Dateline, 48 Hours, or anything else on American television. As for comedy, “As Time Goes By”, “Keeping Up Appearances”, “Are You Being Served?”, or half a dozen other series are so entertaining that I watch reruns until I can quote the dialog. Only when nothing else is worth watching do I turn to “Two and a Half Men” or “Everybody Loves Raymond” to give me an antidote to the daily news before I go to bed.

The only good dramas on American television are the old movies on Turner Classic Television. Now and then KERA, our local PBS station, presents a British drama as a “Masterpiece Classic”. On the various times I was in England, I saw excellent dramas that have never made it “across the pond.” The BBC has companies throughout the U.K. that produce their own shows. If you look at the credits after a BBC import, you will find programs produced in Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh, and other places besides London.

For many years Mobil Oil sponsored “Masterpiece Theater”. When we lived in Illinois I watched it every Sunday night. My husband’s insurance company began to phase out his department. Worried that he might lose his job, I went back to work. Then he got a better job and much higher pay with a consulting firm.

I decided to continue working and use my earnings for things my highly-paid husband refused to buy. I bought 25 shares of Mobil Oil stock and gave it to my son David under the “Illinois Gift to Minors” act.

When my husband and I were divorced, David was still in high school. His father signed the divorce agreement specifying that he was to pay for David’s college, “four years at a state university, tuition, room, board, books, and fees.” The Cad paid for two years. David was marooned at the University of Illinois without any money – and couldn’t qualify for financial aid because his father was rich. With dividend reinvestment and stock splits, Mobil Oil proved a good investment. David, now an adult, sold it. That paid for his third year at the university.

Who could have predicted that? “Experts” always recommend investigate before investing. I bought that stock because Mobil sponsored a TV program that I liked. Dumb? Yes. Dumb luck. That’s not the only time I’ve done something rash or just plain stupid, and afterwords it has surprised me by bringing into my life a joyful experience. So I keep ranting about things that annoy me, hoping that somehow or other it will have a good outcome – if only in giving one or two of my friends a chance to say, “I feel that way, too.”