I'd like to take a bath with Morgan Freeman...

This post really isn't about Morgan Freeman, per se, as much as it's about the bait-and-switch tactics of Public Television during pledge season. Although Mr Freeman and I share the same Birthday, June 1.

You see, I find that the most annoying thing about pledge season is that they replace a large chunk of the crap they normally show with programming you actually want to see. Whether it's BBC series'(fawlty towers, thin blue line,Dr Who), their acclaimed dramas(again usually syndicated from BBC or CBC), or quality music programming.

Here is how you can tell it's pledge season, just by checking the PBS lineup:

• The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe(Wonderworks Production) is on during primetime.
  
• Austin City Limits features bands other than:Alabama, Joan Baez, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Joe Cocker, Vince Gill, The Judds.
• The totality of the Anne of Green Gables movies are broadcast over the course of a Saturday.
• The following series are absent from the daily lineup: Charlie Rose, The McLaughlin Group, The New Yankee Workshop, Travels in Europe with Rick Steves, The Victory Garden.
  

The following is a short list of series and shows that I once enjoyed, and are no longer available from PBS.

• Red Dwarf
• Monty Python's Flying Circus
• The McLaughlin Group( whoops! not really)
• Sessions at West 54th
• 321 Contact
• Newton's Apple
• Square One TV
• Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Oh, and just to keep the whole theme going, please enjoy this clip of Morgan Freeman bathing in a coffin.