Gird yourselves, you over-educated, PBS-watching boomers who feel underserved by commercial TV. You might, in fact, want to take a deep, cleansing yoga breath.
Sacramento's venerable public television affiliate, KVIE (Channel 6), recently hired Bay Area native Lynn Margherita, 45, a spitfire of an executive producer. Her mandate: Quicken the pace and presentation of existing shows, and create new programs for local and national distribution.
That in itself may not raise eyebrows among the highbrows, but her lengthy résumé probably will. Her previous credits include:
• Field producer for "The Dr. Phil Show."
• Developer and producer of several cable TV series for channels such as HGTV, DIY and the Food Network.
• Producer in the mid-'90s for the short-lived Fox and ABC daytime talk shows "Gabrielle" and "Caryl and Marilyn." Among the segments that carry Margherita's signature: "Dump That Prison Lover" and "It's My Body and I'll Pierce If I Want To."
Oh, and for five months in 2005, Margherita was executive producer for "Good Day Sacramento's" weekend show.
Is it any wonder, then, why there's nervousness among the faithful?
The sentiment may be best articulated by loyal KVIE viewer Christine Craft, the outspoken former KSAC talk- radio host who has worked on shows for KQED, the Bay Area's PBS station.
"Maybe this new producer from the 'Dr. Phil' background has been itching to express her more intellectual side, I don't know," Craft says. "But I think 'Dr. Phil' and that sort of mindless commercial cult is garbage TV, and if the new producer is proud of that kind of show and brings that sort of lack of sensibility to KVIE in any appreciable way ... why watch it?
"We need to elevate the medium, not degrade it further. PBS is the last bastion of quality broadcasting that doesn't leave you hungry."
Margherita, for her part, rejects the notion that she's not a good fit for KVIE. And she's unapologetic about her career choices.
"I understood the audiences I was producing for," she says, chuckling. "I mean, I've never had a prison lover. This is not who I am.
"Listen, a lot of people say ('Dr. Phil') is a blemish on my résumé, but many (viewers) like that show. And the people on it get help, which is good. … Call it crap, but somebody's learning."
More important, perhaps, is that people are watching, not always the case with PBS.
Now, in a perfect world, KVIE and other PBS stations would be above ratings concerns. They're funded by viewer donations, corporate sponsorship and government assistance, which theoretically makes them immune to pop-culture whims.
In reality, though, PBS is viewed by some as sliding toward obsolescence. A recent front-page analysis in the New York Times by respected editor-at-large Charles McGrath postulated that PBS' mission is now usurped by cable.
"There are not only countless more channels to choose from now, but many offer the kind of stuff that in the past you could see only on public TV, and in at least some instances, they do it better," McGrath wrote.
In KVIE's case, top executives argue that the station remains strong. They point to the just-concluded February sweeps: KVIE viewership rose 13 percent from the February 2007 ratings.
"In the last Tuesday of sweeps, we beat News10's local 8-to-10 p.m. period with two episodes of 'NOVA,' " says David Lowe, KVIE's interim president and general manager. "Clearly, public television is alive and well in our region."
It is skewing older, however. A viewership breakdown by The Media Audit, a research firm, shows that 55 percent of viewers are ages 25 to 54, 40 percent are 55 or older, and only 5 percent are 18 to 25.
"When we analyze who are the more frequent viewers ... it's people 55-plus, which is why we are interested in growing our share of the (younger end of the) boomer audience," Lowe says.
Cue Margherita. She was offered the executive producer job 15 minutes after her final interview in December with vice president of content creation Mike Sanford and now-departed general manager David Hosley.
Call The Bee's Sam McManis, (916) 321-1145, or e-mail smcmanis@sacbee.com. Read his blog postings at 21Q (www.sacbee.com/21q).
