did anyone else happen to catch the new Geoffrey Baer/WTTW chicago history documentary last night? as i'm sure you all know, Mr. Baer is the same guy who did the other WTTW chicago documentaries such as the loop walking tour, the chicago river tour, the lakefront tour, the "L" neighborhood tour, the north shore tour, and the south suburban tour. well, his newest program premiered last night, titled "Northwest of Chicago: from farm fields to boomtowns". it primarily featured the suburbs from park ridge northwest along the I-90 corridor and the surrounding area ending up all the way out in woodstock.

once again, Mr. Baer has produced an excellent television program, shedding more light on the history and development of our chicagoland region. i don't know why but i find these programs to be very engaging. during the evening he also mentioned some future programs that are in the works right now. first up is a series about the history of all the fox river cities and towns, then a program on the western suburbs, then a program about the suburbs along the milwaukee avenue corridor, then the southwest suburbs and finally he spoke of redoing the chicago river tour epsiode several years down the road, as much is changing along the river, as we already know *cough*trump*cough*.

so anyone else see the program? if so, what did you think of it?

I missed it, but I know that it will probably soon be on again. All of his programs are extremely educational about the Chicago Area.

The program was called "Northwest of Chicago: from Farm Fields to Boomtowns.

It will be re-aired:

WTTW Channel 11
December 8, 2004 - 7:30pm
December 11, 2004 - 3:30pm

Maybe there will be a better response on those dates. I know that I missed it, so I can't comment on it at this time.

This one was good, but of course none of em touch my favorite though...........

pretty good show; actually it would have been just what you expected. if any comparison is warranted, I liked the North Shore one a lot better; then again, the North Shore has much more "sense of place" than the nw burbs

baer did announce what's coming up in his series:

Fox River towns

up Milwaukee Avenue (Niles on up to Lake Co....including areas left off of North shore and NW videos)

Southwest suburbia

West suburbia (this one is the next to come out)

remake of Chgo River (with all the new construction)

Chicago by L is an extra feature on the Chicago: City of the Century DVD boxset. I got it for $60 at Best Buy a few weeks ago.