io9 found footage of an old PBS telethon back in the days when it showed Doctor Who. More specifically, when the channel let Who fans in front of the camera to lead the fund drive. It's like the monolith from 2001, except it's full of nerds. Head here for more videos if you can stand it; if you can't, no one will blame you.
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Blogs are intended to be self-serving, self-oriented reflection of self-oriented people. For years I didn't care for it, didn't read it and didn't want any part of it. As time went by, I realized I couldn't survive in this society if I didn't focus on myself more, it's a self-oriented society. So now, I too am blogging about whatever comes to my mind. I became self-centered and self-oriented and I'm using this blog as a way of shameless self- promotion just like everyone online is doing... I'll try to keep my posts short and to the point and true to my own self-serving new habits, I don't care if anyone reads it.
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I'm a huge Doctor Who fanatic but this...is just painful. What's scary is I'm also Autistic, and these folks are freaking ME out...
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Sigh. I actually got a little Doctor Who ceramic coffee mug for pledging to Maryland Public TV back in the early 90s. The little phone booth on it would disappear when you applied heat. Sadly, Doc apparently flew the Tardis permanently off my mug many moons ago, leaving a pale afterimage to forever tease me...
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Why is Jason Bateman dressed as Dr. Who?
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I used to watch PBS in Maryland as well. I remember those cheesy pledge drives and staying up until 2:00am on Saturday to finish watching an episode of Doctor Who. Normally, the show started at 11:00pm and ended at 12:30am, but with the pledge drive interruptions, who knows how long the episode would air? I'm sad that the Maryland PBS stopped showing Doctor Who. They're the ones that got me hooked on the show, literally 20 years ago! Okay, more like 22-23 years ago since I remember following the show back in 1986. I even remember when they showed the final season episodes, in 1989, as brand-new episodes!
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Mein Gott. I would have been among my kind.
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Sadly I just remembered that I did one of these in the mid-80's. I was a freshman or sophmore and a huge Doctor Who nerd... didn't dress up (though I still have a perfect replica of the 4th Doctor's scarf made from the BBC directions) and I don't think I answered one phone call as I chowed down on the giant free sub-sandwich. I can't believe I remembered that...
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I remember they had a picture disc record of The 5 Doctors and I begged my parents to pledge the obscene amount in order to get it. Still have it. One wonders if PBS had not spent all the money of goofy gifts, they may not have needed to beg for money.
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I was saddened to learn that Maryland Public Television has gotten rid of Doctor Who. It had been on Saturday nights for decades (following three hours of Britcoms -- I just checked their schedule and they have almost exactly the same schedule as they did ten years ago, less Doctor Who); I guess the advent of DVDs and whatnot has eliminated the need for public television airings of "The Ark In Space" for the thousandth time. All the pledge drives were hosted by the same two people (not sure if they're retired or dead or what now). I remember one time they interviewed Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, and made them participate in an incredibly embarrassing skit (cheap TARDIS set included) at the beginning where they "arrive" in Maryland.
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Whovians? Who write her script - Dr. Seuss?? The Grinch doesn't shop in these versions of Dr. Who, does he?
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It just occurred to me that my father was watching Doctor Who before I was even born. In fact, I remember once when I was four I was in the room while he was watching it, and it gave me nightmares. Maybe that's why I don't care for it now... Mysteries...
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I remember watching PBS as a kid, too and the line up was Brit-tastic: The Avengers, Doctor Who, and (as mentioned in the pledge footage) The Prisoner. That's when I got hooked on Who! And, yeah, TOTALLY want that mug ;)
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Last time I checked they still were showing it..... I remember watching 3 different seasons at the same time because of PBS SciFi and BBC America.
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HAHAHAHA!!! I remember when my local PBS station ran Dr. Who when I was a kid (needless to say as a young geek I loved it). I saw the fundraiser, and proudly donated my lone 20$ I had made mowing lawns, all to save my beloved Doctor. They took it off the very next week. Bastards. Yes, smart ones, but still bastards in my ten-year old mind. i think I learned how to use curse-words correctly that weekend.
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I'm from sacramento and I'm certain we have this on videotape since we recorded lots of Dr Who and disney stuff to show us when we were being babysat.
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There should really be more of these videos out there. Most PBS stations were running Dr. Who at this time, and I think most of those let Whovians run the asylum for at least one night during the drive. Let's see... that's about 30 minutes a night, multiply that with about 200 member stations, four pledge drives a year, for 5-10 years... That's a lot of nerdery going on there. There must be several days of footage of people running around in long scarves and floppy hats.
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<I>"Don't get caught with your TARDIS showing!"</I> This has now just been entered into my dirty geek phrase sub-routine.
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Damn, such nostalgia. I miss PBS being a station full of geek programming. Dr. Who, Red Dwarf... the good stuff.
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Good times.
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Here's a crazy thing, I remember those pledges. I was 8 at the time. We lived in a very rural town. This was the local PBS. And I'd watch Dr. Who with my mom. I remember my sub-nerd brain being creeped out and oddly drawn to these people. Still am. But damn, that's a blast from the past.
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Ah, the good ol' days when my Doctor Who fandom began. I've been a Fourth Doctor fan since then.
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Dang! I really want that mug.
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Ahhhh.... the good days when PBS was actually showing shows that people wanted to see.
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