TV worth TiVoing: If it wasn’t clear before, that I’m hooked on the current C-Span series about the U.S. Capitol building, should convince anyone of my certifiable wonkishness. (While tonight is the last night of the “live” series, I’m sure it will be re-run many times. Also, it is available online in a streaming format.) The series is very C-Span style TV: slow, chatty, and if you’re not a hardcore Capitol buff, you will drift off with Brian Lamb’s tenth question to one of the historians about Statuary Hall — I’m a huge fan of his, but listening to Brian Lamb can have the same effect as counting lambs.
While I don’t blog about politics, I’m about the biggest U.S. Capitol wonk you’ll ever meet. When I was in my 20s, I worked for three years in a congressional office and was able to explore the Capitol from top (literally) to bottom, except for certain private offices of lawmakers and staff — but I’ve even been in many of those. I’m in Washington very often and about once a year, I end up at a meeting or function on Capitol Hill. Despite (or because of) all of the time I spent there, I’m still in awe of the building — inside and out. I’ve never seen a program or documentary that so thoroughly explores the nooks and crannies of the Capitol as does this series. Like so much about C-Span, it is a treasure.
Speaking of something worth TiVoing, here’s another American history series I’ll be recording: The Revolution, starting Sunday. It’s a 13-part series on the American Revolution on the History Channel. (Note: Before you get too worried about how I spend my free time, please note that I have a “professional” attachment to the topic of the American Revolutionary War as my company publishes this beautiful magazine for the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution.)
