PBS Forms Permanent Commission to Keep Meeting About Celebrating Arthur's 30th Anniversary
Thirty years after the aardvark's debut, officials say the commemorative body has yet to commemorate anything, but has met forty times to discuss when it might.
Officials confirmed this week that the newly empaneled Arthur Legacy Commission, convened specifically to honor three decades of the beloved PBS Kids series, has not yet reached consensus on what, precisely, is being honored.
The commission's first subcommittee was tasked with drafting a mission statement for the commission. That subcommittee has since formed its own subcommittee, charged with reviewing drafts of the mission statement before the full body is permitted to see them.
"We are very close to beginning," said a commission spokesperson, who then adjourned to attend a preliminary meeting about the agenda for the meeting that would set the agenda. "Arthur himself would be proud, we assume, pending a vote on whether we're allowed to assume that."
A proposal to simply air a rerun of the original 1996 premiere was tabled indefinitely after members could not agree on whether watching the episode constituted an official commemorative act or merely research.
As of this week, the only concrete output of the commission's thirty-year mandate is a revised seating chart for its meetings, which itself remains under review by a seating subcommittee.