20% Of Philly Students Can Read??? — The ABC sitcomAbbott Elementaryhas a plot line in which a big, bad charter school company is trying to take over the show’s eponymous Philadelphia public school.
This caused Jeanne Allen, founder and CEO of the Center for Education Reform, to tweet:
It’s pathetic when fewer than 20% of Philadelphia students can even read, write or spell at grade level that there’s a show on television that has the nerve to criticize the schools that succeed, and the people that help them. This has TEACHERS UNION written all over it.
Is it true that fewer than 20 precent of Philadelphia students read, write or spell at grade level??
According to the Philadelphia School District’s website 46 percent of children K-2 and 33 percent of children in third grade read at grade level as of 2019, which is before the Covid shutdown.
The stats in 2013, by the way, were 52 percent of K-2 and 45 percent in grade 3.
It appears the more caring parents are getting their kids out of public school and into the big, bad charters which is the only sane and caring thing to do.
Here are 10 enjoyable TV shows from Netflix and Amazon Prime that most of us have likely not seen.
1. Detectorists (Netflix) — This is about a couple of guys who belong to a metal detector club in England. Laugh a minute? No. Thrill a minute? No. Intense? Um, definitely no. Trust us, though, it works. Episodes run a little over 20 minutes.
2. A Very Secret Service (Netflix) — This is in French with subtitles. It is a spoof of ’60s Cold War spy thrillers from the French point of view. It’s very well done, although not for everybody’s taste. Episodes also run a little over 20 minutes.
3. Terriers (Netlix) — This is about an alcoholic ex-cop and his ex-criminal friend who run a lawn care business in San Diego that segues into private investigation. It ran for 13 episodes on FX in the fall of 2010. It has since developed a bit of a cult following. It has a great theme song. Warning: It doesn’t hit its stride until about episode 4. Episodes run about 45 minutes.
4. The Finder (Netflix) — This is a spin-off of the hit Fox series Bones. It concerns a quirky Iraq War vet with the ability to make connections of seemingly random events as a result of a war injury. It ran for 13 episodes in the winter/spring fo 2012. Episodes run about 45 minutes.
5. Life (Netflix) — This went two seasons on NBC starting in 2007. It’s about a Los Angeles policeman exonerated after spending 12 years in prison for killing his wife. He gets a settlement allowing him to become a multi-millionaire and the Los Angeles Police Department is forced to take him back allowing him to pursue justice. The series ends with the completion of the story arc.
6. Last Kingdom (Netflix) — This British production is based on Bernard Cornwell’s historical novels series The Saxon Stories. It concerns the Viking invasion of England starting in 865 A.D. and how it conquered the entire country but for Alfred the Great’s Wessex. It’s not a bad introductory history. The eight episode series dragged a bit in the middle. We skipped the 7th installment and jumped straight to the end, which wrapped it up nicely. Episodes run about an hour.
7. Goliath (Amazon Prime) — This is a product of Amazon Prime and was released Oct. 13. It stars Billy Bob Thornton as a once super lawyer who is now a drunk and has to take on the evil mega law firm he created and shady corporate interests. We binge-watched the first three episodes and found them great. They run 54 minutes.
8. The War (Amazon Prime) — This seven part Ken Burn history of World War II ran on PBS in 2007. It’s powerful history. The segments run about 2 hours.
9. Suits (Amazon Prime) — This legal drama remains in production and is not really obscure other than that it runs on USA. It started in 2011. It’s much better to watch without commercials. Episodes run 42 minutes.
10. John Adams (Amazon Prime) — This seven-episode biography about founding father and second president ran on HBO in 2008. Episodes are about an hour and a half. It is excellent history and watching it will make you willing to crawl over glass to vote against Hillary Clinton. Sorry about the politics.
Jimmy Kimmel a few nights ago featured in his “Lie Witness News” skit a reporter asking the hipsters attending the SXSW Festival whether they liked fictitious bands.
The festival goers not only praised the bands but provided authoritative opinions as to why the bands were good and likely to go places.
Better to be a hip fool that fits in than a self-thinking square it seems for this crowd.
There is a fair chance the interviewees were in on the joke — we really, really hope so — but just the same doesn’t the Millennial generation have any self-respect? Why be a sheep? Why tell the world you are one?
Parents, when you accept schools designed for little lambs don’t be surprised at what they are when they leave them.
Broadcasting Off Air Nov. 9 2011 — All radio and TV broadcasts will be knocked off the air for about 3 minutes starting at 2 p.m., EST on Nov. 9 for the national test of the Emergency Alert System. The tests with which we are all so familiar with have been local ones.
Yes, the test will include cable, digital television and satellite radio.
“While most messages, such as tsunami or hurricane warnings, are limited
to 2 minutes by the EAS system, the Presidential message capability does
not have a time limit. So to evaluate if the system properly
interprets the Presidential message code in this test, the message
duration must be longer than two minutes in length,” FEMA says.
Kennedys Make The Kennedys Heroic — I spent a bit of Sunday watching a good bit of The Kennedyson Reelz. This was the series developed by conservative Joel Surnow and Stephen Kronish, and forced from the History Channel after complaints from the Kennedy family.
What were they complaining about? It makes Bobby and Jack and even Old Joe look positively heroic.
And, in truth, JFK had better Supreme Court appointments than either Nixon or Ike and a better economic policy than Nixon. With regard to foreign policy let’s say he just had a better one than LBJ.
Mobsters and Marilyn aside, the Kennedy legacy would still shine but for Teddy and Bobby’s kids.
Reelz Pumping Kennedy Series — The star-studded, purportedly no-holds-barred mini-series about the Kennedy family discarded by The History Channel is being heavily pumped by ReelzChannel, the independent, family-owned networked that snapped it up.
The History Channel produced the eight-part series developed by Joel Surnow and Stephen Kronish at a cost described as “multi-million” but dropped it after a pressure campaign from family and friends of the clan.
Surnow is the producer of 24.
The Kennedys starts April 3 and stars Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes.
Reelz is on Channel 233 on Verizon’s lineup in Delaware County, Pa.
Channel 6 Where Are You? — Those using an antenna for television might be wondering whatever happened to WPVI-Channel 6 when broadcasting went digital on June 11, 2009.
WPVI is owned by ABC.
Channel 6 is Philadelphia’s second-oldest station behind the CBS-owned KYW- Channel 3 and has been broadcasting since 1947. The low VHF channels were once the prime real estate for broadcasting. These frequencies, however, require large antennae or antennae with amplifiers for good reception and are susceptible to interference from sources such as FM radio stations.
And the strong FM signals being sent by the WXPN 88.5, WRTI 90.1 and WHYY 90.9 which are co-located on a tower in Roxborough are getting in the way of the WPVI signal.
The FCC gave WPVI permission to boost its power two weeks ago from 7.5 kilowatts to 30.6 kilowatts which is the maximum allowed in the Northeast.
As of today, however, it is still not being received in central Springfield.
