I wanted to speak with Baratunde Thurston because in him I see the true potential of PBS and public media.
Baratunde Thurston introduces himself at the top of his PBS show “America Outdoors”, as “a writer, activist and sometimes comedian.” As for me, it is rare for a classically trained public editor – a veteran of gritty investigative journalism and sober news analysis – to share a public laugh with a PBS personality.
As a professional explainer of all things PBS and public media, I spend most of my time pointing inquisitive, often critical lenses to what a universe of broadcast and digital creatives offers up to millions of trusting viewers and readers. When I ask to speak with someone from a PBS show, eyebrows sometimes rise and natural defenses go up.
So it was no surprise when the producers of “America Outdoors With Baratunde Thurston” (his first name is pronounced Ba:r | a | túnd | ā) replied with a few questions of their own. They wanted to know why the public editor wanted to speak with the brand-new host.
I wanted to see what had sparked a flurry of positive, complimentary emails from viewers earlier this year when PBS aired the first season of his anthropologic travelogue. The dynamic social commentator had struck an optimistic nerve among audiences inundated with daily reminders of the dire state of our disunion. I also wanted to see what it takes to create a popular public media show.
I ended up laughing, a lot.
What viewers say
“I am loving the message, the people and especially the host of this show. Seeing the country and people with Baratunde Thurston is very appreciated … I would love to hear anything he brings to the screen and our world. I’m only three episodes in and already hooked on Baratunde’s voice and message. Thank you for adding this show to my local PBS station.”
–Jeff Collins
Columbus, Ohio
“ … I just wanted to let you know that I think ‘America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston’ is one of the best new shows I have seen. It is a wonderful and insightful way to see new places in America that I have not visited but also provides new information about places I have seen. Baratunde is perfect in this role. As a white female, I appreciate his different frame of reference and I appreciate his love of the outdoors. Keep these kinds of shows coming.”
– Elizabeth Stead
Charlotte, North Carolina
“Outstanding program at a time when excellent programming is hard to find. (It’s a) fresh perspective on multiple themes: why humans seek nature, new perspectives on people of color in nature, and Native Americans today in nature.”
– Alina Franco
Austin, Colorado
The atypical travelogue
“America Outdoors” is not a travel show.
OK, it is a travel show. But the trips you take around the country with Thurston are different from the traditional globe-trotting video journals that pepper your programming guides. Don’t get me wrong. I love those shows. I’m a big fan of Rick Steves, and of the upstart Kim Haas and her Afro-Latino travel show. (I wrote about Haas here) I envy the sights and food they show us from far-off lands. But from the first frames of “America Outdoors”, you can see that this show is taking us on a different kind of trip and that Thurston is a different kind of host. All at once, it seems, the former writer for “The Daily Show”and co-founder of the online site Puck is funny and seriously insightful, knowledgeable and genuinely curious in his explorations.
I wanted to speak with Thurston because in him I see the true potential of PBS and public media.He is not a biologist who might dryly tell us how salamanders regrow lost limbs, or a naturalist who knows why Old Faithful is always on time. Thurston is us, all of us. He’s a product of urban Washington, D.C. But Thurston is also the son of a nature-loving Sierra Club member who made sure he went out and walked on something other than asphalt and concrete.
I recognized his expression when he first glimpsed the Great Dismal Swamp in North Carolina in Episode 5 of Season 1. It reminded me of my own amazement, in 1978, when I first hiked through an ancient grove of Humboldt redwoods in Northern California and stood next to one of the tallest trees on earth. I just asked “how” and “why” as I craned my neck and tried to count all 373 feet.
I’m glad viewers and audiences agree that with Thurston, PBS has found another way to remind us of who we are and where we live.
