I totally agree with you about the lack of good (or even crummy) gardening shows. To tell the truth, I haven't watched The Victory Garden with these new hosts (just once did it), but was fairly addicted to Crockett, Thompson, and Swain who passed on good horticultural practices adaptable to any part of the country. I require a show that doesn't dumb things down, gets their facts straight, introduces some new plants, and visits lots of gardens and gardeners. With the hobby gardening industry the single most active group in this country, I'd think that HGTV would jump back on the bandwagon. It's a multi-billion dollar industry, backed by an incredible corporate faction. Why don't they (HGTV) get that?

Some good speakers at the RI show this year - Ken Druse is on at 1:00 pm Saturday, February 21. I really like his books and, unless I'm mistaken, he's a good speaker. Karl Gercens is at noon on both Friday & Saturday - I haven't seen him before, but he's from Longwood Gardens (PA). Paul Miskovsky, an expert in xeriscaping from Falmouth, is doing 3 different talks; he's very involved in MassHort, and did the main display garden with Allen Haskell for several years at the NE show. Then there's the Designer Forum - I've been meaning to get to that for years but ... maybe this year!

I also think we need more real gardening shows on TV. I'm so tired of the garden makeover shows on HGTV. They don't give any real advice on how to garden and take care of plants over the long term. I love the Victory Garden, though. :) When I lived up in North MS there was a show that came on Tennessee public TV called Volunteer Gardening or something like that. It was a great show! We certainly need a show like that here in Mississippi, too.

I forgot about Life and The Office. Sorry to hear Life was cancelled. I also like The Beast with Patrick Swayze. I guess I like cop shows. I hate any show that deals with hospitals. I want to avoid them...not drag myself into them...even for an attempt at entertainment. I did watch House a few times and it was okay. I never seen The Sopranos when it was on it's run because I didn't have HBO, but I started watching it on Netflix and went through all 6 seasons last year. Great show. Duane