BBC Debuts the Trailer for David Attenborough's Latest Endeavor, 'Parenthood'

When I was a child growing up, my parents didn't have a TV. Since leaving home, I've never not had screens of some sort surrounding me, and in my 20s, the TV was always on as I fell asleep. My favorite thing to put on? The Science Channel, which was still actually running the type of programming it says on the label. Every night, I would put it on, find the David Attenborough reruns, and fall asleep to the sounds of him telling me about places in a world I doubt I'll ever see.

I did that for so many years that Attenborough's voice is now a tonic of sorts, a Pavlovian baritone telling my brain it's time for bed. When bad things happen, I find myself turning to those reruns on streaming and putting them on in the background because it's much preferable to anything else.

Today, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced it is shutting down. The shock on social media feels odd, like that town that voted to defund the library and then was shocked when there was no more library. The rescission has passed; there's no new funding in the proposed budget, and probably won't ever be again. The funding crisis will affect everyone, so don't think that PBS stations in large cities will somehow be exempt because wealthy donors will bail them out.