INTRODUCTION

Today is the birthday of PBS and also Teachers' Day. For any reader that might not know, PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) is a non-profit American public broadcasting television network headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It was founded on this date (5 October, 1970), 42 years ago, in 1970, after the termination of its predecessor, National Educational Television (NET).

Watch 1969 Senate Hearings on PBS. See more from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

Many Americans share fond memories of watching children's programs like Sesame Street (which began on NET) and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (which debuted on CBC). If your parents weren't unhealthily preoccupied with celebrity culture or car chases, you may've suffered as they turned commandeered the TV to watch PBS Newshour with it's in-depth coverage of "hard news."

Back in June I hipped readers to the fact that one of the greatest TV shows of all time, Get A Life, is finally getting a proper DVD release after previously only being afforded two four-episode volumes from Rhino Home Video. Well, another great, mostly-forgotten, cult show has recently been announced, and that's In Search Of..., which is scheduled to be released on 23 October by VEI (Visual Entertainment Inc).

In Search of... was a quasi-documentary TV series that ran in syndication from September, 1976 through March, 1982. It focused on the paranormal; ufological, supernatural, and cryptozoological subject matter -- but it also included episodes about real missing persons, historical events, cults, &c.

Each episode included the disclaimer,“This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture. The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only ones, to the mysteries we will examine." Nonetheless, the "possible explanations" were often pretty absurd, which for me is part of the fun. In the 1990s, paranormal TV shows were often hosted like news shows, which is also fun.



Anyway, before In Search Of… launched as a TV series, there were three hour-long, made-for-TV specials; In Search of Ancient Astronauts (1973) and In Search of Ancient Mysteries, and The Outer Space Connection (both 1975). They were narrated by Rod Serling who was a logical choice for a narrator, having famously created and hosted the macabre anthology series The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery.