Viewers stay tuned but find 'nothing' on TV

The Washington Times ^ | 9-14-07 | Jennifer Harper

[JZelle]

Americans may watch an average of 12 to 17 hours of television a week, but they continue to hate what they see.

When asked which of the new fall programs they were looking forward to viewing, a whopping 86 percent said they were anticipating "nothing," were unsure of the lineup or dismissed the new offerings altogether, according to a poll released yesterday by the Associated Press and AOL.

Viewers see a dim future. Almost two-thirds — 62 percent — say TV programming in general is "getting worse." Among evangelical Christians, the number was 85 percent, the survey found.

There are too many reality TV shows on the air; the genre was cited by 71 percent of the respondents as being too abundant. Crime and talk shows followed, each cited by 49 percent, and game shows, cited by a third. Least offensive, was news, sports and dramatic programming — found in appropriate amounts by the majority of respondents.

News, in fact, showed some promise. The findings revealed that 28 percent of Americans would like to see more news on television, compared with 17 percent in a similar survey taken two years ago.

"This is all very telling about the complicated relationships people have with their television. We have so much to chose from right now — some good, some bad. But most Americans tend to fall back into the idea that TV will forever be the 'idiot box' and the 'boob tube,'—" said Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University broadcast professor and director of the school's Bleier Center for Study of TV and Popular Culture.

"There's a divide between our opinions and our behavior here. Americans check off all the boxes on a survey saying TV stinks with one hand, but they've got the other hand on that TV remote, believe me.

[Hazcat]

For all of us, Corner Gas ROCKS!

?? Never heard of it.

[Vroomfondel]

I got spoiled as a kid watching "The World At War" with Laurence Olivier

I hear ya. And just after I put all the DVDs on my Netflix queue, they moved from "short wait" to the "we don't know when we'll order some more of these" status. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

[Vroomfondel]

"Victory at Sea" was great too. Great sound tract.

Found a boxed set of those in the cheap DVD bin at Wal-Mart a while ago. Quite a deal.

[BurbankKarl]

There is a show called The Sarah Conner Chronicles coming out....the first episode was extremely well done, and since it has been picked up in Canada and Germany, I think it will last at least a while here.

Picks up on the Terminator movies and chronology. I thought it would be gimmicky, but really liked it.

[Hazcat]

I’m sorry but Seinfeld is without a doubt the most over rated piece of crap that has ever been on TV.

I must have sat through at least 10 excruciating minutes of that whiny, ME FIRST, leftist, %&$*! once and I could feel my brain shrinking.

[mysterio]

Speaking of such channels, what happened to the old-time documentary where you had a live narrator who took you to places and calmly and clearly told you the stories and facts, with an occasional diagram to help things along?

Same thing that happened to MTV. The History channel has already started running reality shows.

Just seems like the documentaries they do run are either about fictional space aliens or barbecue.

Oh, and future disasters. All ending with "it's not a matter of 'if'...."

[SnakeDoctor]

I like Two and a Half a lot. Sheen is hysterical.

The shows that surround it on CBS on Monday aren’t bad ... I don’t actually watch them during the fall and spring because 24 and Heroes are on ... but during the summer, they’ll suffice.

How I Met Your Mother (with Neil Patrick Harris), and Rules of Engagement (with David Putty from Seinfeld, and David Spade), are both pretty good. Old Christine (with Elaine from Seinfeld) isn’t terrible ... but its not great either.

I’m going to give the Kelsey Grammar/ Patricia Heaton show on Fox a shot.

Other than those ... its Seinfeld, 70’s Show, and Raymond reruns for me.

H

[Rollee]

HBO's John From Cincinnati was very good, but it was cancelled. I think because of its Christian undertones. Rome was excellent and it, too, was cancelled. The only good things left are design shows,sports, Fox and Animal Planet.

[Vicki]

So are the movies. Hollywood just spews out the same story lines.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

250 channels of TV and I only watch about 8 of them. Lucky I have satellite radio so I can listen to 1950’s music while doing something worthwhile.

[edcoil]

Have not seen it advertised, I have dish here in OC. Should I look on the SciFi channel or bravo?

[tarheelswamprat]

If there is TV you really want to watch, it’s so much better on DVDs.

Don't forget, for the ones you don't want to buy, there's NetFlix. It's awesome.

[BurbankKarl]

its a Fox show...now supposedly it is Jan 08....will probably air around the time 24 does.

[Badeye]

I knew a woman that worked on ‘The Love Boat’ for three seasons, minor but recurring part.

She finally woke up too, and got the hell out of there.