TELEVISION - Jan. 9, 2009

Ah, the new year: A time for reflection, soul searching and new beginnings.

It’s also a time for bringing TV journalists and the industry people we cover into hotel ballrooms for news conferences about future TV programs. Last January, which you might recall kicked off that wretched 2008, the Television Critics Assn. did not get to have its semiannual shindig because of the writers strike, and some of us were a little happy about that! But here we are again and, considering the current economic situation, somewhat ecstatic about it, strangely.

PBS kicked off the tour Wednesday morning with “The Electric Company” breakfast. The rebooted kids’ show premieres Jan. 23. We also got a special treat with a visit from Ian McKellen, who discussed his star role in “King Lear,” which premieres March 25, and how he sucked in his tummy every night on stage for his nude scene, which PBS won’t be showing.

Then, PBS President and Chief Executive Paula Kerger appeared, and although she was not very happy with the federal government, she was warm and articulate. She even answered questions, which is not to be taken for granted at the executive sessions. (You know who you are!)

Kerger’s beef with the feds is related to the Feb. 17 digital TV mandate and the waiting list for converter boxes. The federal government has run out of money to help analog TV owners go digital by next month -- the $1.3-billion program to offset the cost of buying converter boxes has hit rock bottom, so now those of you who need financial assistance to make the change are being put on a waiting list. Apparently, there are thousands of people on this list. (The program had been issuing $40 discount coupons for the boxes, which can cost up to $70.)

“I was very disheartened that the federal government has run out of money,” Kerger said. “To put [people] on a waiting list is inexcusable. We need to get those boxes connected to TV sets at a time when people are making hard choices and closing their cable accounts because they can’t afford to keep them. We need to make sure that every household is connected. Right now, we’re at the edge.”

On Thursday, incoming president Barack Obama urged Congress to delay the switch to digital television for this very reason. So perhaps Kerger will be able to stop worrying about PBS viewers seeing blank screens on Feb. 17.

That wouldn’t be the only thing she likes about Obama, if so. Kerger said that Obama has expressed an interest in early childhood education and investing in the arts, two of PBS’ favorite topics.

With two young children living in the White House, the new administration is bound to care, for instance, that “Sesame Street” turns 40 this year.

Feliz cumpleanos, Big Bird and the gang.

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Belzer is frank about NBC

NBC executives: Are your ears burning?

“Law & Order: SVU” actor Richard Belzer participated in a PBS panel Wednesday to tell colorful stories about his old friend George Carlin.

But when a journalist asked the actor-comic what he thinks of NBC’s recent move to scrap all 10 p.m scripted programming to give Jay Leno a new comedy show every night at that hour, Belzer did not hold back, because, as he put it, he’s got a contract that renders him untouchable.

“I just think it’s a network that’s desperate,” Belzer said. “It’s the last gasp of a dying network, which can turn out to be brilliant financially. But in terms of writers, actors, producers and other people who work on shows, I think it’s a tragedy, frankly.”

Belzer said he expects NBC to schedule “SVU” at 9 p.m. next fall because it’s “the only hit dramatic series left on the Peacock.”

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An award Carlin would’ve taken

Ten days before comic George Carlin died in June, he learned that he was the 2008 recipient of the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for Humor.

Carlin was not the kind of artist who cared about awards, according to his daughter, Kelly Carlin, who appeared at a PBS panel discussion on Wednesday at the Universal Hilton. But this one -- presented to her in November by leading entertainers such as Joan Rivers, Bill Maher and Jon Stewart -- was different. “He didn’t take awards very seriously,” she said. “He saw the game of it all. But there was something about this prize that meant something to him. He did call me to tell me about it, and he was very excited. In the last five years, he had started to take in that he was the elder statesman of these people. He was really getting it. I don’t know how he would have taken it in to be there. I would love to know. But we took it in with great pride.”

Kelly Carlin described the event, which was held in Washington, D.C., as “heartbreaking and spectacular” at the same time. “The love that was in the room, especially coming from the stage, and the audience certainly,” she said. “My whole life I’ve felt the love from the audience. To listen to these stand-up comedians talk about my father and really mean it, it was a beautiful experience.”

Comics Richard Belzer and Lewis Black, who also participated in the televised event, which will air Feb. 4, attended the panel and told stories of their most significant memories of Carlin. Belzer recalled that, in the ‘70s, when he had been banned from appearing on “The Tonight Show” because of his use of dirty words and his controversial act, Carlin invited him on when he guest-hosted, even though producers tried to stop him. “It legitimized me. . . . George wasn’t threatened by talent or by other people. It’s a rare thing in show business. He was an incredibly unselfish guy.”

Black recalled a phone message he received from Carlin that pushed him to pursue his career when he was just known as a club comic. “His first line in that call was, ‘First, let me say there’s nothing I can do for your career,’ ” Black said. “I thought that was great.”

Kelly Carlin is working on a book about her father’s life and their relationship. Growing up in the ‘60s and ‘70s with her counterculture comic of a father, she said, was as a “roller-coaster ride filled with lots of love, lots of laughter and lots of insanity.” Her father deserved the Mark Twain prize because he had some important things in common with the noted author, she said. “Mark Twain was ahead of his time. He used language in a way to break barriers. And he got in trouble for it. I think there was a lot of parallel and connection . . . and a lot of dancing between the two of them.”

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maria.elena.fernandez@latimes.com