Saving Sesame Street

The Public Broadcasting Service is under attack and it's up to "viewers like you" to help save it.

PBS, the loose network of 349 public stations, has been on a downward slope losing money and political clout for years. Cable television has taken away much of its viewing audience, as well as its ability to target specific demographics. And now, horror of horrors, PBS is beginning to run limited commercials to pay for its expensive programming.

With more and more time taken up by advertisements, PBS is offering less of the great programming people have come to expect, such as Ken Burns documentaries and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

Believe it or not, everyone has a connection to PBS. Millions of individuals in our generation have learned to count while viewing Sesame Street and how to be a good neighbor while viewing Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. And almost anyone can finish the line, "Butterfly in the sky ... "

We, as well as future generations, need PBS to remain an oasis in the vast sea of consumerism that saturates TV today.

Major networks, constantly concerned with the bottom line, are unwilling to take even the smallest risks due to fear of losing advertisers. Thankfully, over the years, public television has been free to run programming without advertising interference or intervention and should continue to do so.

We need more Masterpiece Theatre, Nova and Frontline and less Trading Spouses and The Simple Life.

Indeed, PBS is the public university of television: A true marketplace of ideas set apart from the 30-second spot billboards we have become accustomed to.

So go out and lobby for the sake of public television. Tell a friend about that documentary about sharks or donate a small sum and finally get that panda coffee mug.

We need to save PBS, but don't take our word for it -- ask Levar Burton.