Are TV shows and programs getting stupider all the time?

[1948berg]

Or am I getting more and more grumpy?
As a child we had no TV. In my teens we had 3 national, non commercial canals.
As I remember it, it was always something interesting or entertaining going on.
Today we must have at least 30 different canals, but I have to really struggle hard to find anything interesting.
Even Discovery or National Geograpic which should be just right for me ruin their programs with stupid hosts, like scrapheap challenge or mythbusters.
Then we have "reality" shows, stupid beyond everything I know. Not to mention the people taking part in these shows.
Legalized prostitution, or will you marry me programs, with 30 horny woman and one bachelor is supposed to be be great entertainment!
Well, not for me!

Thoughts for the day, by a grumpy (old) man!

 

[mtntopper]

As we get older our perception of entraining TV changes. I find very little that really holds my interests in the current prime time program lineup on TV. I watch a little conservative news TV and then switch to the liberal side news TV and they both suck. I turn it on in hope someone on either side will make real sense and just tell us the truth. That is a pipe-dream that can never happen the way they are supported by the big bucks and always looking for more scrappy crap to raise their viewing audience levels and ratings. Ratings, ratings and big dollars from the ratings decide what we will see and I do not rate..

So to say it in the least words and make the most of it " most of TV today holds little interest for the mature thinking mind" of grumpy old men like us..........

 

[daedong]

That's why I spend most of my time in the shed building useless things.

 

[AndyM]

Wow!
This is the first time I have agreed with all three of you in the same thread...

Television broadcasts are getting stupider or maybe aimed at a different group of people now?

Now that my daughters are getting to an age where they understand words that they hear, I don't want them to hear and see most of what is broadcast on television.

Once the analog signal is gone in June, we will watch family and children's videos from our collection or do something productive and constructive with our time, either inside or outside. Our furniture will be arranged to focus on one another, rather than arranged to focus on the box in the corner of the room. They need to learn, and I need to set the example, that there is more in the world outside beyond staring at the television.

We will see how long I last, but I feel it will benefit me also, as I get back to my productive projects around the house.



Just my view from someone who is less grumpy, and not quite as old...

 

[Bamby]

My thoughts on stupidity reality TV is that its a lot cheaper to produce and put on the airwaves. One many of the series such as survivor for instance thay've got a bunch of idiots just short of paying for the privilege to make fools of themselves on TV. Their are only a 2 or maybe 3 shows that I feel are worth maybe watching anymore myself. But with obviously higher cost of production they'll probably go away soon also. Like most everything else I believe its the almighty dollar and profits for the networks for the media.

 

[XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq]

Yes

 

[Melensdad]

My thoughts on stupidity reality TV is that its a lot cheaper to produce and put on the airwaves. . .Their are only a 2 or maybe 3 shows that I feel are worth maybe watching anymore myself. But with obviously higher cost of production they'll probably go away soon also. Like most everything else I believe its the almighty dollar and profits for the networks for the media.

Yup. There is no question that the $$$ is a big factor in production. Take a big budget show and cancel it before it starts because the return is not quite high enough. But also put on entertainment for the lowest common denominator and that is what reality shows have become. Base, unintelligent, unquestioning, unreasoned.

One interested side of all the garbage that is on TV can be seen with some "fan based" groups that have sprung up. There is a favorite show of mine called FIREFLY that is now far more popular AFTER it was canceled than it was while it was on TV. The fan groups are very active and there are now action figures, models, props, posters available. But while those are 'things' the fans can buy, there are also, and this is the interesting part, new story lines being developed, a fan funded movie in production, fan funded cartoons and comic books, monthly audio podcasts discussing new events, fan written full length novels, etc. The fans have kept the program alive.

Another example of this same thing is developing around the TV show JERICHO. There are now fan based groups that are really picking up on this show as well, coming up with all sorts of things that spin off the topics of the show. Organized fan bases won't let quality shows die, long after the networks pull the plug because there is an underlying message that the show conveys and that touches thinking people in a way that mindless pointless TV can't capture.

Shows like HOUSE are very popular, but unfortunately very predictable and very formulaic in how most episodes progress. I'm not saying its a bad show, in fact I like HOUSE, but its getting a bit long in the tooth with the following of the weekly formula. They keep it alive more with the side stories than with the main story, but even the side stories are becoming a bit stale.

 

[ddrane2115]

WE watch alot of the home fix up shows, home remodeling shows, home value shows, some vice cops/cop shows, CSI etc. No kids at home, but I sure would not want to be the contractor on our new home when we build it.............

 

[thcri]

Or am I getting more and more grumpy?


Thoughts for the day, by a grumpy (old) man!

I have to agree with you. On the TV programs that is. Not worth wasting your time. If I can get them I like watching more of the old re-runs. Hogans Heroes is the best. Mash is good and oh yes Beverly Hillbillies.

 

[Erik]

After MASH and "you can't do that on Television" went off the air - so did my TV set.
since 1988 the only time I've watched TV is when I've been in a hotel room or my roommate turned it on. The place I rented from 6/2000 - 11/2008 got 4 channels of static, depending on the day and how close you stood to the thing would decide if the static would clear enough to see the school closings.
Since moving into the new house I don't even get that much.

 

[Kwiens]

Berg, I tend to agree with you on this..........

I only watch sports on TV......i.e. NASCAR, NFL, NCAA FB & BB. A few old shows in reruns are good also along with some documentaries. Until ESPN screws up the "sporting" event and makes it a show based on their predetermined storyline I'll continue to watch sports on their channel. Man, I wish there was a good competitor to ESPN.

My wife & son watch the shows they like on the computer. I wonder why I have cable TV at times!

K

 

[pirate_girl]

I haven't watched a single network television program in a long time.
It's all crap!

CNN,Animal Planet, National Geographic, Tvland, History Channel.. BBCAmerica are about all I do watch out of those on my lineup..

 

[Wart]

I watch alot of TV.

I'm watching right now.

If it wern't for Wife I wouldn't have one inthe house.

But damn, she insisted and the needle is right back in my arm.

Even got a HD-DVR.

Most of what I watch has been recorded, so much so if there is something being watched 'live' I keep hitting the fast forward.

I / We don't watch the Idiot Shit, just the marginally intelligent and smarter stuff. LOL!

 

[California]

Are TV shows and programs getting stupider all the time?

No. They started stupid. Nothing has changed.

When television is good, nothing—not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers—nothing is better.
But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit and loss sheet or rating book to distract you—and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off.

I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.

Newton Minow, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission in a speech given to the National Association of Broadcasters convention on May 9, 1961.