John McGivern's Midwest travel show, 'Main Streets,' makes a return trip to Milwaukee PBS

Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·2 min read
John McGivern's Midwest travel show, "John McGivern's Main Streets," will air on Milwaukee PBS starting this fall.
John McGivern's Midwest travel show, "John McGivern's Main Streets," will air on Milwaukee PBS starting this fall.

John McGivern is coming back to Milwaukee PBS, nearly three years after his folksy neighborhood/travel show was dropped by the public television outlet.

"John McGivern's Main Streets," the show that McGivern launched after Milwaukee PBS ended production of "Around the Corner With John McGivern," will air on Milwaukee PBS' WMVS-TV (Channel 10) on Thursdays at 7 p.m. starting Oct. 5.

The episodes airing this fall are from the second season of "Main Streets," which launched in January but didn't air on Milwaukee television. Season 2's 11 episodes include visits to Holland, Michigan; Bloomington, Minnesota; Iowa City, Iowa; and Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley.

The show's 12-episode third season, which is in production, will air on Channel 10 starting in January. Season 3 includes stops in Springfield, Illinois; Marquette, Michigan; Goshen, Indiana; and Waukesha and Madison in Wisconsin.

Begun in January 2022, "Main Streets" takes McGivern to travel destinations in six upper Midwest states: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana. Emmy Fink, former host of "Discover Wisconsin," is co-host.

Its first season was carried on about a dozen stations, including WITI-TV (Channel 6) in Milwaukee. "Main Streets' " second season was picked up by PBS Wisconsin, the public TV outfit that covers all of the state outside the Milwaukee area. But local viewers could watch it on the PBS Video app.

All of "Main Streets'" first two seasons' episodes are available for streaming at mainstreets.tv.

The decision by Milwaukee PBS to pick up "Main Streets" brings McGivern full circle.

"Around the Corner With John McGivern" ran for nine seasons on Milwaukee PBS before the public TV outlet decided to discontinue production in December 2020. "Around the Corner" took McGivern to a different Wisconsin community or neighborhood each episode; he visited more than 100 communities and neighborhoods over the show's nine-year run.

Technically, "Around the Corner" never left: Milwaukee PBS has aired reruns of the show since the decision not to renew the program.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: John McGivern is coming back to Milwaukee PBS with 'Main Streets'