What’s New?

Hello April! In anticipation of this gorgeous month, spring arrived on March 21. All around us, this vibrant and colorful month is putting up a show of irises and California poppies. The rainfall in the final days of March did the trick! It has resulted in the Bay Area wildflower bloom reaching its peak. The soft, green, rolling hills are covered in endless carpets of mustard flowers and orange poppies. It’s then fitting that all three events related to plants and this blue planet occur in April. We have Cupertino’s Earth and Arbor Day Festival on April 4, the Cherry Blossom Festival on April 25 and 26, and CNPS’ Growing Native Garden Tour on April 18 and 19.

But let’s take a quick look at the month that just passed. March was a busy month at Cupertino TV Productions. The ‘Value of Native Plants’ show, filmed on location in January, premieres this month on Cablecast Television. Check it out below, on our Shows page, and our YouTube channel.

We had a sumptuous lunch, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Cupertino, and enjoyed wonderful musical entertainment on March 28 at the Volunteers Appreciation Lunch at the CSC. Thank you, CSC! If you could not attend per chance, we have pictures from the event on our Gallery page.

And, as usual, we had our two production planning and administrative meetings on first and third Tuesday of March.

Back to April. You’d agree that the most significant news this month is NASA’s Artemis II launch. Four astronauts will embark on a flyby around the Moon starting April 1st. This “free-return” trajectory involves a figure-eight loop around the Moon, lasting about 10 days. This mission is a crucial step toward establishing a long-term human presence on the Moon and preparing for future Mars exploration. It’s the second mission in the program, following the successful uncrewed Artemis I in 2022, which validated the rocket and spacecraft systems. Artemis III will test docking and life support with commercial landers (Starship HLS, Blue Moon) in low Earth orbit. Artemis IV then is planned to land astronauts on the lunar surface. Utilizing the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule, this inaugural crewed Artemis mission aims to validate critical systems for future moon landings. The crew will test Orion’s life-support, communication, and navigation systems to prepare for extended lunar exploration. The mission will conclude with a high-speed reentry, testing the heat shield before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. The last manned lunar mission was in December 1972. As evident from our calendar collage, we’re genuinely excited about this mission. We’re certain creative minds are already envisioning potential TV shows based on it.

Cupertino TV Productions is actively producing new shows, including one about the Humanoid Summit, a whimsical orchestra group, and one about an award-winning documentary producer. This month, we’re reviewing and publishing a show about Bay Area mass transit called “Getting to World Cup in Silicon Valley.” It recently finished an online review. We’re inviting CSC members to watch the show as we conduct a big-screen review on April 7. If you’re interested in learning about bay area mass transit and in particular how to reach Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara to watch the World Cup from June 28 to July 19, join us at 11 AM on April 7 at CSC.

Curious about us? Check out four shows playing this month on Cablecast TV in approximately 13 communities across six TV stations from Menlo Park to Monterey County on our Shows page. Visit our YouTube channel and Facebook pages to give us your feedback.

If you have an idea of your own or want to learn more about us, you are welcome to join us at the CSC at 10 AM on the first and third Tuesday every month.

Hope to see you there!