I'm going to make a weird recommendation here, but one you may enjoy and very likely have never seen.
From 1984 to 2009, WBIR, the NBC affiliate in Knoxville, Tennessee produced a show called "The Heartland Series". The Heartland Series was a strange little show, especially for the time, because of the relative high production costs, minuscule output and also relatively lofty goals of the series to come out of a lone news station. THS produced a single five minute episode per week, with its crew and host solely dedicated to production and not shared around the station for other projects. The thought was to capture the quickly changing landscape, both societal and physical, of the East Tennessee region. Its host, the honey-tongued Bill Landry with his unchecked regional drawl, described some of the subjects as "the last of the old mountain people".
But far more than a simple interview or lifestyle show, The Heartland Series paid just as close attention to the natural beauty of the area, occasionally producing lavishly shot, un-narrated nature films for their weekly episodes, sometimes in the Smokey Mountains, sometimes in farmlands, forests and fields. There were also episodes on history, archaeology in the region, fading traditional crafts, simple friendships, eccentricities and whatever the producers felt would capture the spirit of the region. My understanding is the series never dropped in popularity, but was rather a victim of a waning budget on broadcast TV stations.
Now this is a show produced in the south beginning almost 40 years ago so I can't and won't vouch for every episode. You'll probably shiver every time a Native American is referred to by the parlance of the time and place. That said, the shows vibe is very much a loving reverence for all its subjects and you may find it more even handed than expected. Just be aware of what you're getting into.
The impetus for making this thread was that I was just made aware of a massive, though I'm not certain if it is complete, digital collection of The Heartland Series from WBIR hosted on their YouTube page. If you have some time and would like some simple and interesting relaxation content, I'd recommend it. There is an effortless humor and camaraderie inherent in much of the show that makes for truly "feel good" watching. I don't know that starting at the beginning is necessary or even recommended, maybe somewhere in the middle of the run. Each "collection" is a couple of dozen individual episodes so you can just sort of let them play.
From 1984 to 2009, WBIR, the NBC affiliate in Knoxville, Tennessee produced a show called "The Heartland Series". The Heartland Series was a strange little show, especially for the time, because of the relative high production costs, minuscule output and also relatively lofty goals of the series to come out of a lone news station. THS produced a single five minute episode per week, with its crew and host solely dedicated to production and not shared around the station for other projects. The thought was to capture the quickly changing landscape, both societal and physical, of the East Tennessee region. Its host, the honey-tongued Bill Landry with his unchecked regional drawl, described some of the subjects as "the last of the old mountain people".
But far more than a simple interview or lifestyle show, The Heartland Series paid just as close attention to the natural beauty of the area, occasionally producing lavishly shot, un-narrated nature films for their weekly episodes, sometimes in the Smokey Mountains, sometimes in farmlands, forests and fields. There were also episodes on history, archaeology in the region, fading traditional crafts, simple friendships, eccentricities and whatever the producers felt would capture the spirit of the region. My understanding is the series never dropped in popularity, but was rather a victim of a waning budget on broadcast TV stations.
Now this is a show produced in the south beginning almost 40 years ago so I can't and won't vouch for every episode. You'll probably shiver every time a Native American is referred to by the parlance of the time and place. That said, the shows vibe is very much a loving reverence for all its subjects and you may find it more even handed than expected. Just be aware of what you're getting into.
The impetus for making this thread was that I was just made aware of a massive, though I'm not certain if it is complete, digital collection of The Heartland Series from WBIR hosted on their YouTube page. If you have some time and would like some simple and interesting relaxation content, I'd recommend it. There is an effortless humor and camaraderie inherent in much of the show that makes for truly "feel good" watching. I don't know that starting at the beginning is necessary or even recommended, maybe somewhere in the middle of the run. Each "collection" is a couple of dozen individual episodes so you can just sort of let them play.