A note from the garden...

Shelley Ryan, master gardener and producer/host of WPT's The Wisconsin Gardener, drops in to Be more Tuned In today for a guest post about her newest show, airing at 7:30 p.m., Thursday. She wanted to share a bit of her behind-the-scenes perspective from the production of this episode, titled "Secret Gardens and Living Fences."

After 15 years, standing in front of the camera is no big deal to me. Frequently my guests remind me that it's not always the case for them! On the newest edition of The Wisconsin Gardener I discovered a lovely -- almost secret -- garden just off Whitney Way in Madison. Its owners, Victor Wayland and Ted Stresemann, were most gracious and didn't seem to mind us tramping around to tape a segment.

Vic in particular was very excited about us featuring their garden on The Wisconsin Gardener. That is until he realized he would be on the show too. Then he got nervous.

But, like a real trooper he kept with it and we ended up with a lovely interview and a beautiful segment, except for one small part. Due to his nervousness, Vic kept forgetting the names of some of the plants. No matter how many times we'd practice, when we got to one particular plant, Vic would forget its name. We came up with an amusing solution. When we got to that part of the interview Vic would walk up to the plant and say, "Well Shelley, I know you know what this is." I would smile and say, "Yes Vic, it's ligularia."

That worked like a charm. Vic and Ted's garden has become one of my favorite spots in Madison, but every time I see a ligularia I have to smile.

Shelley Ryan has been the producer/host of The Wisconsin Gardener since 1992. Ryan and her guests have been a valuable resource for WPT viewers, presenting gardening tips specific to Wisconsin. Click here to learn more about this episode, or sign up here to receive the monthly The Wisconsin Gardener Notebook in your e-mail.

What this is...

For WPT members, there was an image of an important part of television broadcasting in the recently mailed July issue of Airwaves Magazine asking "What is this?" We promised that the answer would be posted here at Be more Tuned In. We also wanted to give our regular blog readers a chance to play along, so here is the mystery shot...


To find out what it is, click the link below...


This is one of the many satellite dishes on the roof of WPT's headquarters in Vilas Hall on the UW-Madison campus. In the studios of Vilas Hall, many local programs, pledge specials and Auction are produced -- from pre-production through promotion and design. Those and other national programs are then sent to the statewide network's six transmitters and six translators from the Wisconsin Broadcasting Center located on Madison's Beltline Hwy. From those locations, WPT's quality programming is sent directly to your homes.

If you would like to learn how you can receive Airwaves, WPT's Member Magazine ten times each year, click to support WPT.

The images surround us...

At 9 tonight, is the WPT series premiere of How Art Made the World at 9 p.m. The program is a documentary-styled show that comes to us from the BBC. Hosted by Cambridge University scholar Nigel Spivey, How Art Made the World is a fun and quirky examination of how imagery in the world around us affects our lives and connects to other societies throughout the ages who have surrounded themselves with similar images.

Tonight's episode takes a look at why humanity throughout the ages has used unrealistic images of the human body in much of their artwork.

Beyond the television program, Spivey offers personal insight into the show's various topics on the show's PBS Web site. And the New York Times discusses it in detail here. (Free registration required.)

A Lion in the House...

The following is a guest post to Be more Tuned In from Susan Latton, the national development campaign consultant for Independent Lens "A Lion in the House," a powerful two-part documentary about childhood cancer and the effects it has on young patients and their families. The film airs at 8 p.m. on WPT Wednesday and Thursday. There will be a live call-in phone bank staffed by Wisconsin volunteers with information about childhood cancer and support opportunities during the film.

I first met the "A Lion in the House" filmmakers, Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar, back in December of 2004, in their home in Yellow Springs, Ohio. I traveled with a colleague from the Independent Television Service (ITVS) to help them facilitate one of the first of many community screenings of segments from the four-hour film. The screening was followed by an impassioned and energetic discussion on what might happen in Cincinnati to improve services and better support families facing childhood cancer -- or other life-threatening illness. That core group of service providers, families and clergy have gone on to provide both city and statewide training for school nurses. They've conducted community health fairs in libraries and in targeted, underserved communities aimed at connecting families with knowledge, resources and support. (Continued...)

ITVS, which has a single purpose to foster plurality and diversity in public television, was already providing development funds for Steve and Julia to help them complete the seven-year investment they had begun in documenting the cancer journeys of these five children and their families. The Cincinnati experience convinced us that this was both a powerful film and an important opportunity to galvanize communities around issues of child cancer -- and specifically, cancer health disparities, cancer survivorship and pediatric end-of-life and bereavement care.

During the past two years, it is has been my privilege to lead the development of the "A Lion in the House" community engagement campaign -- the resources and outcomes of which your viewers can read about here. This campaign and it's educational materials have been developed with enormous support and expertise from the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and twenty other national partner organizations who have embraced this film and its educational goals.

