Watch PBS make fun of tech reporting, itself

So my friend Steve made a web series.

It’s for PBS Digital Studios, it debuts Feb. 12 and it pokes fun at both public media news (hey) and the insulated bubble that is Silicon Valley.

You see, “Everything But The News” is a 10-part mockumentary of sorts, starring the eponymous Steve Goldbloom as an enterprising goofball tasked with covering high technology for PBS’s flagship news show.

“The premise is, I go to California to cover tech; don’t know anything about technology; am obsessed with MacNeil/Lehrer journalism and the PBS NewsHour; and file these reports from California — none of which make the air,” Goldbloom said in a recent phone interview.*

It’s mostly laughs, but there’s also meat to it, Goldbloom says. An episode on the quantified-self movement, for instance, features an interview with the CEO of FitBit. An episode on ride sharing features a visit to the HQ of Uber.

It’s a comedy show, no doubt, but the goal is to also shed light on the subjects it covers. How very PBS. 

“I think the persona of my character being an idiot … is helpful in that it can explain technology on a wider scale, and have fun doing it,” Goldbloom said.

“Everything But The News” comes as part of PBS Digital Studios’ push into online original programming. The six-minutes episodes will be accessible via the PBS apps on Apple TV and Roku, as well as through a special partnership with Hulu. While each episode will be released weekly on YouTube, all 10 episodes will be available for binge viewing via the other streaming video platforms.

“Our original idea was to make ‘The Larry Sanders Show’ of public media,” Goldbloom said. “We have no idea if it will work, but it was definitely fun.”

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*Goldbloom and I worked together at the PBS NewsHour in 2008 and 2009.