Buffalo, being perpetually 30 years behind the times, is perhaps among the last places where one can still watch local telethons for various diseases and ailments on a somewhat regular basis. The telethons are almost unchanged from the 1970s; bands that sound like they’re straight from the Merv Griffin Show or Mike Douglas Show, and variety show-type acts that seem equally dated.
I wonder who actually watches and enjoys them, aside from the elderly and old-school blue collar crowd.
Des Moines still gives airtime to Variety, a organization - originally made up of show business people - that gives money and time to children’s causes.
Watching a bit of their recent 'thon made it depressingly apparent that both local show business and live local television production are on their very last legs in most parts of the country. I wish it could be different somehow. I imagine even Buffalo’s efforts were more professional and showmanly.
My mom will watch the ones on TBN, but only because they bring out the singers to try to get people to tune in. And she likes the old school Christian songs, as that’s what she grew up on. (She wasn’t allowed to listen to secular music.)