Originally posted at my Facebook page:

Okay, CBS, you’re officially on notice about your Pops telecast; I won’t bother watching again. You opened the show with a one-minute picture of the cannon being fired for the 1812 Overture, then went to some seemingly-drunk MC who introduced Toby Keith, who sang two songs. Then you showed the Pops playing a singalong medley. Then, after a bunch of commercials, you showed the drunk again, bragging about the upcoming fireworks display. (Was that Craig Ferguson and is that his normal schtick?)

Just after the half-hour mark of this hour-long cut of what is a three-hour performance for the locals you started showing the fireworks. Yes, they are spectacular. But I wonder if the viewers of WBZ in Boston and those on the Esplanade heard what we did: canned pop music accompanying them. The Pops were neither heard nor seen for the entire twenty minutes of fireworks.

A week or two ago there was an hour-long show on PBS telling the story of the Pops, from Fiedler to Williams to Lockhart. It served as a virtual promotion for the orchestra. I have no way of knowing how many new viewers tuned in to this “extravangaza” because they’d seen that program, but the majority of them must surely have been disappointed.

The Pops ought to reconsider its deal with CBS. The orchestra is getting very little exposure to viewers, and it’s in danger of alienating some of its longest fans by lending its name to this terrible endeavor. If CBS wants to show an hour’s worth of pop music topped off with fireworks, it should follow the example set by Macy’s in New York.

I don’t expect to see the full three-hour show the residents of Boston see, but I surely do expect to see the orchestra. It’s advertised as the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular: show me the Pops.