Arts & Entertainment (The A&E Channel)

#1

Arts & Entertainment (The A&E Channel)

Posted: 12/28/13 at 10:03am

All this brouhaha over Duck Dynasty has me wondering why the A&E network never really achieved its mission. It was originally designed to be a for-profit version of PBS. It seems that it should have brought us great theater (like PBS did in the 1970s and 1980s). It should have brought us Shakespeare, dance, concerts, opera. It should have brought us profiles of great artists and talk shows like James Lipton's Inside The Actors Studio. Perhaps a daring producer could have done a live version of The Sound Of Music. Perhaps a tv show like Glee or Smash?

Did A&E fail in its mission or are Americans not interested in paying to have culture on their tv sets?

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If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

Updated On: 12/29/13 at 10:03 AM

#2

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/28/13 at 11:28am

I'm pretty positive the adverage American would rather watch a TV show about hillbilly duck call makers, than one of fine arts and culture. It's sad but it's true. If you walked up to a random person on the street and said, "Do You Know what Duck Dynasty is?" The majority would most likely say yes. If you waked up to a random person and said, "Do you know who Audra McDonald is?" The majority of people would most likely say no. I really think I should do a study on this. Kind of fascinating. It probably won't happen in our lifetimes bu I do believe that fine arts are dying, and it's an extreme shame.

#3

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/28/13 at 11:30am

Then they relegated all of their wonderful Biography series to the Biography Channel, which not everyone gets. And even if you do get the channel, they don't show a wide range of the shows they originally made. It always seems to be the same ones, from a pool of about 30 (total).

It's like they shot themselves in the foot with a duck rifle.

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"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

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#4

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/28/13 at 11:34am

But gleek, millions of those people come to Broadway each year to see a show. And millions more go to see their kids and grandkids in plays.

What went wrong? Couldn't A&E be the bridge that brought Broadway to viewers who couldn't get to NYC?

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If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

#5

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/29/13 at 12:28am

I honestly did not know that was what A&E stood for.

I would say yes, they have failed, at least in that mission. They have succeeded in making a profit, however.

TLC doesn't provide much oppertunity for learning either.

#6

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/29/13 at 1:37am

My question is when will we get a cable channel dedicated to the programming you've described? Is the market for that too niche? Is the assumption that if you want to see professional theater, opera, ballet, etc. you live in a metropolitan area and have the means?

Updated On: 12/29/13 at 01:37 AM

#7

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/29/13 at 1:57am

I know a little more about this, but won't breach confidentiality.

A&E did well with their broadcast of Cathy Rigby's PETER PAN. It actually sold well on VHS/DVD, too. A&E wanted to air more live events, but couldn't figure out how to do it. They actually planned to do SEUSSICAL, then it closed. Then they planned to tape the tour of SEUSSICAL...and that's when the network really fell apart. It was decided to scrap all plans for live entertainment offerings, and focus more on scripted programming content. That, too, didn't really pan out.

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"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle

#8

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/29/13 at 6:27am

Well, I suppose in some small way Ovation filled this gap. I cut the cable cord years ago, but a quick visit to their site suggest that Ovation's gone through an extensive rebranding and are moving away from the cultural programming that was their foundation and attempting to become some indistinct pop culture hybrid of Bravo, A&E, E/Style/Food Network with a sprinkling of legitimate arts programming with reruns of Smash, 2nd string British mysteries that PBS won't carry, dessert/baking contest shows, Antiques Road Show reruns, "fashion" shows, behind-the-music esque productions. Ah, well...
Ovation TV

#9

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/29/13 at 9:55am

Even PBS has diminished in culture programs. If you look at the Broadway Theatre Archives website, you see all the wonderful theater that was broadcast years ago on PBS.


Kultur.com

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If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

Updated On: 12/29/13 at 09:55 AM

#10

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/29/13 at 11:24am

Oh A&E. I used to love that channel. I think they started going downhill in early 2000 when they stopped making shows like Nero Wolfe and started showing that Gotti show (I can't remember the name). I think people just prefer trashy reality shows to good smart programming.

#11

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/29/13 at 1:34pm

we really could say this about every other channel on tv... MTV doesn't do music videos, VH1 only shows them in the morning... Bravo used to also be an arts and entertainment channel airing musicals, plays, etc in the early days... G4TV (before it kinda went dead) used to be this awesome video game and electronics channel... History used to show history! etc...

#12

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/29/13 at 1:36pm

A&E is owned and operated by a for profit corporation. They have to earn a profit in order to exist. The kind of programming they used to create doesn't sell. But surely you knew that...

#13

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/29/13 at 2:18pm

When I first got cable--many years ago--A&E was my go-to channel. They had marvelous performances of classical music, ballet and opera from all over the world. Now I wish they'd take the "Art" out of their name.

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"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)

#14

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/29/13 at 2:53pm

So the moral of this thread is that the majority of tv audiences want to watch crap.

Is that true or is it just that those that want crap are asking the loudest?

The tides do seem to be turning in some ways. We are finally getting smart serialized programming. Now if we could just get some of that intelligence with regards to other types of broadcasts.

Still the unfortunate truth is most people just want to tune in and watch women yell and throw wine at each other. I hope we see intelligence on our tv screens one day

#15

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/29/13 at 3:18pm

"So the moral of this thread is that the majority of tv audiences want to watch crap."

I don't think so. I was thinking about how successful the recent live production of The Sound Of Music was and wondering why A&E didn't try more things like that.

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If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

#16

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/29/13 at 3:57pm

All of the arts channels eventually move to populist fare.

Look at Bravo...

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#17

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/29/13 at 4:02pm

...And Ovation, to an extent.

#18

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/29/13 at 4:15pm

As others have said, for a while they did seem to want to fit their name. They kept Breakfast with the Arts for a very long time--into their current phase. I remember a few of their stage productions as a teen back in the '90s (like Stop the World--a production that I have no idea where it was filmed.) And back then they were trying to compete with PBS--they had the first broadcast rights for may of the Andrew Davies' lit adaptations like Pride and Prejudice.

I think now they want to move out of reality and into AMC style shows--Bates Motel was the network dipping their toes into that, but there are several scripted shows that sound like they are trying to be edgy coming out this year.

#19

Arts & Entertainment

Posted: 12/29/13 at 5:36pm

That kills me to read that they wanted to film the Rigby Seussical tour. I would have loved to see that on DVD.