PBS Enjoying Revival

At top: The Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, England, home to the Dukes of Devonshire for more than 500 years, is featured in the PBS special “Secrets of Chatsworth.” Above: Trixie Franklin, Cynthia Miller, Jenny Lee and Chummy Noakes, left to right, from the series “Call the Midwife.”

Honey Boo Boo, the management at PBS wants to thank you. You, too, real housewives. And naked castaways, Long Island princesses, breakaway Amish, storage warriors, pawn stars and pickers. People at public television may not want to watch you, but they are happy to see you. When Discovery, The Learning Channel, History, Bravo, A&E and similar networks emerged, there was a real fear it could lead to the death of PBS. Each specialized network would pick off a portion of PBS’ audience for programs on science, nature, history and the arts. Yet in the past few years, these cable networks discovered that it was much more profitable to create reality TV stars. PBS’ path was cleared, and it is making the most of its new chance/ David Bauder , Associated Press. More here.

Question: How much do you watch PBS? Favorite program(s)?