We may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations.
Plans are moving ahead full force with the newly announced woodworking show on PBS. I’m told that WGBH and Tommy J. MacDonald have met with a few potential sponsors for the show. Laurie Donnelly was with Tommy at the New England Home Show when the announcement was made (see the video here) and she is with Lifestyle Programming at WGBH. (That department develops shows slated for a national audience, so this show will be pushed out nationwide from the beginning.) When I spoke with her, she didn’t want to spill the beans on what companies they had talked with about sponsorship, but she stated that interest was very high.
Donnelly’s idea for the yet-to-be-named show (she did mention a working title, but forbid me to print it until an actual name was decided on) dovetails with what Tommy had described. The idea is to cover a wide variety of topics: information about tools (hand and power), show the tools in use then move on to what can be built with that knowledge. And she also emphasized the idea of developing a woodworking community.
She also mentioned that this would be a not-so-perfect television show, meaning mistakes would be shown as would ways to correct those mishaps. That’s something I’ve heard woodworkers ask for many times , real-world woodworking.
Look for the show to roll out during Fall 2010 if dotted lines are signed quickly, or sometime in Winter 2011 if the process is slowed for some reason.
More on Tommy MacDonald
I received a copy of Tommy’s stepstool DVD and gave it a look. Like what is read in many of the forums, Tommy is definitely a Boston guy. His strong accent , how many times did you comment on Norm saying “sar” during his many years at New Yankee , is part of what makes him fun to watch. And his DVD is informative; I picked up a new technique that I had not seen before. Give it a try.
MacDonald has two DVDs out right now and there are three more in the wings. The stepstool and a toolbox DVD are the two available and yet to come is, according to MacDonald, a sweet table, slant-top desk and a set of chairs. I’m looking forward to those.
You might want to purchase a copy of the Stepstool right away (click here). The Toolbox is already sold out. With the agreement with WGBH, MacDonald has decided to change the covers on his DVDs. This could be an opportunity to purchase what might become a collector’s item in the future , did you consider buying stuff from Norm early in the game?
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
Thanks Jeff,
I was cruising thru Kari Hultman’s blog and came across Keith Cruikshank’s video series "WoodTreks". I only watched his final episode (with Craig Vandell Stevens) but it was well done and more of what I am looking for in programming.
BTW, go look at Ms. Hultman’s blog (The Village Carpenter) as mentioned by Chris Schwarz…really well done.
If you would like to view an ‘as you see it’ woodworking show, check out Charles Neil’s show at:
http://mw.charlesneilwoodworking.com/
This is a weekly show where you get to ‘watch over his shoulder’ while he builds a piece of furniture. He just finished a corner cabinet and is in the middle of building a low-boy. The best part of the show is watching how to recover from a mistake!
Take a look,
Jeff
How will WGBH fit this into their schedule? All I see on this channel for months at a time are cooking shows and pledge drives that never seem to end.
Herman
Hmmm,
With Norm gone and David Marks in orbit somewhere else, Roy is really all we have left for quality programming on woodworking. I certainly welcome any attempt to add a show that explores the craft in a way that fosters participation and skill advancement in this challenging medium.
We now have the ‘rollout’ and, I’m not so sure it bodes well. High Q factor talent draped in sweaty t’s has been done successfully (Amy Matthews for one,) but I gotta tell you, I don’t remember a thing about any of Amy’s shows but Amy. Norm and Roy and David all proved that woodworking doesn’t need ‘sex’ to sell it. I await the content, but simply throwing a visit in to Sturbridge Village, Winterthur or Williamburg for ambience will not do. I do not look forward to a show on mousse as an adhesive alternative to hide glue. There are craftsmen buried deep in their workshops around America (and the world) who see and use wood in remarkably creative ways. Hit the backroads, find them and explore their skills. I’d watch that. Good luck to Rip or Mac or Cutter or whoever speaks for the biscuit, and focus on the content and not the talent.
Scott
I agree with Glen, try to snatch up the DVD’s in their original branding if possible. I was able to pick up the step stool DVD at the New England Home Show and got Tommy to sign my Toolbox DVD as well as one of the MLW Woodworking TShirts. Fanboy? Probably…
After talking with Tommy on the phone yesterday, sounds like he’s sold on the working title, and that funding is on the way. I’m definitely hoping for the earlier air date.
Good luck Tommy!