If you haven't noticed, we're being overrun by technology.
You probably don't even have a Kindle and now Apple is introducing the iPad. Oprah's on a crusade to end texting while driving. And instead of doing something constructive, you're spending all your time reading a TV blog. (Thank you!)
Tonight at 9, UNC-TV offers a Frontline that explores issues surrounding this new era. "Digital Nation" takes a critical look and tries to figure out what's going on.
The Avett Brothers are on "Austin City Limits" tonight, singing tunes from their 2009 album "I and Love and You."
The folk(ish)-rock band from Concord appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" back in the fall.
The group Heartless Bastards will also perform.
"Austin City Limits" airs at midnight on UNC-TV.
Tonight's premiere of the Raleigh episodes of "Antiques Roadshow" features North Carolinians with a variety of treasures and heirlooms to show off. And you never know -- you just might see your neighbor waltzing through with a $40,000 doo-dad.
The episode has everything from pottery and paintings to Civil War relics and yes, even the "million-dollar jade."
Sadly, that now-famous jade, which was given an original appraisal of $700k to $1.07 million, fell far short of that dollar amount when sold at auction in October. The jade is from the 18th Century Qianlong Jade Collection.
I have a confession to make. I never really watched "Sesame Street" growing up. Demographically speaking, I was a member of the show's inaugural generation. But if you lived in rural North Carolina in the 1970s, getting a PBS signal was never a reliable enterprise.
So my childhood was sadly devoid of Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster. No Big Bird or Bert and Ernie (we were a Captain Kangaroo household). I have recollections of being able to see the show at school sometimes, but perhaps that was on film. I'm not sure. I do remember that on the few occasions I saw the show, I was delighted.
Even though I can't brag that The Count taught me to count or that Kermit helped me learn the alphabet, I also can't deny the beauty and significance of the show. And I can't do it justice today on its 40th birthday, so I'm ordering you over to Time magazine's "Tuned In" television blog to read the wonderful tribute by James Poniewozik.
If you didn't catch CBS News' focus on Afghanistan last week, here's another chance to get educated.
Frontline presents "Obama's War," a thorough and powerful hour-long
look at the central questions facing the Obama administration and the challenges facing the American military. It airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. on UNC-TV.
Michael Davis, the author of a new book about the creation and history of the iconic children's television show, "Sesame Street," will be a guest on "North Carolina Bookwatch" this Sunday.
Davis's book, "Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street," is told with the cooperation of one of the show’s co-founders, Joan Ganz Cooney, and covers not only the show as we saw it broadcast, but the personality conflicts that went on behind the scenes.
Davis tells host DG Martin that the show, which turns 40 years old this year . . .
Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes (8pm, UNC-TV) - A year in the life of Garrison Keillor focuses on his "Prairie Home Companion" radio program, as Keillor and his crew travel from town to town putting on their show.
Pitchmen (11am, Discovery) - In honor of show star Billy Mays, who died suddenly this past Sunday, Discovery is airing a "Pitchmen" marathon today starting at 11am. A new episode, the first season finale, will air at 10pm (Billy and Anthony "Sully" Sullivan help "Survivor: Africa" winner Ethan Zohn develop an alternative cereal bowl). Discovery will air special tribute promos throughout the 12-hour marathon, including some never-before-seen footage of Mays.
The Philanthropist (10pm, NBC) - Teddy travels to Myanmar on business and encounters a young girl who needs a kidney transplant. Her father is a match, but is being held in forced labor camp.
Click below for more photos from the taping of "Antiques Roadshow" in Raleigh on Saturday.
Chris Georgoulias of Raleigh brought his own treasure to the "Antiques Roadshow" taping on Saturday -- a chair from the movie "Planet of the Apes."
The chair looks like it was carved out of a gigantic piece of brown stone, and was hauled around the Convention Center by Chris on a dolly. Here's a close-up shot of the "Planet of the Apes" movie poster featuring the chair, or a chair like it.
Watch the video below of Chris explaining how he came to be the proud owner of such an item. He doesn't say whether or not he lets damn dirty apes sit in the chair.
When I got the press rules for covering the "Antiques Roadshow" taping in downtown Raleigh on Saturday, I discovered that I was allowed to take an item with me for appraisal. The idea was to give me a unique perspective on the process.
I'm not sure I achieved that perspective, because I didn't have to wait in line for hours like the other 6,000 or so folks there. Happy for me, sad for them.
But I did get to speak to one of the show's appraisers who closely examined my treasures: a brown cast iron boot jack in the shape of a donkey's head with "Roosevelt" stamped in one ear and "In '32" stamped in the other; and its companion piece, a small, iron, braying donkey bottle opener with "F.D.R." stamped on its behind.
