Maybe for you, maybe not for me. PBS is supposed to show the documentary The Revisionaries tonight, a show about the Texas Board of Education and it’s horrendous abuse of the educational system, but looking at my local television schedule, I can’t see it. We’re in a conservative rural area with a rather chickenshit public broadcasting channel that often either disappears these ‘controversial’ shows or schedules them at bizarre early morning hours. I’ve been cursed over this show; the makers were going to send me a screener, and assured me multiple times that it would be mailed to me, and it somehow never arrived.
At least I can see the trailer. Maybe my blood pressure can be thankful that I may not get to see the rest of it.
Grrrr. Don McLeroy. The personification of the banality and jovial stupidity of evil.
Good news! Errm, or is it bad news? It is being shown here in the Morris area tonight. The trick is that the stations aren’t advertising it as “revisionaries”, and they aren’t mentioning creation/evolution. Look for “Independent Lens”, a documentary about textbooks.
Morris people: it’s on channel 10 at 9pm tonight. The makers did write to me, though, and say that the PBS version had a half hour cut from it to make it fit the time slot — we’ll see what gets on.
How to check one’s local listings: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/broadcast.html
I’m *in* Texas but the local PBS is in fact showing “The Revisionaries” tomorrow night. Thanks for the alert!
It’s even showing in Austin!
Thanks to D!recTV, we don’t get local channels at all. I really miss PBS.
I live in SW Minnesota and it’s on the South Dakota PBS station KWCM on a show called Independent Lens. Don’t know if yo get that PBS or not living in Western Minnesota.
In Maryland it is on next weekend, Feb. 3, at 11pm
http://www.mpt.org/schedule/detail/8898
PBS? Isn’t that… Like… Communism? Or summat?
In the Seattle area, it is on KCTS only, and it is being shown four times: twice at 10pm and twice at 3am. Not exactly good times for me.
It’s scheduled here for 10 p.m. under the heading “Independent Lens.”
It’s airing in Minneapolis tonight on Twin Cities Public TV at 9pm, with repeats later in the week. FYI, it’s also showing on Wisconsin Public Television (statewide) at 9pm tonight.
The Oxford comma is fine, but there ought not to be an apostrophe in the possessive “its”.
/pedant
“The personification of the banality and jovial stupidity of evil.”
what a perfect descriptor of so many theists.
I saw the film in pre-release. I am glad that it is now getting greater attention.
It is discouraging to see a man whose profession is supposed to be science based, develop such strong delusions. Dr. McLeroy comes across as a personable likable guy, certainly as much as a certain squid lover, but his ideas are wrong and have no place in our schools. This makes our fight that much more difficult. At least the fellow who took the time to run against him shows that not all Texans are crazy.
Sorry to continue the derail, but, Mr Pedant, ought there also be an apostrophe in the possessives “his”, and “hers”, and “ours”? Just wanted to share a recent tip I learned about which is “its” and which is “it’s”. Sorry for the interruption, carry on.
It is airing tonight on the secondary PBS channel, which is available through cable or OTA digital but not via satellite. Time to dig out the rabbit ears and the tin foil (I’m going to make a neat little hat for McLeroy).
I’m in the same boat with Pteryxx. I will set my DVR to record it tomorrow night. I will likely watch it when my daughter is sound asleep, lest she pick up more of my more creative vocabulary. I really don’t want to have a talk with her teachers as to why she’s screaming “that asshole is full of bullshit.”
Might as well get a full feel for what passes for education in this state.
My relatives in Austin Texas will be seeing this program on their local PBS station. What kind of conservative, bible belt backwater is Morris MN?
I just scheduled my Tivo to record it, here in Morris, off of the main Pioneer Public Television channel, at 9:00pm (Independent Lens). It is also going to be shown on their HD digital channel. It will be show again Wednesday at 3:00 am.
The affiliate’s listings are not super helpful though – it lists “Independent Lens”, and gives a description “The debate over textbooks”, and you never see the word ‘Revisionaries’. The tivo schedule had it, though.
