A Craftsman's Legacy

Anyone watch this show? I catch it sometimes (and there are a lot of repeats, being on public TV and all) and I find it and especially the host frustrating. The topics and people he finds are fascinating, but out of a 25-minute program we actually get to see very little of what the guests actually do, and learn very little about how they do it.

I saw a show today about a craft printer and bookbinder. I was agog to learn all about his linotype machine, his proof press and printing press and book press and all the other stuff he works with to print a book from typesetting to binding, but at the end I felt like I’d read a one-paragraph summary of an encyclopedia. Maybe there’s too much of the host interrupting with questions; maybe the format is just too short. I find myself always wanting more.

Maybe that’s the host’s goal, to motivate us to go out and take a deeper look at any of this stuff that interests us. I have not, so far, been moved to do so. I always feel like this was the opportunity to show me, and it was missed.

I’ve seen several episodes and agree with your assessment. The host takes interesting subjects and makes them boring. When we do get to see the craftsmen at work it is interesting, perhaps it does need to be longer than 30 minutes to get in enough of the meat to go along with dry tasteless garnish.

Sounds like it would be right up my alley, but yeah, the clips I’ve seen are just irritating to me. I’m a huge fan of youtube videos of (mostly Japanese) craftsmen doing their thing, I could literally watch them all day. I’d hope for something more like that - they don’t even have to be that long.