PBS Gets Caught Broadcasting Footage Of Old Fireworks

Poytner - PBS apparently celebrated the nation’s independence by rather freely using video from another Fourth of July celebration. A Monday night production, “A Capitol Fourth” was not live as-advertised, as it was “spliced in with video from previous years’ spectacles,” as NBC News reported. It apparently didn’t take FBI or Secret Service teams to discern the skullduggery. Many viewers took to the show’s Twitter and Facebook pages to complain. How did they know something was amiss? Well, how could the fireworks display be live, they wondered, if “the images were in clear weather, a stark contrast to the actual heavily overcast and foggy Monday night.” Those same Facebook and Twitter pages later acknowledged that the show was “a combination of the best fireworks from this year and previous years.” “With the weather being overcast we showed a combination of the best fireworks from this year and previous years. It was the patriotic thing to do.” Patriotic? The explanation may augur a new era of rationalizing ethical lapses.

Last night I went to dinner at a restaurant right along the Hudson River. We were walking home right around 9pm and it started to pour. And as we ran home in the rain, we saw no less than a hundred people setting up lawn chairs and sitting on benches, in the pouring rain, waiting for the Macy’s Fireworks to begin. It was pouring rain, and you couldnt even see the top of the Empire State Building or the Freedom tower with all the fog. And there they sat, waiting for fireworks that were being shot off on the East River. From New Jersey, they watched. Fireworks on display basically in Brooklyn. Across the Hudson, across the entire island of Manhattan. It was as far from a front row seat as you could get. It was the nosebleed seats of fireworks shows. I was stunned. I actually didnt even understand what was going on for a minute until my wife explained to me why they were out there. Because I thought it was absolutely impossible that anybody would sit in the rain to watch goddam fireworks. Some of them didnt even have kids with them. Granted most of them appeared to be poor Mexican people, but the point still stands. Fireworks are the most overrated thing going. Right up there with Parades as some of the dumbest traditions we humans do for “entertainment.” Its the same exact shit every single time and it has been basically since the beginning of fireworks. Its so repetitive even fucking PBS was like “Ahhh fuck it. Nobody cares.” Straight up mailed it in and just showed old footage because its the same goddam thing every single time. I mean look at these pictures:

18th Century Chinese fireworks:

Ming Dynasty Fireworks, 1628:

Fireworks on the Thames River. London, England, 1749:

Fireworks have been the same since 1749! People loved fireworks back in 1749 because thats all they fucking had. The only form of entertainment and the only way to distract yourself from the realization you were going to die from cholera was to look at explosions in the sky. Pretty lights flashing and loud noises. Like we’re a bunch of goddam cats. Its been about 250 years. There’s a lot better ways to spend your night than looking up at the sky for like 45 minutes going “oooooh and ahhhhh.”

And I really thought it didnt get any worse than the people waiting in the rain for them, but I was wrong. The people who took the time to complain to PBS on their facebook page about airing pre-taped fireworks have gotta be the biggest losers of all time. Can you imagine your life being so bad that you tune into PBS for fireworks? When Mr. International Pitbull was on Fox doing a 4th of July spectacular? And then you were so disappointed in the PBS fireworks display because it was old footage you took the time to complain about it on the internet? Thats absolutely Kill Yourself Territory.