Why didn’t anybody tell me about Ovation TV?
I know I’m becoming a High Def snob when I don’t even visit the standard definition stations anymore. But for some reason I was slumming it in basic cable today when I came across a channel I’d never really looked at before: Ovation TV.
Their slogan is “Make life creative.” For anyone with an interest in photography, architecture, design, music, etc, I encourage you to see what’s coming up and clear some room on your DVR.
Here’s an example of what they’re showing in just the next 48 hours:
• All six episodes of the BBC series “Genius of Photography”
• The documentary “Cindi Sherman: Nobody’s Here But Me”
• A profile of German photomontage artist John Heartfield
• Documentaries about architects I.M. Pei and Mies Van Der Rohe
• A concert by pianist Lang Lang
• A profile of Piet Mondrian
• An episode of their original series “Close Up: Photographers at Work.”
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Then there’s the Ovation TV website, which features TV schedules you can view by either date or subject matter, as well as interactive features like “art or not?” plus community and video sections that I look forward to exploring.
I wish I had enough time to watch it all. I could dedicate an entire DVR to the programming on their station. You can use the widget on their site to find out what channel it’s on in your area. Now if they would just upgrade to High Def I’d be in creative heaven.
Comments
i stumbled onto it about 2 months ago and it is pretty much one of the 5 stations i tune to in a world of 12 million direct tv stations. it’s a network for snobs with mild interest in tv watching. a better slogan i think.
Posted by: Joe S. | November 18, 2008 12:28 AM
Hey thanks, this looks excellent! I had never heard of it.
Posted by: Dalton | November 18, 2008 6:57 AM
I wouldn’t worry about missing a show. They will play it again. And Again. And Again.
Ovation TV has some good stuff, but they don’t really seem to get much new programming.
I was like you: when I first tuned in I thought, “how come I haven’t heard about this channel?”, but after watching a few shows that were about a hour long being stretched to an hour and a half so they could insert more ads for the NY Times, I got a little frustrated. I do love their art shows, but I wish they had more new content - much of the good stuff seems to just be foreign shows that were made years ago.
With that said, I am an Ovation TV fan - Television needs more diversity of programming; not less.
Posted by: ChrisM70 | November 18, 2008 11:20 AM
i got real excited about that photography series and then i found out comcast doesn’t carry this channel where i live :( oh well, i’m sure i can find it somewhere…
Posted by: jared | November 18, 2008 12:10 PM
I looked for Ovation in the Comcast lineup here in Atlanta, but they don’t seem to have it. Figures. We Southerners don’t need no stinkin’ art or culture. Just NASCAR and fried chitlins.
Posted by: kate | November 18, 2008 1:57 PM
You can find and request the channel via their finder at www.IWantOvationTV.com
just plug in your info and if you don’t get it on cable you can write to your cable folks from the site.
Posted by: Aaron | November 18, 2008 5:08 PM
Thanks to Ovation, I filled up my TiVo with Ben Lewis’ Art Safari a couple months ago. Great series.
Posted by: Tyler | November 18, 2008 7:53 PM
I saw the documentary Downside Up on Ovation a few weeks ago.
Description of movie (taken from site): With 80% of its downtown buildings closed, North Adams, MA united blue-collar locals with art world luminaries to transform economic failure into America’s largest center for contemporary art.
Raynor says, “Way rad!”
Posted by: Raynor | November 19, 2008 10:11 PM
I read this as “Ovulation TV,” thought it was some kind of twisted joke, and didn’t realize that’s not what it said until the second-to-last paragraph. Disappointed now.
Posted by: Lester | November 20, 2008 5:02 AM
Ovation is available on Dish Network. The photography docs are filling up my DVR.
Posted by: Maria | November 21, 2008 3:47 AM
I can’t get this channel but it looks a bit like an old channel I used to love called Trio.
I am really impressed by what Ovation is doing in their community area.
Posted by: Scott | December 23, 2008 11:07 AM