If you're anything like me, PBS is an accidental afterthought. There was a day when your local PBS station was the only alternative to sitcoms and soap operas. It was the home of Shakespeare, Masterpiece Theatre, and fascinating documentaries. It often still is, but with the glut of cable networks doing nearly the same programming, it has disappeared from the national conversation. Sure, when Ken Burns pops up to do another masterpiece of a documentary, everyone suddenly finds PBS on their cable lineup again, but then it fades from memory while he takes a decade to make another one. It's a shame because there is still some interesting programming on the Public Broadcasting System. Take for example, The Pioneers of Television, a four-part documentary series that starts this Wednesday. Every week, the series will focus on a different set of pioneers in a different genre of the medium, starting with "Sitcoms" this week and moving on to "Late Night," "Variety," and "Game Shows." It's an interesting series for the diehard TV fan who isn't getting anything more from Honeymooners or Dick Van Dyke reruns and it features some great rare footage and interviews, but the entire series feels a little like a missed opportunity. It's worth watching, but it could have been much better and is unlikely to bring anyone back to PBS as a regular viewing choice.

Each hour of The Pioneers of Television is incredibly focused, almost to a fault. For example, the "Sitcoms" hour really only focuses on four shows - The Honeymooners, The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Love Lucy, and The Andy Griffith Show. That quartet undeniably includes some pioneers of the medium, but it also undeniably leaves out quite a few. If you're a fan of those four shows, however, you really should tune in for some of the amazing footage the producers of The Pioneers of Television got their hands on. For example, they found an early version of The Honeymooners without Audrey Meadows and with a much stronger sense of blue-collar realism and drama from Jackie Gleason. It's fascinating stuff.

But it's also not going to change the world. The problem with The Pioneers of Television is that everyone in the show is placed on such a pedestal that it feels like a missed opportunity to put what the real people accomplished into perspective. Did Jackie Gleason change television? Absolutely. But he was also a regular guy and it's that element of his personality and life that's missing. Everyone who's profiled on Pioneers of Television is spoken about in such reverential tones that you'd think they won Nobel Prizes for their work. Seeing Johnny Carson in his 20s is incredibly cool, but it's not put in the right perspective - that Carson was an average guy who worked his skills to become a TV pioneer. The interviews and narration (which opens every episode with "They opened a new frontier on the television landscape") turns everyone into not just a TV pioneer but a TV God. Pioneers of Television is totally worth watching for the rare footage found by the producers, but don't expect to be blown away.