Pop Smart - ‘This Is Atlanta’: Award-winning screen time

Here’s a fond PopSmart wish of good luck to the folks at PBA30’s “This Is Atlanta,” which is up for a Southeast Emmy this Saturday for Best Magazine Program under the umbrella category Outstanding Achievement: Television Programming Excellence for its segment, “The Atlanta Downhill Challenge,” about the city’s popular soapbox derby race. (Oddly enough, the program is up against two episodes of “TBS Storyline,” which was canned when Turner changed TBS to last year Peachtree TV. Unfortunate, considering Peachtree TV’s “hyper-local” mission statement.)

We mentioned the Telly Award-winning program in one of our first PopSmart blog posts back in November, so we’re excited to see what happens on Saturday. Jack Walsh and Gordon Ray are the nominated producers of the show, and do an impressive job of providing witty polish to a type of community program that, when not in the right hands, can run on the dull side. This stuff is compelling work, though, reminding Atlantans just how diverse its city really is.