A disturbing trend is increasingly evident in the presentation of the arts on public television. There is, to start with, a concentration on blockbuster productions and series, ranging from histories of art (often indistinguishable from sumptuously produced travelogues) to imported stagings of Shakespeare. In music this approach has meant relying for the most part on the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic, the two still viable music performing components of Lincoln Center; it has also meant highlighting star turns by famous singers and instrumentalists performing a repertory notable for high tune content, if for little else.
If this were all that were going on, matters would be dreary enough, especially considering the hopes once entertained for the elevation of taste through public broadcasting. But there is more, and worse. The Public Broadcasting Service has discovered that there is gold in the arts. Now that PBS is seen to be in a financial crisis—caused by escalating costs and declining government support—the watchword is fundraising. For this, the arts provide a medium both glamorous and persuasive.
In the visual arts, the emphasis here is on auctions, in which second-rate art goes to the highest bidder. With the possible exception of the buyer, everybody benefits in this process; the local station takes in donations while the donor of the art—often a commercial gallery—receives copious mention, credit, and tax deductions. But all this is relatively small-time, because the art involved is so run-of-the-mill and the general atmosphere so determinedly loving
