Of little note last week, with all the changes that occurred in Albany, was the exit on New Year's Day weekend of an Albany veteran of 32 years. “Inside Albany,” a staple on public broadcasting, capped its camera lens for the last time.

While the departures of entertainment shows like “Dallas,” “Friends” or “MASH” result in tremendous media coverage, the death of a show about state politics, even one that was more than three decades old, hardly seems to have rated a mention. Yet, whether it was for the political junkie or the person who wanted to know what was going on in the ever secretive corridors of the governor's mansion and Legislature, the 30-minute show, broadcast on most of the state's PBS stations, was one of the few opportunities to glimpse into what was really going on in Albany.

Over its lifespan, “Inside Albany” ran more than 1,600 programs, including segments on the cleanup of the Hudson River, the politics of gerrymandering (i.e. officials call it “redistricting”), endless budget failures and the politics of picking state leaders.

Reporters and hosts David Hepp and Lisa Bang-Jensen did more than the quick 30-second blurb you might find on the evening news or the generalized story buried in a newspaper about Albany. They gave you both sides of the story and looked at the ramifications of what was being done, or in usual Albany parlance/fashion, what was not being done. Their analytical introductions and wrap ups of each of the usual three or four segments would explain the political realities of the subject covered.

What is remarkable is that “Inside Albany” survived as long as it did. It was created in 1975 when the hot story was the near financial collapse of New York City. In this world of sound bytes and flash, they produced a product that required you to think. Even more stunning was that the show, which saw its funding pulled by the state's PBS stations in 1996, even survived.

The result was that Hepp/Bang-Jensen and company had to go out on their own to raise the funds to put the show together, a tough proposition for news shows that don't concentrate on the antics of Brittney Spears or who is going to be kicked off “Survivor” next.

Making matters worse for loyal viewers in the last couple of years has been that the show, while shown most weekends, seemed to have no defined time slot (i.e. like the “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” or “Masterpiece Theater”) and became subject to being fit in here or there on a Sunday at the whim of station programmers.

The end of “Inside Albany” is a loss not only for those who want to know what is going on in the state capitol, but for those who know that having a camera focused on state officials week in and week out would at least push some in Albany to act in the public's interest.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be e-mailed at cozguytho@aol.com