Television... who's sick of it? Anyone?

[Quigley Brown]

I'm addicted to 'Antiques Roadshow' and 'Jeopardy.'

 

[Paisley]

I don't have starchy objections to sex or innuendo on TV, I just rarely find it entertaining. Last night I was at the house of some friends and saw trailers for upcoming shows. Three shows, and I couldn't tell the difference between them. Once scene involved two young lawyers trading blouses in the office when male colleagues walked in on them. It was like Benny Hill with lawyers.

 

[davestlouis]

I have some attention deficit issues, and on top of everything else, even if I decided to sit down and watch a show, within 5-10 minutes I would get distracted and wander off anyway.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I don't have starchy objections to sex or innuendo on TV, I just rarely find it entertaining. Last night I was at the house of some friends and saw trailers for upcoming shows. Three shows, and I couldn't tell the difference between them. Once scene involved two young lawyers trading blouses in the office when male colleagues walked in on them. It was like Benny Hill with lawyers.

Well said. Most of the sex stuff you see on television these days comes across at the level of a bratty five-year-old who's just learned he can get a reaction from the grownups by yelling dirty words in public, and keeps doing it just for the shock value. As my mother used to tell us when we got out of line, "You ain't funny and you ain't cute."

 

[Carlisle Blues]

After tot bedtime: My TV is good for.....

I am Chuck and Chuck is me and we are all together....

and my new video game Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2: Back in The Bronx.

Notice the warning M for mature. When I bought the game I told the clerk I was mature. I fooled him..lol

 

[Hondo]

I didn't know that Heaven was up for sale. Sorry, Hondo, but couldn't resist it.

lol I could have said Hell was up for bid, so your forgiven
TV....I think we all could use a break, remember when TV signed off at 3am?
Can't do that with Cable/Satellite these days.
You knew when to go to sleep.

Last time I was in London England I tried to watch British TV (BBC and local day time news shows) I would like to see more before I give an opinion.
I thought it was fair but scrambled lineup events or channels,
just didn't have enought time to watch.

All in all I think Technology has gone too far, too greedy

 

[Lady Day]

(However, unlike many here, I don't lament the incursion of sex into TV programming: it's an important part of life, and shouldn't be hidden to placate some kind of antiquated religous bigotry. That said, I admit that there's too much sex-as-lowest-common-denominator-to-garner-braindead-attention-span-viewers out there, particularly on the alleged music channels that don't seem to be about music anymore.)

You read my mind. Remember when two characters kissing was a season cliffhanger, and a marriage was a season finale? You'd have to wait an entire season for a baby to be born AND that was a season finale!
The sex was there, things were just....slower.

LD

 

[Hondo]

I don't have starchy objections to sex or innuendo on TV, I just rarely find it entertaining. Last night I was at the house of some friends and saw trailers for upcoming shows. Three shows, and I couldn't tell the difference between them. Once scene involved two young lawyers trading blouses in the office when male colleagues walked in on them. It was like Benny Hill with lawyers.

Bring BACK Benny Hill!
Inexpensive sets or just amateur, cheap! But it was funny
So was Monty Pythons Flying Circus
Entertaining, loved the reruns lol

 

[Foofoogal]

it's an important part of life, and shouldn't be hidden to placate some kind of antiquated religous bigotry. That said, I admit that there's too much sex-as-lowest-common-denominator-to-garner-braindead-attention-span-viewers out there,

Glad we got this clarified.
lol

I never stated anything about religion. It has nothing to do with religion for me. Like Lizzie said it is like juveniles.
Beyond potty mouths. Explains why main channels now have to resort to revenue from time slots of selling junk. Infomercials.
They have lost their customers. I refuse to believe the majority cares to watch this trash. Either that or they have never seen good television.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr...sion/news/e3i1952237c625535ff6feed9a72518e9ca

 

[Foofoogal]

oh Quigley, I definitely watch anything about antiques. Went on a TV show and won my nest egg to get started in the business. From watching one and entering contest.
Treasures in Your Home. lol

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

And I consider the ever-increasing number of "reality shows" a plague on all our houses, demonstrating both the creative bankruptcy of TV execs and the astoundingly low intelligence of the general public, both as viewers and participants. I just cannot force myself to watch anything calling itself reality TV for more than a couple of minutes without reflecting on the decline of western civilizatioaln.

I think the proliferation and "popularity" of reality shows has more to do with the Bottom Line: they're much cheaper to produce than a regular TV show. .

and I just get aggravated when I do see most anything other than the History Channel.

Even the History Channel doesn't really do anything for me. The few times I've watched it I've found it to be too general and often grossly inaccurate. Besides, there's only so much you can cram into a 30-60 minute documentary.

 

[Son_of_Atropos]

I remember the good old days when I could watch my local sports teams on the tv. Alas those days ended, when the local baseball, basketball, and hockey teams moved to cable television. As a result of this transition, the television collected a bit more dust.

Then in the 2000s, the reality show craze hit which resulted in lowest common denominator shows -I'm speaking in generalities but the bottom really fell out during this decade. As a result, the dust on the television greatly increased.


