GBH Openvault
Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund; More TV Stories; The Forbidden Channel
Part of New Television Workshop.
In Ilene Segalove's "The Forbidden Channel," a young girl's parents purchase a cable television system that provides access to a pornographic channel. They forbid their daughter to watch the channel and leave for the evening. When surfing the stations, the girl performs an elaborate gymnastic tumbling pass when the forbidden channel comes up, thus averting her gaze. Approximate date: 1985
License Clip
- Series
- Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund
- Program
- More TV Stories
- Title
The Forbidden Channel
- Series Description
Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund -- WGBH's collaboration with the Institute Of Contemporary Art (ICA) -- offers a co-venture among TV producers from seven countries, each seeking to capture the spirit of a specific environment. Titles include: O PANAMA: a video by James Benning and Burt Barr evoking the mental landscape of a sick man confined to his apartment; TIME CODE; L'IMAGE; STORM AND STRESS; SOLOS, DUETS AND PIZZA: Three dance videos: "Rotary Action", a duet featuring Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane; "Watermotor for Dancer and Camera", with Trisha Brown, and "From and Island Summer", with Karole Armitage; SET & RESET (#4) VERSION 1: Choreographer Trisha Brown performs to music by Laurie Anderson in this video dance piece DAMNATION OF FAUST: story of Marguerite of the Faust legend; MORE TV STORIES: satirizing the relationship between people and their TVs; NEW ENGLAND FISHERMEN - Joan Logue's brief vignettes of fishermen. Series release date: 1985
- Program Description
A woman, probably Segalove, narrates brief dramatizations of six anecdotal stories, each of which relates in some way to watching television. The dramatizations are humorous and mainly autobiographical, featuring performers wearing everyday clothing in everyday environments.
The individual segments are as follow: The Pastrami Sandwich: A child watches the Burns and Allen show and realizes he wants a pastrami sandwich. Dial 116: A child watching television is prompted by an advertisement to call and report a nonexistent fire. Truth on TV: Driving home, a couple listens to the radio broadcast remarks of a child who reached out and caught a ball at an L.A. Dodgers game. Hotel Suite: A couple checks into a hotel; the woman is excited by the cleanliness of the room; even the television has been sanitized. Anatomy in Motion: After experiencing stomach pain, a woman is x-rayed; she drinks a barium milkshake and the nurses whisper descriptions of foods in her ear, encouraging her stomach to create juices and appear on the nearby monitor. The Forbidden Channel: A young girl’s parent's purchase a cable television system that provides access to a pornographic channel; they forbid their daughter to watch the channel and leave for the evening; when surfing the stations, the girl performs an elaborate gymnastic tumbling pass when the forbidden channel comes up, thus averting her gaze.
- Asset Type
Clip
- Media Type
Video
- Subjects
- Segalove, Ilene, 1950-
- Television
- Drama
- Topics
- Film and Television
- Publication Information
- WGBH Educational Foundation
- Citation
- Chicago: “Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund; More TV Stories; The Forbidden Channel,” GBH Archives, accessed April 26, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_1EC2C250BF7F401FAF95AC147B10DBFD.
- MLA: “Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund; More TV Stories; The Forbidden Channel.” GBH Archives. Web. April 26, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_1EC2C250BF7F401FAF95AC147B10DBFD>.
- APA: Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund; More TV Stories; The Forbidden Channel. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_1EC2C250BF7F401FAF95AC147B10DBFD