# Bob Ross - the PBS Painting Guy



## IndyTom (Mar 9, 2004)

Do his reruns exist anywhere on TV?

My wife and I were talking about how fascinating it was to watch him whip out a painting in 30 minutes and wondered if any network ever picked up his shows.

Thanks!


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## Chapper1 (Jan 2, 2004)

I know our PBS affiliate still shows them pretty regularly. I miss Bob Ross, it was a shame he has passed on!


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## flyers088 (Apr 19, 2005)

They did a segment on him on VH-1 Return of the 80's (part 3). Totally forgot all about him.


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## SeanC (Dec 30, 2003)

I loved to watch him when I was a kid. I just found the program to be so relaxing and soothing. I generally fell asleep in 10-15 minutes.


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## IndyTom (Mar 9, 2004)

Chapper1 said:


> I know our PBS affiliate still shows them pretty regularly. I miss Bob Ross, it was a shame he has passed on!


I guess it must depend on whether or not my local affiliate schedules it or not. Sounds like I need to send them an email!

Thanks!


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## JDHutt25 (Dec 27, 2004)

I've seen him on a few times lately. He was great. I had a neighbor that looked a lot like him.


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## gchance (Dec 6, 2002)

Happy trees, they're happy trees.

There are a TON of small art studios that have classes on the Bob Ross "method". For a while there after Bob Vila left This Old House, he became the face of PBS. Remember the MTV promo?

Goofy guy but memorable.

Greg


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## LordFett (May 6, 2005)

He was great in the Boondock's "Riley wuz here" episode.


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## durl (Dec 1, 2005)

Our local affiliate carries his program as well.

"In our world, there are no mistakes; only happy accidents." I don't remember Bob's exact words, but that was priceless stuff.


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## Meathead (Feb 19, 2002)

SeanC said:


> I loved to watch him when I was a kid. I just found the program to be so relaxing and soothing. I generally fell asleep in 10-15 minutes.


That is my exact same reaction to Bob Ross. I love to watch him, but the show is so relaxing to watch & his voice is so low & soothing that I was usually asleep before he was able to sign his name at the bottom!


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## SeanC (Dec 30, 2003)

I always thought he should put out an audio tape for insomniacs.


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## Meathead (Feb 19, 2002)

SeanC said:


> I always thought he should put out an audio tape for insomniacs.


The problem is that he is like NyQuil. You better be in bed when you take it because you are going to pass out right where you stand.


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## desoma (Feb 3, 2006)

LordFett said:


> He was great in the Boondock's "Riley wuz here" episode.


He died from cancer in '95.


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## IndyTom (Mar 9, 2004)

desoma said:


> He died from cancer in '95.


I believe I read that the Boondocks episode had an "art teacher" that was based on Bob Ross.


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## LordFett (May 6, 2005)

IndyTom said:


> I believe I read that the Boondocks episode had an "art teacher" that was based on Bob Ross.


That is exactly what it was. I've only seen the episode once but I don't recall that they ever said his name. But he did happy trees and everything just like Bob Ross did.


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## scooterboy (Mar 27, 2001)

I remember a great spoof on Bob Ross (SNL or similar). The premise was that he was a Vietnam vet and after he painted the happy trees he screamed that he saw VC hiding in them and went nuts.


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## Turd Fergusson (Apr 4, 2005)

scooterboy said:


> I remember a great spoof on Bob Ross (SNL or similar). The premise was that he was a Vietnam vet and after he painted the happy trees he screamed that he saw VC hiding in them and went nuts.


FWIW, Bob actually was a Vietnam vet, and apparently somewhat of a bad-a$$ at that. Hard to believe when you watch his show.

Our PBS station out here plays a best of every Saturday. And like everyone, I'm ususally asleep before he signs his name.


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## splendid (Sep 1, 2005)

gchance said:


> Happy trees, they're happy trees.


I always loved when he said that! I love his paintings even more. I'd like to watch him again myself.


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## pendragn (Jan 21, 2001)

Turd Fergusson said:


> FWIW, Bob actually was a Vietnam vet, and apparently somewhat of a bad-a$$ at that. Hard to believe when you watch his show.


I know it's hardly gospel, but Wikipedia seems to suggest otherwise:


Wikipedia said:


> He spent a twenty-year career with the U.S. Air Force in medical records, stationed mostly in Alaska...


This rumor sounds like the Mr. Rogers rumor that he was a Viet Nam vet.

tk


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## BriGuy20 (Aug 4, 2005)

Happy clouds!


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## LiveBlues (Oct 30, 2001)

I love watching Bob Ross on PBS. Unfortunately, they haven't aired them in a while around here that I know of. Bob made me feel that I could paint as well as he could, even though deep down inside, I knew that I couldn't. I hope that he is enjoying that happy little cabin in the sky.


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## beeman65 (Oct 18, 2005)

I remember staying at my grandma's house during the day during summers growing up and we would always watch him. I thought he was fascinating and relaxing.


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## Philly Bill (Oct 6, 2004)

I didn't know he had died. 

WP says his shows are in syndication on PBS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Ross


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## alansh (Jan 3, 2003)

My local PBS station runs "The Best of the Joy of Painting" on Saturday mornings.

Because of his unforgettably mellow style, he's been often parodied.


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## Kamakzie (Jan 8, 2004)

Who was the painter on PBS they said "Fire it in!" regularly?


