Nostalgia sells on television — or perhaps we should say nostalgia helps sell television, judging from the results of Maryland Public Television's summer pledge drive which concluded a 13-day run Wednesday night.
Officials say the most popular program of the period, the single show that drew the greatest pledge total, was "The Good Old Days of Baltimore TV." The fond retrospective on the early years of the video medium here, hosted by the ageless Rhea Felten and J.P. Puppet (as performed by Cal Schumann), generated 616 pledges totaling about $38,000. And the $60 premium offered during the show, a videotape of the program, was the most popular item of the pledge period.
The August drive well-surpassed last summer's pledge total of about $275,000, with just under $374,000 pledged by more than 6,000 callers.
Two steady draws, the programs "Dr. Who" and "The Frugal Gourmet," both of which aired twice, also garnered support from fans, with the former generating about $47,000 in pledges and the latter drawing almost $30,000.
Also popular was a special marathon packaging of editions of the home fix-up show "This Old House," which was responsible for almost $41,000 in pledges.
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