My childhood memories of public television are foggy, at best, and are mostly frustrated recollections of trying to imitate quirky painting instructor Bob Ross. The Joy of Painting, please. An entire masterpiece in 30 minutes — 30 minutes! He made those “happy little trees” look so easy, didn't he? It wasn't until my adult years that I came to truly appreciate the importance of Ross and the other unsung heroes of public television to independent, community-based media.

This week, Patrick Range McDonald's L.A. weekly cover story, “Shutting Down Public-Access TV,”  gives voice to several of this city's strongest independent television personalities who are battling AT&T and L.A. City Council to keep from being silenced. We asked several of the subjects in McDonald's feature — Zuma Dogg with The Zuma Dogg Show, John Walsh, Chris Shabel and Miki Jackson with Neighborhood Point of View, Leslie Dutton with Full Disclosure, and Dr. Susan Block with Squirt Salon — to send us their top public access video picks for readers to enjoy. So without further adieu…

1) Ultimate Political Rant About Los Angeles: Zuma Dogg's finest performance of all time

2) Zuma Dogg Live: Old school, before his City Council activist days

 

3) Neighborhood Point of View with John Walsh, Chris Shabel and Miki Jackson

4) Full Disclosure with Leslie Dutton

 

And although we can't embed her videos in this blog, you can view streaming video of sexologist Dr. Susan Block's Squirt Salon series by visiting her site, Dr. Suzy's Squirt Salon.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.