Now, the only show I watch is The Office and whatever is on the RTV (Retro Television Channel).

I am thankful for television series on DVD.


Television today = Bread and Circuses? thoughts?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Even the History Channel doesn't really do anything for me. The few times I've watched it I've found it to be too general and often grossly inaccurate. Besides, there's only so much you can cram into a 30-60 minute documentary.

Let us not forget that The History Channel has been on a end of the world/Nostradamus kick for a couple of years now. :eusa_doh:

 

[LizzieMaine]

What's happening to television today parallels what happened to radio in its decline in the late forties. As television started to gear up in the major markets, there was a fad for mindless "audience participation" radio giveaway programs -- really awful, cheap, brain-dead stuff like "Stop The Music" and the like, which you might think of as the radio equivalent of the reality show craze today.

Critics had a fit complaining about it, and in fact the trend burned out after a few years. In the last few years before radio died, there was a flowering of quality drama -- "nobody's listening anyway, so we might as well try anything." You might equate that with the spate of quality dramas on cable in recent years. But that late trend toward quality didn't save radio, and it isn't likely to save television, either. We're well on our way to a real-life realization of what was predicted in "Idiocracy."

 

[Fletch]

What television needs is to become a novelty again.

I propose reenactments using outdated technology.

Looking in on Jenkins W2XCR, 1930
Some of it is now a mystery to anyone non-technical or nonprofessional. The rest is fast becoming that way.

And - this is important - it's all gotta be live. I participated in live-to-tape TV production in summer school many years ago and there is nothing like it.

"nobody's listening anyway, so we might as well try anything."

This is key. For a rare look into what TV people could do with no hope of an audience, I can recommend Mike Conway's new book The Visualizers. It's an academic book so very expensive, but there is (or was) a draft version online somewhere. It deals with CBS-TV's experiments in newscasting up to 1948, when Don Hewitt took over and officially "began."

 

[Maguire]

So, as of late I’m finding that I really couldn’t care less for TV. I love watching old movies but, if there was an old theater down the street that showed classic films, I would heave the boob tube out… since there isn’t some special theater down the street that only show classic films, I don’t know if I could do without the TV set and DVD player since I do like watching an old movie some nights.

But, if I were living on my own, I would probably put the darn thing in the spare room and watch movies in there… but, that’s not so much the case anymore.

I used to be the type when I had a day off I’d just leave the TV on… I’d watch it in the morning with breakfast but, I’d check the clock and then it was 1-2pm in the afternoon! What a time vampire! I used to leave it on but, now I’d much rather just listen to music or something. I can get the news from radio or the internet… so, why do I need to watch TV which is mostly commercials anyway… and I’m talking about cable! Yes, even cable is inundated with crummy commercials! Are you serious? We’re paying for a service to watch 30 minutes worth of commercials each break? Why hasn’t anyone started a revolution against the networks?

Ok, rant is coming to an end… I just want to know if there are others here who feel they could live without a television set or TV in general.

I have a large television in my room but it doesn't get reception, i stopped watching TV gradually about 5-6 years ago and havent' watched it since. I'm better for it, everytime someone asks me to watch it or i sit down and a TV is on, its honestly mind boggling how anyone can sit there for hours. The programming is so boneheaded, half of it is obnoxious commercials and the other half isn't much better. I use my television for my old SNES, a PS2 and to play DVDs.

LizzieMaine is correct to compare this to radio's decline and "idiocracy" but i'm afraid we are already well past that point. Sitting through a few hours of that probably kills more braincells than a 3 liter bottle of vodka. As to the sex and such on television, its not a surprise- people have shorter attention spans, its an easy way to catch attention. I wouldn't be surprised if one day all that was on television was story-less sex scenes followed by scenes of violence all set to repetitive dance music. And while they may not "show everything" on television, the censoring is absolutely silly. Nudity is not necessarily vulgar out of context, but sexuality of course is. This is what separates a greek or roman statue from pornography. Television shows will go nuts censoring a nipple or something let's say, but otherwise will not blink an eye to show a scenario that wouldn't be out of place in a porno. As i see it, either you censor properly or dont bother at all.

 

[Foofoogal]

his is what separates a greek or roman statue from pornography.

absolutely. I visited Louvre a few years back and took tons of exquisite statues of nudes.

It is not even the nudity at all that disturbs me (though certain time periods should be restricted)
It is the vulgar locker room talk for lack of better explanation.
IMHO it demeans everyone. The whole human race down to lowest form.
How low will it or we go?
To me that is why there are other channels for such.

 

[tuppence]

I hate T.V. except the U.F.C. I like Antiques Roadshow American and English, but I know after a lot of years of the English version I just fast forward through most of it. I'm sick of Faberge and Japanese netsuki (sp)

 

[Lady Day]

It is the vulgar locker room talk for lack of better explanation.
IMHO it demeans everyone. The whole human race down to lowest form.
How low will it or we go?
To me that is why there are other channels for such.

Then you must *really* hate Shakespeare.

LD

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I don't hate TV per se but I hate most of the current programming today.