Despite the recent politically based attacks on the network’s supposed liberal bent, public television knows its power and has decided to celebrate itself in a big way.
In the second installment of WNET’s “Pioneers of Thirteen” series, the Meryl Streep-narrated “The ’70s: Bold and Fearless” focused on the decade where the public station made its mark artistically, socially and politically and influenced future generations while shaping opinion–and ruffling the feathers of politicians.
Whether it was a serious/humorous show about the rise in venereal diseases among American teenagers or pioneering concerts showing the latest rock bands (before “The Midnight Special” emerged as the go-to show for new music), WNET was on the cutting edge when it came to programming. Its daring content got the network in trouble with the government, particularly the Richard Nixon administration. It wouldn’t be the first time.
The pioneering show “The Great American Dream Machine” produced an abundance of talent that went on to have a hand in the Academy Awards, the Super Bowl halftime show and other major forms of entertainment, but it also informed. Some of that information eventually caused the show’s demise.
After “Machine” produced a segment with FBI informants–who admitted on camera that they were asked by the government to stage the bombing of a bridge in order to discredit the peace movement–the FBI and the Nixon administration used intimidation to have the segment not air. The show eventually lost much of its funding after cries of censorship dominated viewer reaction.
In this documentary, the network for a long time paints itself as being in a struggle against an overpowering government that was bending the Constitution too far. And the majority of the time, the emphasis was justified.
Nixon also tried to curtail WNET after an investigative special devoted to showing how banks prey on the poor in regards to loans (titled “Banks and the Poor”) provided a list of political officials who served on bank boards and also wrote bank legislation in Washington, D.C. Nixon called the special “inappropriate for a government-supported organization” and tried to reduce funding for the network to near zero. He also vetoed a congressional bill that would’ve doubled WNET’s funding.
WNET eventually got the last laugh when it aired the Senate hearings on the Watergate scandal for almost two months. The hearings would propel a then-unknown Bill Moyers and his “Bill Moyers’ Journal” show to popularity.
But the public broadcasting station wasn’t just about playing tug of war with members of the political elite. WNET helped introduce the concept of reality television with “An American Family,” which showed an average American household as it actually was, in stark contrast to the fantasies seen weekly on shows like “The Brady Bunch.” “Sesame Street” and “The Electric Company” are still setting the standard for children’s educational television, and “Soul!” a television show produced and directed by Stan Lathan, was the first national program devoted to Black music before “Soul Train” went national.
“The 51st State” covered New York City in a way that wasn’t seen on local mainstream news or in the newspaper. Tony Batten went out to the South Bronx to cover the funeral of a gang member, and by showcasing a peace rally between gangs (including the Ghetto Brothers band), it gave much of America its first look at the newer urban gangs. While others have picked the voyeuristic approach to television, with good and bad results, “Bold” states its fearlessness in the eyes of other so-called groundbreaking programming on commercial stations.
And we haven’t even gotten to the influence of the network’s airing of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” along with various plays and original specials on visual artists, and how they all affected the popular culture at large.
“Bold” showcases an entity, WNET Thirteen, that doesn’t get enough credit for its innovations–probably because it didn’t make money for some bigwig–and points toward what the network could return to if allowed to flourish.