*checks to confirm* That explains what happened with my listings in Texas – I did a search through the DVR function and found nothing, then went to the PBS site and found the Tuesday night airing, then *manually* clicked through the DVR box’s guide to find the actual show for recording. The search function only works on the show title “Independent Lens”. (It does list “Revisionaries” as the episode title though.)
Experts! Bah! What do they know?
That’s it! It is being shown on my local network tonight!
Mea culpa, mea culpa, so sorry, “Mr Pedant”, I misread your original comment. You wrote “there ought not to be an apostrophe in the possessive ‘its'”, but I misread it without the “not” included and so completely misinterpreted your comment. So sorry, so sorry. I’ll be more careful from now on.
Huzzah! Quick, someone set up a live watch party for discus– oh, that only happens with big-advertising big-channel shows like Discovery’s 30 Seconds of Giant Squid, huh. *grumbles about PBS patchwork*
Speaking of which!
The investigative show IndependentLens has a twitter here: @IndependentLens
Twitter for “The Revisionaries” itself: @TheRevsMovie
They’ve scheduled a Reddit AMA to take place TONIGHT during the broadcast premiere:
From The Revisionaries FB page: linky
Texas Freedom Network (at tfn.org) is a watchdog group specializing in fighting creationist texts and religious school vouchers.
I’m a producer on the film. We spent four years working on the project and we’re so excited for everyone to get to see it. We’re planning to do a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything – basically a Q&A) (http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/) with the director and some of the main subjects during and after the premiere today (probably between 9 PM EST and 12 AM EST), including Don McLeroy (former chairman of the board and young earth creationist), Kathy Miller (president of the Texas Freedom Network), and Ron Wetherington (anthropology professor at SMU and expert who helped develop the standards). I’m sure that will be interesting! I’m really excited, and can’t wait to see what you guys think.
vdewan: thanks, we will! /retroactively jinxes self
Interview with the filmmaker, Scott Thurman: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/filmmaker-scott-thurman-on-the-texas-textbook-wars
3am and 11pm in central Illinois. No surprises there. Good thing I’ve got a DVR.
When I miss a PBS show I can usually view it later online. Try that, and good luck.
#12:
The problem is a doctor or dentist’s profession is only “science based” by proxy. Most of the science was done years or decades ago by actual scientists, then the conclusions were copied into textbooks. So what the medical student does ISN”T science, it’s memorizing revealed wisdom. This, of course, is right in the wheelhouse of religious wackos, which I think explains why so many MDs, DDSs (and engineers, too) are fundamentalists, or harbor other systems of delusion, like worshiping Ayn Rand.
I had been wondering if this important upcoming Independent Lens doc was going to get mentioned here.
PBS’s NOW had done a piece on this group within the past few years. This will likely be more in-depth.
PZ, your cable enervation is very likely provided by (rhymes with MediaCon) like me. I can’t even get Current TV with them & I’ve complained.
Well, for one thing, this idiot is no longer on the board, but he has been replaced as chairman by a woman who does homeschooling for her kids to save them from paganism being taught in the public schools.
As for the permanent damage the SOB has already done to Texas Ejumakashun, we in College Station apologize profusely. Where are the abortionists when you need one?
It begins… I am watching.
I already want to throw things at my TV.
Eugenia, however, kicks ass.
McElroy: “I’m a skeptic.”
HAHAHAH. I’m digging this documentary already.
Oh! Eugenie Scott! Awesome!
I don’t know why I always do that.. s/McLeroy/McElroy.
And I’m chuckling at the showing at Cynthia Dunbar’s May Day rally… I’m also very very angry that they aren’t made to consult with actual historians with regard to historical issues. Rulings by opinions and ideology. Yeah, now I’m pissed off they vote by fiat.
Now I’m with cuttlefish on this on wanting to throw things.
Bah! *headsplosion*
The second anyone starts a sentence with “I don’t agree with the experts” or “The experts may say…” then I am automatically going to discount everything they go on to say. Because what they’ve just said is “Here’s what everyone who actually knows about the subject thinks, but I disagree based on X, Y and Z uninformed drivel”.