Arts coverage on TV, not quite as rare as the snow leopard

Say what you will about WBZ's Joyce Kulhawik - I may have made a few cracks about the outfits over the years, and her reports ranged from mildly caustic reviews to, well, huggy celeb interviews - but in an era of continuous cutbacks, Kulhawik lasted longer than the arts reporters on WHDH or WCVB. She was the last one covering the arts on local newscasts, unless you count those shabby "American Idol" cross-promotions now masquerading as news on WFXT; I suggest trepanning if you do.

With Kulhawik's departure, the hugely important cultural scene here in Boston now will go mostly uncovered on Boston TV news, except for under-watched NECN stories and those momentous occasions (MFA openings, "The Nutcracker") when one or more of the big four stations will send a news reporter to grab gushing soundbites from a couple of patrons for a 45-second report telling us absolutely nothing that we didn't already get from the promo. Or they'll run the closing credits over B roll of James Levine conducting Beethoven...

There are a couple of exceptions worth noting. I was mulling Kulhawik's departure last week when I stumbled on an edition of WCVB's "Chronicle" with a story about arts funding and a profile of the Revolving Museum in Lowell. "Chronicle" has the time, if not abundant resources, to do the arts reasonably well for their audience, which I would wager is older and more suburban. And arts reports by Jared Bowen on WGBH's "Greater Boston" this week blossom into three straight nights of stories - which is the reason I finally got around to writing this item.

Tuesday Bowen interviews Placido Domingo, who will pop up for brief nice-nice chats on other stations but might actually say something interesting to Bowen. Wednesday Bowen hosts the show, which will focus on his interview with Boston Ballet artistic director Mikko Nissinen - let's hope topics like dancer departures and the company's exit from the Citi Center are on the agenda. And Thursday, with Bowen hosting again, he and my former  Herald colleague Terry Byrne eyeball several local theater productions. It's rare for anyone anywhere to recommend the tube for arts coverage - it's still TV, y'know? - but these shows could offer the only arts coverage that many viewers will get in a time of economic difficulties and shrinking coverage in all media.