The Very Reverend Deacon b. Peachy: Episode One, March 1982, excerpt

from the Communications Update, Spring 1982, series

1985: The New York Times on CITV

“The series was launched in 1979 by the video producer Liza Bear under the title of ''Communications Update,'' its territory the exploration of issues in telecommunications and related technology. In 1983, the program was somewhat fancifully rechristened to reflect its changing orientation as a forum for experimental video makers.

According to Milli Iatrou, who took over as the series' executive producer in 1984, ''Cast Iron TV'' has now presented about 100 different programs. ...

Most of them share a playful street- smartness and a deep affinity for the textures of life in New York City. Their looseness of form and less-than- lavish production values are frequently used for purposeful effect, to provide an ironic commentary on commercial television's glossiness and tired formulas. ...

The series features not only productions that ''Cast Iron'' commissions but previously existing video works as well, most of which are brought to Miss Iatrou's attention by word of mouth. A ''core group of five or six'' video artists contributes regularly to the series' original productions, Miss Iatrou said, ''with everyone working in several capacities.'' ...

Over the years, several of the productions that originated on ''Cast Iron TV'' have been shown in video festivals held in Bonn, Bologna and The Hague, as well as at the Museum of Modern Art. The latest tribute to the series came earlier this year when the American Museum of the Moving Image, the film archives located in the Kaufman Studios in Astoria, Queens, screened four ''Cast Iron TV'' segments.

''We try to show things that are experimental in form or content, but which are accessible as well,'' Miss Iatrou explained. Accessibility, however, is somewhat inhibited by the extremely limited budget on which the series operates - ''the toughest thing we have to deal with,'' she said. A half-hour of ''Cast Iron TV'' typically costs $500 to produce, with some of the segments coming in for as little as $200. Grants from the New York State Council on the Arts have helped defray production costs.”

Source: "CABLE TV NOTES: Experimentation Shapes Cast Iron TV", Steve Schneider, New York Times, April 14, 1985

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Send No Money Now!

"There's something I wanna say to you right now and I wanna close-up for this. And I mean this sincerely. Don't send any money right now, okay? Send not a penny. You may wanna send money to me because that's the kind of thing you've learned to expect from a religious show such as this. You know, you get the bible, and you get the prayers, and you get all that stuff, but they want you to send money now. In fact, we're gonna flash something on the screen, right now that's gonna say, Send no money now. Okay, now take a look at that."

The Very Reverend Deacon b. Peachy's Quarter Hour plus Thirteen Minutes

Part One: A Minor Retrospection

Iatrou/Morgan, 1982, 28 min.

Artists: The Very Reverend Deacon b. Peachy

In 1982 Liza Béar invited me and Ronald Morgan, to make a 28 minute TV program for the cable TV series, Communications Update. At that time, Morgan and I were fascinated and amused by late night televangelists. THE VERY REVEREND DEACON B. PEACHY’S 1/4 HOUR PLUS 13 MINUTES was born.

THE VERY REVEREND DEACON B. PEACHY series became a eight sermon satire which chronicled the Reverend’s efforts to establish an electronic pulpit on New York TV.

The PEACHY series was subsequently shown at MOMA, The Whitney, The American Museum of the Moving Image, international video festivals and written about in Artforum, The New York Times and The Soho News.

Milly Iatrou

Los Angeles

The Reverend's press release, circa 1983