First there was Austin City Limits. Then came the Real World: Austin. Now there is DOWNTOWN (The all caps effect is actually part of the name).
While not widely known, Austin public TV station KLRU produces a great original TV show on life in downtown Austin. The award-winning show, called “DOWNTOWN” promotes itself as covering diverse issues “such as dense urban cores, downtown living, transportation, accessibility, arts and cultural vitality, retail development… zombie walks… pillow fights… and more!” The whole series is focused on life in downtown Austin.
Over the last three years, the show has included segments on the Seaholm power plant redevelopment (shown below), high rise elevators, downtown films, popular restaurants, and the downtown fashion scene.
DOWNTOWN is produced by the Downtown Austin Alliance, Action Figure, and KLRU-TV, began airing on KLRU-TV in 2005 as a series of 30-minute programs. In 2008, Seasons 1, 2 and 3 of DOWNTOWN were made available online as individual segments or full programs. Season 4 of the series can be viewed on KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, beginning on October 16, 2008.
The show — including previously aired episodes — can be found here: http://www.downtownaustintv.org/
DOWNTOWN TV Images from the segment on the redevelopment of Seaholm:
