So Like, Is KAET TRYING to Sabotage Sesame Street?

[dwmckim]

Ever since the new season started, my local PBS (KAET) has had continual problems with transmission glitches of all kinds when they air Sesame Street. I've often had to wait until the third time they air a particular episode to have a clean copy worth saving for my collection. They range from picture freezes to audio cut-outs and any other number of problems that have left me wondering if they're actually employing trained monkeys!

But this week so far takes the cake. Yesterday as the show began, there was total DEAD AIR (no sound, black screen except for the ever-present station logo in the bottom right corner) for an entire TWELVE MINUTES! Now dead air sadly is not a rare occurance these days but never for that long a time! I had actually hoped that maybe some heads would roll and someone might get fired or something (if i was a station owner, i'd be furious and would have my eye firmly on the crew working during that time!)

No such luck. Today there were still problems. During Pre-School Musical, there were a few transmission glitches with the picture freezing up here and there. But then here's where things REALLY get weird! At the end of the episode, right after the pbskids.org card, the show cuts to one of the season 36 Healthy Habits cold opening segments (the one with Papa/Baby Bear and sleep). As soon as it ends, it then went to the sponsors (Good Egg Project, Beaches, Grow Up Great) and then during the middle of Roscoe Ormon's closing voiceover, the show then cuts to the middle of the closing credits of another show (didn't recognize which one)!

HOW do you even MAKE a mistake like that? Seamlessly splicing in the beginning of an old episode from four years ago at just the right moment? I mean it's both totally random and so organized at the same time. There's some weird stuff going on at that station!

 

[Drtooth]

At the end of the episode, right after the pbskids.org card, the show cuts to one of the season 36 Healthy Habits cold opening segments (the one with Papa/Baby Bear and sleep). As soon as it ends, it then went to the sponsors (Good Egg Project, Beaches, Grow Up Great) and then during the middle of Roscoe Ormon's closing voiceover, the show then cuts to the middle of the closing credits of another show (didn't recognize which one)!

I was going to join in the fun, but I have to stop you right there...

Ever since the episodes started running again this January, they HAVE been adding the Healthy Habits for Life segment at the end of the episode before the sponsors and end credits. That's the ONLY thing they didn't screw up. I assure you.

Other than that, I somehow managed to turn on my local PBS (WGBH) a week ago... in the time slot that was supposed to be Peep and the Big Wide World it showed an entire long scene from one of the British dramas and then, just before the show was supposed to end, it abruptly changed to It's a Big Big World. At least they got one word of the title right.

 

[Gelfling Girl]

So, is Phoenix anywhere near Roswell or something like that?

EDIT-
Oops...Seems like I made a mistake with my geography. (Again. ) Roswell/Area 51 is in New Mexico, not Arizona.

 

[dwmckim]

Now that makes sense. If there hadn't been all this other stuff going on (including the rest of the end of that episode cutting off early to something totally different), i wouldn't have questioned the inclusion of the Healthy Habits sketch (in the back of my mind i was thinking that was a SST thing and not a station messup because the transition in and out was too smooth)

 

[Drtooth]

Seems like they needed one more minute to fill in recent episodes and just tossed that bit in. SO I can see why you think it was a mistake. Especially since they did it randomly.

 

[Mupp]

You know, its funny...

I get two Public Broadcasting stations. For the longest time, one of them (KCET) would NOT show Sesame Street in its wide-screen format, as a resut, the framing was off and certain key things would get cut off, like character shots or graphics on screen such as letters or numbers that would appear next to the characters.

The other station I get (KVCR) did not have this problem.

Then recently, KCET finally fixed that problem, and started showing episodes in their intended wide-screen format.

I also have experienced the same kind of "blackouts". The other day the screen went purple for a few moments right in the middle of the show.

 

[mr3urious]

Most of the time, the Tucson affiliate KUAT won't show SS in widescreen on fullscreen TVs either. It's really annoying and needs to stop. I haven't come across any dead air yet, though.

 

[Drtooth]

I get two Public Broadcasting stations. For the longest time, one of them (KCET) would NOT show Sesame Street in its wide-screen format, as a resut, the framing was off and certain key things would get cut off, like character shots or graphics on screen such as letters or numbers that would appear next to the characters.

I somehow managed to catch a few of the newer BTL episodes, which were clearly intended to be shown in widescreen on one of the "extra" PBS channels you get on digital broadcast. And they were both cropped. Completely cropped, cutting off large lines of text. And since it's a reading show, that ruins the show's own premise and curriculum.

 

[mr3urious]

Well, yesterday morning, as I watched a rerun of SS, KUAT did air a Healthy Habits segment, too. It was the one with Shirley Jones and Zoe stretching at a bus stop.

 

[Drtooth]

Did one of the sponsors drop out, and they needed to fill the 30 seconds with something else? Or do they wind up slivering out 30 seconds of the episodes?