THIS SERIES SEEMED to have vanished off the face of the Public Broadcasting System. When we inquired about its whereabouts or status to people who should have known, they always drew a blank. "Don't you mean THE BODY IN QUESTION?", condescendingly replied one obviously self-superior PBS employee. (referring to the fine series with Jonathon Miller). "No, it's the series that was on WYCC Chanel 20 Saturday mornings!"
WE HERE IN Chicago, you see are 'blessed' with 3 PBS affiliates. We have WTTW Channel 11 (the oldest), WYCC, Channel 20 (official broadcast arm of the City Colleges of Chicago) and Channel 56, Northwestern Indiana Lakeshore Broadcasting.
WE MUST SAY, at the risk of sounding small minded and even "Archie Bunkeresque", that there seems to be a prevailing attitude at one of these broadcast outlets that because they are PBS that they exist on a far higher plain of existence than mere peasants such as working people. Pedantic, condescending and patronizing are the operating words here.
IN DIRECT OPPOSITE attitude, BODYWATCH offered an insightful look at common physical ailments of lesser seriousness. While they didn't get into the causes or possible future cures of heart diseases or cancers, they would address problems such as dandruff & scalp ailments or indigestion & excessive g-a-s. These common maladies that everyone faces everyday of their lives.
OTHER THAN THE brief snippet and almost 6 O'CLOCK NEWS style type of filming (which was very effective, we might add), it was the show's ending that is still most memorable today, some 30 years later. It consisted of the one main resident MD, a native Texan. He would appear in a Western Style "Cowboy" outfit and say a goodbye and see ya soon while mounting a horse sand riding off into the sunset past a thriving herd of Longhorns and Herefords.
GOOD LORD, THEY sure don't make 'em like that anymore!