It's like WKRP - except it's TV and not radio. And oh yeah - it's real. 

I've just gotten my hands on the first two episodes of a new 6-part HBO show called "Small Town News: KPVM Pahrump." It centres on a TV station in a small Nevada desert town, which features 9 subcarrier channels - and an extremely odd local newscast. 

The place is led by an eccentric right-leaning owner with the almost unbelievable surname of Van Winkle, whose major goal is to get his signal boosted into Las Vegas.

The rest of the staff is equally strange, from the main anchor to the weatherman, who appears in a suit jacket and a pair of shorts that the camera never sees. Then there's the former construction worker, a woman who serves as the official "Tower Climber" whenever work on the antenna needs to be done. And the new anchor who's forced to edit stories after the two other people who used to do the job quit.  

The series sort of makes fun of them and yet it's also respectful, as staff members exit the tiny station and the small town for literal greener pastures in Las Vegas and elsewhere.  It is, admittedly, a very weird show and the station seems almost more like a cable channel than an over-the-air broadcaster. At times it reminded me of what SCTV might have looked like if it had been a real station. But they take what they do seriously and that's the charm of the place. 

The documentary is showing on Crave in Canada and HBO in the U.S. Worth a look if you get either of them, if only to prove that truth really often is stranger than fiction. 

Speaking of which, it's not mentioned in the show, but it seems worth noting that Pahrump, Nevada is the former home of the late Coast-to-Coast host, Art Bell. You really wouldn't have expected anything else. 

‘Small Town News: KPVM Pahrump’ Spotlights One of the Last Independent TV Stations