It goes back to the old saw about a dog fight on 16th Street having more interest than a war in Timbuktu.
MetroBeat TV Thursday launched its third round of programming on area Channel 8 outlets with shows about, from and in our neighborhoods. It’s local television about local folks.
Many topic ideas come from viewers, says Steve Hansen, project manager for Comcast, which produces the show in conjunction with municipal TV channels. The suggestions range from local eateries to self-help plans to blatant self-promotion. “We’re assembling a content-review group,” says Hansen, “so it’s not just Comcast and the government determining the content. We don’t want it to be a huge, bureaucratic thing.”
Depending on its success here, the concept may spread to community-TV systems across the country, Hansen says.
This month’s shows:
“Student Voices” covers obesity, unhealthy school-cafeteria food and fitness among youth.
“Metrobeat Magazine” highlights Paul Stewart, founder of the Black American Western Museum and Heritage Center.
“People to Watch” features Greg Dobbs and Jeff Campbell.
“Inside the Cover” interviews children’s authors Laurent De Brunhoff and Daniel Handler.
“MetroBeat TV Presents” looks at the clean-up that turned Rocky Flats into a wildlife refuge.
MetroBeat TV, launched with much fanfare in November, reaches into communities with a 2 1/2-hour block of programs on 30 Front Range municipal television outlets. The new programs air from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Thursdays and 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays through March 12.
Weekend highlights
Today
Farewell to “Arrested Development,” a show critics loved and the public ignored. It goes away with a two-hour episode called “Fakin’ It/Family Ties/Exit Strategy”(7 p.m., KDVR-Channel 31).
Saturday
Drew Barrymore shows off her acting genes in “Never Been Kissed,” the 1999 film about a 25-year-old who goes back to high school (6 p.m., ABC Family).
Sunday
Complicated funnyman/actor Dave Chappelle tells all in a two-hour special presentation of “Inside the Actors Studio” (6 p.m., Bravo).
Around the dial
Why leave home? Steve Sharp of Denver is the big winner in the KKFN 950-AM “Sports FAN Makeover.” Got a big-screen TV, cable for a year, a pool table, a hot tub and, most important, pizza and beer for a year … John Fricke, afternoon guy at sports talk KLZ 560-AM, off to seek his fortune in Southern California after his contract wasn’t renewed … Quotable: “They say that 90 percent of TV is junk. But 90 percent of everything is junk.” Gene Roddenberry
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
