----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Replying to Dr. Hargrove's points in the simplest way: We don't have a Church of England or a Monarch, we don't have and Official Secrets Act, and we don't have a BBC. They don't have a First Amendment or a written Constitution which bans titles of nobility, among other things. Canada is a former British colony, now part of the Commonwealth and similar analysis applies. It's comparing apples and oranges.1776 and all that... Regarding European arts funding, of course Germany stopped all national arts funding after its defeat in World War II. Last guy to head their equivalent of the National Endowment for the Arts went by the name of Joseph Goebbels, remember? Usually their culture ministries include spending on education, etc. And there is very little private support. In contrast American culture dominates the world, thanks to Hollywood, Nashville, etc. Remember what our friends Godard & Co. were watching at the cinematheque? John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, etc. were all part of the capitalist system. Hitchcock ended up owning a good piece of Universal, so you could even call him a plutocrat. Frank Capra owned Liberty Films and even denounced Communism in a speech he gave in India. He then made television science films for the Bell Companies, those who have offered to take over PBS today. I'll stack them and the golden age of Hollywood against anything PBS or the National Endowment has ever done for standing the test of time. Just curious: which TV shows do you use to teach television history, what is the proportion of PBS to network shows used, and why? Of the PBS shows used, how many have ex-network hosts like Bill Moyers (CBS), Robin MacNeil(NBC), etc. Yours sincerely, Larry Jarvik CSPC