Recently I learned that we get a PBS channel devoted entirely to Native American/Indigenous programming. Cool! It's called First Nations Experience.
I discovered it a couple of weeks ago while flipping through the TV guide. I noticed a show called "Indians + Aliens". That sounded right up my alley, so I took a look. It's a 6 episode series that follows Ernest Webb, a Cree Indian living in northern Quebec, who investigates UFO sightings reported by members of his tribe. In one episode he shows an impressive tattoo on his shoulder of an alien head wearing an Indian headdress. "These are your kind of people!" said Wendy. I've watched 3 of the 6 episodes so far. They're pretty good. I've been really impressed by the special effects used to recreate the UFO sightings.
Also relevant to my interests was an episode of "Indigenous Focus". From what I can tell, the show features short films and interviews with indigenous people. One interview was with Russell Bates, a science fiction writer from Oklahoma, who's written for Star Trek! They showed him writing in his office, which had an OU sticker on the wall near his monitor. He spent much of his career in Los Angeles, where he did some acting, but mostly writing. He wrote an episode for "Star Trek: The Animated Series", which aired in the mid-1970s. The episode was called "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth", and he won an Emmy for it! It was the first Emmy won by any Star Trek series.
I found the episode on Amazon Prime and was able to watch it for free. It's good. The Enterprise encounters a winged-serpent alien who had visited Earth long ago. He was the basis of the Mayan god Kukulkan, and the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl.
All of this got me wondering what other PBS channels we get, so I did some research last night. We get at least 8 different PBS channels from 2 Chicago stations and 1 Milwaukee station:
WTTW: Window to the World (Chicago) has 4 channels
- WTTW
- WTTW Prime
- WTTW World
- WTTW V-me (Spanish programming)
WYCC: We're Your City Colleges (Chicago) has 3 channels
- WYCC
- FNX (First Nations Experience)
- MHz Worldwide (International programming)
MPTV: Milwaukee Public Television has 1 channel
This is such a different world from the 1 PBS channel that existed when I was a kid. But I like it!