Posted on 11/15/2007 12:45:46 PM PST by Caleb1411
There are events in most of our lives that offer opportunities for us to change our ways. The strike by television writers affords one such opportunity.
By its very nature, television is mostly illusion. During the golden age of television (that would be the '50s and '60s), real audiences laughed (or didn't laugh) at comedy shows, which were mostly live. If you weren't funny, you didn't get laughs. But most shows were genuinely funny and devoid of bad language. The FCC had more influence then and there were only three television networks. Today, a laugh track laughs for you, whether or not anything is funny and most "comedy" is full of sexual innuendo. On cable, there is no innuendo. The f-word is used like a bludgeon.
Female "scientists" on the crime shows display enough cleavage that if the commercial were for Victoria's Secret, viewers wouldn't notice the transition. Such fantasies don't resemble any female scientist I know, nor would a professional woman dress like a hooker for the office. It's not much better in the news division, especially on cable, where female anchors and reporters resemble Barbie doll cutouts. They mostly look alike: big hair; big lips; big … well, you get the idea. The Website Radar (www.radaronline.com) recently had a quiz that asked people to distinguish between a list of female anchors and porn stars. I scored seven out of 10 correct. That's because I recognized the anchors, not the porn stars, though the two are increasingly difficult to tell apart.
Entertainment scripts are formulaic: plenty of murders, bad language, sex, explosions and gallons of blood and gore. Even when they're not "re-runs," the plots are mostly re-runs. So is the news. On broadcast TV, Bush is evil, the Iraq war is wrong, higher taxes and bigger government are
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
This is a very good and truthful article.
“Even when they’re not “re-runs,” the plots are mostly re-runs.”
Story lines on television insult the alleged intelligence of its audience. TV writers routinely disregard Mark Twain’s observation that ‘the difference between fact and fiction is that fiction has to be plausible.’
There are a few good things on, but the vast majority of the stuff that needs writers and laugh tracks has been bad for several decades. Why did he need to wait for a strike to turn that crap off?
In our family TV has been characterized as - “The spigot of filth.”
No wonder CSI is so popular, and so many guys are going to school to be forensic scientists.
I agree there is alot of worthless junk on TV, but if one uses TV sparingly for deliberately viewing specific shows then there is enough decent stuff to make owning a TV worthwhile. If someone just plants himself in front of a TV for a whole evening hoping to find value he’ll likely just be wasting time.
I doubt that wife unit and I see more than 7 hours of tv each month together. I’ll also catch a few CNBC shows (Squawk Box, Kudlow, etc) without her so I probably see an extra 10 or 12 hours/month.
I was talking to my wife about this a few nights ago. I was telling here that there are no family comidies or shows on during prime time any more. If there are families on shows, the kids are either not shown but for a few seconds or they are a huge inconvinience to the parents. All the jokes are about sex and are very vulgar. I know I am not being that much of a prude.
Everyone knows everything on TV is real (including the cleavage). Do we really want to watch a TV show where the forensic scientist is a 53-year old, bitter, divorced, 215lb woman, with a missing front tooth?
Anne rules!!!
What’s on TV is what people watch. The folks who produce the shows and those who buy the commercial time that makes the shows possible are not in business to amuse themselves.
Rosanne was quite a popular show in it’s day. How do you explain that?
She was seen partying with Paris Hilton...
I loved the Anne miniseries! The first two, at least- the third was a travesty. They just had to have a go at ruining Anne. Heaven forbid we show a happy mother on public television :(
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