This month, there are literally hundreds of screenings and community forums involving the "Lions" film in medical schools, community centers, public housing projects, Gilda's Clubs and of course, public television stations. New collaborations have been formed in Texas, Chicago, New England and Alaska where families, health professionals and young cancer survivors have come together to assure that the isolation many child cancer families experience can be reduced, that young adult survivors become more informed about potential late effects, and that families who face the loss of a child do so with access to the very best palliative, hospice and bereavement care.

That is the very best we can hope for -- in the world of public television outreach -- that a viewing experience can be transformative in individuals and even communities. For all of you who delve into the experience of watching this film, I hope it will open a window into a new world -- and to quote Julia Reichert, "that it offers the possibility of increasing our compassion for other members of the human family."

Susan Latton is the national campaign development consultant for ITVS and the "A Lion in the House" campaign. Previous documentary campaigns include David Sutherland's "Country Boys" and Kartemquin Film's "The New Americans." Latton's home is in Madison, Wis. and she is married to Wisconsin Public Television Photographer Jim Gill.

To listen to a downloadable version of a companion radio show for this film, please visit the WHYY Web site.

Below are some links to national media coverage of the film from various sources:

Cincinatti Post

New York Times

U.S. News & World Report

Boston Globe

A Red Green send-off...

A WPT exclusive interview with the
man that brought Red Green to life

Saturday night, a WPT era comes to an end when the network airs the 300th and final episode of The Red Green Show at 9. Steve Smith, the man who created the character and played Red Green since 1990, speaks to Be more Tuned In about his appreciation for Wisconsin's Red Green fans, how American Public Television helped save the already popular Canadian show and what it was like to don his trademark flannel and suspenders as he hung up his duct tape for the last time.

In 1990, after more than a decade of successful comedy programs with his wife, Morag, Steve Smith pitched his idea for The Red Green Show, a program based on some of his earlier sketch comedy work, to a local TV station in Hamilton, Ont. With just one season in mind, he never imagined that the lodge-owning character and his cast of odd, yet lovable, friends would make him a bona fide star.

"Absolutely not," Smith says. "I had no idea that this would be more than what we planned. The show was just a summer job back in 1990. It was just something fun for us to do." (Continued...)

Public television lends a hand

After two seasons, the show was a cult hit, but the station had run out of funds for producing it and The Red Green Show was cancelled. It wasn't until the news of the program's supposed end was announced that Smith learned just how popular his "summer job" had become.

"I started to get upwards to a thousand letters a day pleading for me to do whatever I could to keep Red Green on the air," he remembers. "Well, I've always thought that Canadians and Americans have a lot in common. And, we had already found an audience in Canada. That's not always easy, since Canadians are often biased against Canadian shows, because we've done some pretty horrible stuff on TV up here over the years.

"So, while I was watching Monday Night Football, I started to think that in those stadiums filled with 70,000 people, 'I bet there's a couple of Red Green fans in there -- the type of guys who figure they can fix a microwave by themselves to save a couple bucks.' I contacted some public television stations and we started small with five or six. But now, the show is on nearly 100 stations in the U.S."

That support of American Public Television along with a move of the show's productions to Toronto's Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), saved the program and ensured its long-term international longevity.

There's a bit of Red in everyone

For every fan of the show who has viewed a familiar, too-close-to-home moment in Red and the cast's weekly mishaps, it should be refreshing to learn that Smith wasn't simply making fun of "handymen" in the show's weekly segments -- much of the material was inspired by his own life.

"I really am embarrassed to admit that a lot of the show's material has come out of what I guess you'd call personal experiences," Smith says, laughing. "When I was younger, I was always the kind of guy who wanted to figure out how to put things together in my own way. For example, I once put a six-cylinder engine in a car with a four cylinder. But I didn't close it up and make it look nice -- it just sort of pushed back into the passenger spot and just sat there.

"I also worked on a farm with a fellow who was always inventing new machines to help out in the fields. Add that to spending all of our family's summer holidays at a cottage up north and an engineering degree at university, and you end up with Red Green."

A fitting ending for Possum Lodge

As The Red Green Show progressed through the years, Smith had the opportunity to meet many of the shows fans at events throughout North America and at the show's tapings in Toronto. So, when it came time to wind the show down, he knew the direction he wanted to take it.

"We have a really good relationship with our fans," Smith says. "I didn't want to betray that by having some stupid ending where everyone dies, the lodge blows up or we find out it was all a dream.

"I wanted to make it clear that this was the last new show, but also let the fans know that somewhere, Possum Lodge and the gang still exist and are still going along in their lives, just not on TV anymore. They keep moving on in their lives, just like we all do."