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## durl (Dec 1, 2005)

Kamakzie said:


> Who was the painter on PBS they said "Fire it in!" regularly?


I remember that guy! I loved to watch him, too. He sounded German or Austrian. He'd jab the brush on to the canvas and say that line.

I was amazed at how he could make a beautiful painting using only a 4" brush and a something that looked like a putty knife. That guy was amazing!


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## gchance (Dec 6, 2002)

And of course who could forget this guy?

The Secret City!









Greg


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## trnsfrguy (Apr 28, 2005)

I liked when he would bring in some animal that he nursed back to health. Those episodes always knocked me right out.


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## murgatroyd (Jan 6, 2002)

Okay, apologies in advance if this is a thread-crap, but I despise art shows like Bob Ross did.

On the surface it's all touchy-feeling, you can do anything you want. It sounds encouraging.

But the problem is, the teachers who say "you can just draw a little road in here like this if you want" and slaps it on the canvas in a couple of seconds knows all sorts of artistic principles that guides them to place that little road _exactly_ in that place to make it look good. Which they AREN'T telling you.

So when you are drawing your own little cottage and you squiggle in a little path "anywhere you want" then it looks like CRAP because you've never been taught how to do it right. So then you think: _I suck at this._

If you really want to learn to paint, set your TiVos to catch the shows by *Alwyn Crawshaw*, or find his books. (There are DVDs, too, but he's in the UK so there may not be NTSC DVDs or videos -- pity.)

When Crawshaw does something to the painting he's showing you, and he has to make a decision between one thing or another thing, he tells you what decision he is making and why he chose the answer he did, and sometimes he tells you about one of the other choices he didn't make, and when he might choose that instead.

So you actually LEARN something.

But he doesn't overwhelm you with all the choices you have to make to do a good painting. He discusses them at a pace which a beginner can keep up with.

You can find a list of some of his books on his website, and see his online gallery.

From his bio:


> Alwyn has written 25 books for Harper Collins, including "The Artist At Work" (his autobiography). One of his books, "A Brush With Art", was in the best Sellers list for 9 weeks, this has never been achieved before with an art instructional book.
> 
> Alwyn has made eight television series (68 half hour programmes), all have been screened by channel 4,some by the BBC, the Learning Channel and the Travel Channel, and are shown worldwide in countries which include the USA, Canada and Japan. His latest series is called "Crawshaw's Watercolour Cruise", filmed in the Middle East.


There's a section of the website which shows work that was done for the TV show or the books, of which this is my favorite:










Crawshaw assumes that his audience has the intelligence to learn proper technique and principles. He doesn't treat you like a dolt who can only slop color on a canvas according to how it makes you _feel_. 

Jan


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## Bars & Tone (Aug 28, 2004)

Kamakzie said:


> Who was the painter on PBS they said "Fire it in!" regularly?


That would be Bill Alexander.
For some reason I always get a kick out of how he pronounces "Alizarin crimson".  
I believe Bob Ross was a student of his.


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## IndyTom (Mar 9, 2004)

<deep sigh>



> Tom,
> 
> Thank you for contacting WFYI.
> 
> ...


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## BeanMeScot (Apr 17, 2002)

That's one of those shows that if you ever stop on it for a couple of minutes, you just can't change the station. And you can join at any time during the show and not feel left behind.


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## BethA (Oct 11, 2007)

Hi everyone,
I met an artist from the Asbury Park NJ. He is a very fast painter and told me he had won awards for his fast painting. He also told me that he has or had a show on pbs that took the place of The joy of painting with Bob Ross. His name is John Bass. I didn't catch the name of the show or when it was on, because he was talking kind of fast and I was in a hurry to get to my bowling league. I didn't have time to write everything down and have a terrible memory!!! Has anyone ever heard of him? He was doing some beautiful work! He was very quick and had a style very simular to Bob Ross and spoke very highly of him. I would appreciate it if anyone could tell me if they know what painting show replaced Mr. Ross's after his passing.


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## nedthelab (Oct 4, 2002)

Guy was amazing - in 30 mins he used a spatula and made a photograph - and here are some preeettty birds - yes thats nice!!!


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## Kamakzie (Jan 8, 2004)

I thought it was cool on that show Chuck he made reference to Bob.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

murgatroyd said:


> Okay, apologies in advance if this is a thread-crap, but I despise art shows like Bob Ross did.
> 
> On the surface it's all touchy-feeling, you can do anything you want. It sounds encouraging.
> 
> ...


Whatever alleged wrongs Bob Ross may have committed on PBS, take comfort in knowing that Jacques Pepin made up for it in spades.


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## Havana Brown (Feb 3, 2005)

I thought my brother was weird for watching this show, but secretly I liked it too.


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## ping (Oct 3, 2005)

I love obscure references, and there was a great one to Bob Ross in the Get Fuzzy comic strip (Satchel being a fan definitely fits his personality). See if I can dig that up.

Damn: it's in the Wikipedia article but cites no reference. I thought everything there was supposed to be cited.


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## Honora (Oct 16, 2006)

SeanC said:


> I loved to watch him when I was a kid. I just found the program to be so relaxing and soothing. I generally fell asleep in 10-15 minutes.


Same here. It was a great way to get into a nap on Sunday afternoons. I didn't always go to sleep, but his voice was soooo soothing, talking about his happy clouds.


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## ping (Oct 3, 2005)

Found it


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