KCET Committed to Science

I would like to respond to Dr. Claire B. Panosian’s concerns in Counterpunch about a lack of science programming outside of “Nova” on public television station KCET (“KCET Needs New Science Formula,” Calendar, Oct. 7).

To begin, why dismiss so out of hand the best science series in all of television? “Nova” is there for viewers 52 weeks a year with the finest science documentaries made anywhere on the planet. And KCET is proud of the fact that, in recent years, we have produced a few of “Nova’s” award-winning episodes, ranging from the program on “smart” weapons being used in the Gulf War, to a comprehensive look at the Northridge Earthquake.

As many in our community know, KCET has had a long tradition in science documentary making. “Cosmos” (1980) with Carl Sagan set a standard for science television. In more recent years, “The Astronomers” (1991) continued this celestial exploration, taking advantage of the wealth of astronomy expertise found here in our own backyard. From the heavens, KCET dove under the seas with one of public television’s highest-rated mini-series, the underwater archeology series, “Discoveries Underwater” (1988). For those interested in psychology and the intricate workings of the brain, KCET produced Roger Bingham’s recent multi-part series, “Human Quest.” And, indeed, KCET was the presenting station for the national release of “Cholesterol: The Killer Within,” the program that Panosian praised so heartily.

So far I’ve listed national productions produced at KCET. Now let’s take a look at local productions. How about the Emmy award-winning three-part mini-series, “L.A. Medical,” which aired as part of KCET’s “Life & Times?” Or “Mystery of Pygmy Mammouth,” “Return to Mars,” “Undersea Earthquakes,” “Cyber Los Angeles,” “Richard Feynman’s Lost Lecture” and “‘The Whale Warehouse”? On “Life & Times” some of the world’s most influential scientists have shared their ideas with KCET viewers: Donald Johanson, Edward Teller, Francis Crick, Sylvia Earle, Leonard Kleinrock, and Carl Sagan, to name just a few.

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Now let’s turn to the science programming which KCET broadcasts. In the last year (besides “Nova”) there’s been “Nature”; “The New Explorers”; “Scientific American Frontiers”; “Technopolitics”; “Computer Chronicles”; “Future Quest”; “21st Century Jet”; “Mystery of the Senses”; “The Nature of Sex”; “Alien Empire”; “Breakthrough: The Changing Face of Science in America”; “People In Motion”; “Savage skies”; “Life on the Internet”; “Secrets of Life”; “In the Wild”; “Eyewitness”; and “Wildworld.” And while I’m at it, let me get in a plug for a fantastic series coming up next month, “Odyssey of Life.”

And let’s not forget our children. There’s “Newton’s Apple”; “Let’s Go Fly a Helicopter”; “The Magic School Bus”; “Bill Nye the Science Guy”; and “Kratt’s Creatures.”

I could go on, but I think the point is clear: There’s no black hole when it comes to science programming on KCET. Perhaps we could do more, and KCET would like nothing better than to produce more science programming for our community and the country. But what keeps us from doing so is not a lack of ideas or desire, it’s the lack of money. Panosian knows about this problem first hand. Her former employer, Lifetime Cable, she writes, was the victim of “budget cuts.” KCET faces similar financial realities, but we’re still there producing--and broadcasting--the best science programming to be found anywhere. The critical question, Dr. Panosian, is: “Is There A Funder In the House?”