SERIES FINALE: I’ve loved what Linda Ellerbee has done on television ever since she was one of the hosts of
NBC News Overnight – and that’s so long ago, it was before I became a TV critic. But once I did become a TV critic, in the mid-Seventies, I’ve raved about just about everything she’s done. She’s found ways to be smart, funny and different while gravitating to, and surviving and thriving in, TV’s fringe areas of late night and children’s cable. Well, tonight, Linda Ellerbee steps down, with one final retrospective special allowing her to take a well-earned victory lap, and say farewell on her own terms. I shared screen time with her once, appearing on one of her
Nick News specials, which talked to kids about serious issues without ever insulting their intelligence. The topic then was violence on TV, and whether young viewers can be affected by what they see on television. All I’ll say now is, young viewers are going to be a lot poorer without Linda Ellerbee to explain it all for them. For a fuller appreciation, see
David Hinckley’s All Along the Watchtower.