Producing TV in a pandemic Milwaukee PBS starts year with new specials, no new McGivern
Telling stories doesn’t stop because people can’t be together.
But the COVID-19 pandemic has both been a story and shaped the stories that Milwaukee PBS is telling in early 2021.
The public broadcaster, which operates WMVS-TV (Channel 10) and WMVT-36 (Channel 36) in Milwaukee, has a series of new news/information specials planned to start the year on the air and online.
But new episodes of some of its popular local series, including “Around the Corner With John McGivern,” aren’t in the mix.
The new specials start Thursday with “America’s Dairyland: The Next Generation,” the final program under a yearlong collaboration with the Journal Sentinel that’s also part of a local projects initiative with PBS’ “Frontline.” The special, airing under Milwaukee PBS’ “10thirtysix” banner, airs at 7:30 p.m. Thursday on Channel 10, and will be available for streaming on Frontline’s website (pbs.org/wgbh/ frontline).
The special is a “hopeful” look forward at where Wisconsin’s dairy industry is heading, said Bohdan Zachary, vice president and general manager of Milwaukee PBS.
Hope has been a problematic commodity during the COVID-19 pandemic, but like many organizations, Milwaukee PBS has had to figure out how to navigate the new world.
Shows are being produced with skeleton crews and social distancing, with a lot of interviews being virtual vs. in person. “We cannot, as in the old days, just go down the street,” Zachary said. “… Until the pandemic starts subsiding, this is how we’re going to operate.”
So different approaches to programming come into play. On Jan. 27, Dasha Kelly Hamilton — Wisconsin’s new poet laureate — and Kima Hamilton will facilitate an interactive Zoom webinar on implicit bias. (You can register for the webinar at milwaukeepbs
.org/Events.) The session will then be broadcast as “Understanding Implicit Bias,” a 90-minute special, at 7 p.m. Feb. 11 on Channel 10.
“There’s a flexibility that the virtual realm provides,” Zachary said.
Other upcoming specials include “The Vaccine: A Milwaukee PBS Special,”
a live hourlong production by the producers and hosts of the broadcaster’s three current-events shows, “Black Nouveau,” “10thirtysix” and “Adelante!” at 7 p.m. Feb. 4; and “Milwaukee’s Black Churches,” with historian Reggie Jackson, “Black Nouveau” host Earl Arms, producer Alexandria Mack and the Journal Sentinel’s James Causey, airing in late February. The latter is in conjunction with “The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song,” a four-part series for national PBS by historian Henry Louis Gates Jr.
During the pandemic, Zachary said, viewers have been supportive of Milwaukee public TV, as viewers and donors: “People have discovered a lot of programming.”
The fate of ‘Around the Corner’
Bohdan Zachary, general manager, says Milwaukee PBS is trying to focus on storytelling.
But the pandemic also led to the loss of one viewer favorite: new episodes of “Around the Corner With John McGivern.”
Last month, McGivern disclosed during a live Q&A that the popular show, featuring the actor touring Wisconsin communities and Milwaukee neighborhoods, wasn’t being renewed after nine seasons.
“Around the Corner” continues to air in reruns on Channel 10 at 7 p.m. Thursdays. And McGivern’s live holiday show “Up Close (But Not Too Close)” is scheduled for weekend performances from Feb. 26 to March 21 at the Pabst Theater, with limited capacity and social-distancing practices in place.
According to Zachary, the decision on “Around the Corner” was chiefly COVID-related: The show required “location-based production,” with a Milwaukee-based
crew piling into a production van to go to whichever community was being featured.
“We paused anything that required people to travel somewhere,” Zachary said.
“Around the Corner” wasn’t the only show put on pause. Production of both “The Arts Page” and “Outdoor Wisconsin” are on hold because of the pandemic, Zachary said.
Lost (and deferred) opportunities
There have been other lost opportunities for Milwaukee PBS because of the pandemic. The stations’ facilities at Milwaukee Area Technical College were set to host “PBS NewsHour’s” 50person crew during last summer’s Democratic National Convention, before the event went mostly virtual.
And Zachary still has Oct. 14, 2020, circled on his calendar — that was supposed to be the date Milwaukee PBS aired a live concert in the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s new Bradley Symphony Center. The MSO is now holding its first concert, being shown virtually, Feb. 6, but Milwaukee PBS plans to broadcast a live concert from the new venue this fall, when (hopefully) people will be able to fill the hall for the performance.
Until then, like other TV outlets, Milwaukee PBS will try to tell stories about what affects Milwaukee and Wisconsin, with whatever tools are available.
“That mission has not changed,” Zachary said. “The only difference is we’re not all in one studio.”