For Smith, moving on in life translates into retirement. His brother Dave is leading Smith's S&S Production Co. and with the exception of possibly providing a bit of voice work for a proposed animated series about Patrick McKenna's Harold character, Smith has no qualms with saying that he won't be playing Red Green any longer.

"There's absolutely no question that I won't be putting on the Red Green uniform anymore," he says. "I think that Johnny Carson provided the best model for bowing out gracefully. We all have really great memories of this show and I don't want to ruin mine by having people ask each other in ten years, 'Who's that old guy dressing up like Red Green?'

"There's an old show business saying that describes those folks as 'forgotten, but not gone' and I will do my best to avoid that. I've been retired now for five months and it is the best job I've ever had."

Appreciation all around

Before he and the show took their final curtain call, the people of Canada took time to show Smith their appreciation for the character. In November, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Geminis (Canada's version of the Emmy Awards) and in February Smith was named to the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honor.

As retirement sets in, Smith says he is grateful for the unimaginable success the show has attained and unprompted, he exclaims his appreciation for Wisconsin's Red Green fans who were always among the most vociferous during live pledge specials for the show.

"The people of Wisconsin have been great to me and to the show," Smith says. "I'll always remember the great response I got when we came down for the (Duct Tape Forever) movie premiere. Even when we would tape the show, there were always folks from Wisconsin who would drive up to watch. They're just a terrific group of people and I thank them immensely."

Life in a digital world...

With a federally mandated 2009 deadline for television stations to completely switch over to digital transmission looking more and more like it will stick, the time is nearly upon us to figure out what all of that means. For most folks, it will simply mean more quality services from networks like WPT. And, if you already own a TV and have become worried by the price tags on all of the expensive high-definition (HD) televisions in your local electronics stores, there is no need to panic.

Yes, your TV will still work and you won't necessarily have to purchase a fancy, expensive new television to continue to watch your favorite programs. You might simply need a digital-tuner conversion box and a different antenna to receive over-the-air transmission, but if you are a cable viewer, you probably won't notice much of a hardware change at all.

If you are an early adopter and already have digital over-the-air reception on a TV in your house, you can catch a glimpse of the benefits the future of digital broadcasting holds. WPT is currently featuring three feeds in its digital tier. There is a standard-definition version of the regular WPT service, a high-definition feed of some of the best HD offerings from PBS and its member stations and a standard-definition collection of your favorite cooking, crafting and how-to programs called Create.

As we move toward the eventual day when WPT's analog signal is cut off and the digital tier is the only way to see your favorite entertaining and educational programming, Be more Tuned In will keep you up-to-date with the latest information on how to ensure that you will be able to take advantage of these exciting opportunities.

They were fading fast ...

Tuesday night, WPT presents Nova's "Saving the National Treasures" at 7. This is a film that has run before, but its subject matter is still fascinating. Throughout the hour-long program, viewers are led behind the scenes of some of the highest-tech restoration work being done today.

While the U.S. Supreme Court has the duty to maintain the integrity of the U.S. Constitution's words, this program introduces the scientists and restorative experts who are responsible for maintaining the physical integrity of the already well-faded document along with its counterparts -- the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights.

The restoration efforts have led to a new possibility for visitors to Washington, D.C. to view the charters of freedom in the rotunda of the National Archives. But, if a trip to D.C. isn't in your immediate future, the Archives has a terrific Web site where you can learn more about the charters, download and view high-resolution images of the documents, meet the founding fathers and even add your own signature to a copy of the Declaration of Independence, which can then be printed and displayed so others can see how important you really are. Nova also has another of their terrific sites, where you can take what you learned in this episode further through interactive demonstrations, photos and in-depth interviews.

The Age of AIDS...

Tonight at 8, WPT presents Frontline's groundbreaking two-part documentary, "The Age of AIDS." Due to the WPT Auction last week, this program is being presented in Wisconsin one week later than most other PBS stations. It is still an extremely timely in-depth look into a disease that has affected so many facets of life worldwide during the past 25 years. The program's second part airs Wednesday night at 8. The program can already be viewed in its entirety here.

Even more than most Frontline pieces, this program rightfully drummed up a lot of coverage in the press during the past couple of weeks. To catch WPT viewers up with what was said around the country, Be more Tuned In has pulled together a sampling of the coverage.

On Wisconsin Public Radio, Peter Donalds spoke for an hour with Renata Simone, the producer and reporter of "The Age of AIDS." If you have the free RealPlayer media player installed on your computer, you can hear their conversation here.

Below are four separate commentaries and reviews of the program from newspapers nationwide:

The Toronto Star

The New York Times

The Rocky Mountain News

The Boston Globe