Posted on 09/14/2007 11:36:55 AM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The daughter of friends is a model/aspiring actress. She auditioned for a reality show and got a part. There is no pay for the pilot. After the pilot was shot and reviewed, they told her she had too strong a Midwestern accent. Her various comments about Hollywood and the entertainment business were
very negative and she is continuing on with her business degree.
Does ANYONE remember that cable was originally advertised as COMMERCIAL FREE TV? And that the initial cost was about $7.95 a month?
NOW, we get more commercials than ever before (often repeated every 10 minutes), and they even advertise programs on other stations.
Last month I asked my cable rep why I should be paying to RENT the box, to watch all those premium channels, I am paying extra for already. They are not available for sale, but are REQUIRED for many channels. WHAT A RIP OFF!
This is why there is no TV in our house! No channels, no cable, nothing.
All I’ve missed, in 10 years without TV, is the Olympics and Presidential debates.
Monday is “Kyle XY” and “The Closer.” Tuesday is “Eureka.” Nothing on Wednesday. Thursday is “Burn Notice” and my son’s fave “House.” Friday is Dr. Who. Nothing on Saturday or Sunday. That’s the extent of interesting tv in my household other than reruns of Stargate.
Cut the cable and turned it “Off” in 2000. No Regrets.
Those that have followed suit will confirm that it’s like purging your soul/mind of worthless garbage. Also affords time to do more important things.
My $.02
They get our money from cable fees whether we watch or not. When people denounce the influence of the MSM I wonder. Less that 10% of Americans watch the nightly news.
There’s a lot on TV: promoting Hillary and a leftist agenda, making us lovey-dovey with terrorists, convincing brains full of mush that the climate is turning into hell.
Only TV I ever watch anymore is King of the Hill, Simpsons reruns, and Southpark. I wish I had the History channel but I am too cheap for cable ;-P.
Rush needs to get back into television.
I watch almost no TV. I do watch DVDs, so its my fault if I don’t like what I see.
But I don’t watch many of those, either.
Reading is a wonderful thing.
That's about right. If the weather is acting up, I may turn on the local radar. Other than that, a football game is about all I turn on the tube for these days. I might even have it on for more than on game.
I quit watching television many years ago as the news and the programming in general are all Propaganda of varying forms, but all Leftist Propaganda.
My wife still watches the damned thing and wants to purchase a 42” LCD HDTV, and has chosen just the place in the Den for it, but I cannot see any reason to spend that sort of money to view Leftist, Homo, Male Bashing, Reverse Racist, primarily downright stupid programming. It’s as though the Leftist Psychology is to turn American brains to Jelly.
There was a time when it was worth it to have a TV just for the commercials which were a chuckle. No Longer.
I recently was walking through the room as she was watching something on the TV, and observed some commercial for something I have yet to figure out what it was they were advertising much less purchase. The Commercial featured stupid White guys, Smart Black and Latino women. I was instantly revulsed by the conotation White Males are stupid, Beer Drinking, useless life forms, and non White women are of superior intellect, therefore you must buy this whatever it is because the non White intellectual females say so.
What ever happened to all beings created equal?
I could easily give up my TV and just have my broadband connection alone, but the kids watch Spongebob and stuff. I absolutely loathe watching TV (except sports) because of all the relentless commercials. I Hate Them!
In fact, if I watch any shows I actually pay to download them to my iPod. Shows like Battlestar Galactica, Jericho, etc. Did you know that each video downloaded show is 21 minutes (half hour show) or 42 minutes (hour show) long? That means you’re watching 18 minutes per hour of Billy Mays screaming at you to buy OxyClean, or watching some moron telling you wax something on your forehead!
Pffft...no way!
Pink Floyd, The Wall, circa 1979
Oh man, you nailed it!
Save the cheerleader ... save the world.
Just bought Heroes on DVD, trying to get through it before the new season starts. Three episodes left.
H
That's about it. Everything else is beanbag, as Rudolf Valentino once said.
Leni
Sure wish they could have saved the cheerleader...
what?
You’re not done with it yet?
Um... never mind...
TV was worth something when it was live. Now the only live shows are sports and news. The dramas don’t cut it since the actors aren’t acting and need to develop personalities outside TV which is why we follow the real-life lives of TV and movie actors with such attention even though they are also scripted to a large degree. Catch them shopping or otherwise having real lives and their fans go wild. We don’t need to analyze commercials since even five year olds know they are phony.
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