Why does tv get a bad rap? (a rant)

[O- Fender]

TV is known as a brain rotting wasteland but why?

My wife and I were having coffee at a local place when someone came in and sat with his friends at the next table. I'm not sure what prompted him but he proceeded to discuss (loudly, too btw) that he swore off tv and got rid of his set a long time ago. He now gets his news and entertainment from the internet and movies. Of course, he used a tone of voice that suggested that he is obviously superior to the rest of us.

I kept quiet for my wife's sake.

First, yes, there are a lot of crap shows on like Jersey Shore, Entertainment Tonight and some Saved By The Bell reruns. I take it the guy never watched shows like Boston Legal, The Wire, Breaking Bad, Nurse Jackie or Big Bang Theory (to name but five). Great shows, well written with a great cast. Some are deep and fully dimensional characters. If you sold your set and haven't watched TV in years, how do you know it hasn't improved?

The guy said he prefers quality entertainment like movies. My first thought was Transformers VI (or whatever number they're up to), the movies based on board games (I'm sure "Snakes and Ladders, The Movie" is a classic) or the latest Adam Sandler offering. Yeah, that's art, Buddy. Much better than the "brainrot" of television.

Now, the internet... Wow, where do I begin? There's youtube. Numa Numa guy has something like over 40 million views. The cat that plays keyboard probably has something like over 20 million. How many videos are there of skateboarders taking a spill onto concrete? And you say television is a waste of time?

As for the rest of the net. How about the number of people trying to screw with wikipedia by posting misinformation? Or the many websites devoted to top 5 and top 10 lists. Facebook where your friends can bare their soul with such gems as "my greatest blessings call me mom" (cut and pasted from another site) or an announcement of whatever level of Wheel of Fortune or that Castle quest game they are on. What about those websites devoted to "I hate ----" (insert celebrity of your choice). How about the Chuck Norris sayings? LOL Cats? Are these really better use of your time than watching some sitcom on primetime?

My point is that, yes, there is a lot of crap on television. There is also a lot of crap in film, art, internet and music, it's all about the content you choose. If you think TV is crap, maybe it's because you are not choosing the right programs.

So, why does television get the bad rap?


OK, I'm breathing now. I'm calm again. Thanks for reading. I now return you to your... uh... regularly scheduled program.

[ifallalot]

television gets a bad rap because all people all sheep. People who think they are superior to most people think that television is the lowest common denominator and that they are too good for it

**** those people

[kelnet]

Originally Posted by O- Fender

So, why does television get the bad rap?

Because all the good rap is only on the radio or in the clubs.

[sneakyjapan]

I agree, theres a lot of junk on the tube but really...I just skip over the crap...thats why god created many channels eh. There is a lot of good stuff too I think, comes down to making choices. I bet there have been people saying the same thing as that guy since it was invented, not very original was he. And Americans don`t have a monopoly on bad TV either...ever seen a Japanese drama? Painful.

[Warm Gums]

Eh he probably dosent drink canned beer or play ss amps either ......:-)

This is sort of the flip side to the embrace of mass culture over on yonder music thread.

While many people are afraid of even pop culture, lest they become perceived as pointy headed intellectuals, many PHI s fear even pop culture less they become "common".

What both groups share is a fear of independent thought and personality.

[tele salivas]

I record the movies and shows I like, I hardly have to waste my time on anything else, unless someone would consider watching "Always Sunny in Philadelphia" two hours a day a waste of time.

[Muddslide]

I enjoyed, and hereby endorse, your rant.

Agree wholeheartedly that there is plenty of #$%@*! on television, just as there is in any other medium.

It's just a form of elitism I think. "Oh, I would never deign to view a telvision program. So lowbrow. So populist. More green tchai?"

I guess I'm a reverse-elitist. I've lived a lot in the academic and art worlds and frankly there is a good deal of empty rhetoric and pretentious nonsense involved in a significant portion of it.

Television is just another tool to obtain information and find some entertainment. It's not "evil." It's not harmful (anymore than anything out of balance can be) and there's just as much good and bad information and entertainment can be wrought from it as from any other medium.

[Muddslide]

Originally Posted by Warm Gums

What both groups share is a fear of independent thought and personality.

Well spoken! Nice post.

[jjkrause84]

I'm in the "never watch TV" crowd. I have nothing against TV per se....there's just NO show that I would actually like to watch (and am willing to pay a TV license for). One of the reasons is that I find TV really boring. You just "sit there" and pull in sound and images. Most TV asks very little of its viewers and demands no intellectual activity whatsoever. Even the shows the OP listed (I come from a TV-loving family, so I've been exposed to some of them) are still idiotic pandering to the lowest common denominator (Big Bang Theory is especially infuriating for making plastic a sub-culture I know and love). When I watch TV I can "see" the writing and creative process, I can read the formula which TV uses to generate positive reactions in people. I see it in a lot of modern Hollywood films too, and it ruins them just as quickly.

Obviously there have been shows that have truly captured me. The first few seasons of Family Guy (when it was bold, avant-garde, and daring), the first couple seasons of Battlestar Gallactica (before the story went off the deep end), etc. On the whole, though, I would far rather play guitar or video games, watch a documentary, read a book, etc. I feel like these media ask something of me....I get to participate in the entertainment rather than passively receive it. Even films (good films at least) ask quite a lot more from the audience as they don't have to sell advertising (in theory), and therefore films don't need a gag every 10 seconds to keep people from changing the channel.

In short, I don't watch TV, but that's just because I find it boring.

[A.B.Negative]

Originally Posted by O- Fender

The cat that plays keyboard probably has something like over 20 million.

And deservedly so.

[J-man]

Originally Posted by jjkrause84

I'm in the "never watch TV" crowd. I have nothing against TV per se....there's just NO show that I would actually like to watch (and am willing to pay a TV license for). One of the reasons is that I find TV really boring. You just "sit there" and pull in sound and images. Most TV asks very little of its viewers and demands no intellectual activity whatsoever. Even the shows the OP listed (I come from a TV-loving family, so I've been exposed to some of them) are still idiotic pandering to the lowest common denominator (Big Bang Theory is especially infuriating for making plastic a sub-culture I know and love). When I watch TV I can "see" the writing and creative process, I can read the formula which TV uses to generate positive reactions in people. I see it in a lot of modern Hollywood films too, and it ruins them just as quickly.

Obviously there have been shows that have truly captured me. The first few seasons of Family Guy (when it was bold, avant-garde, and daring), the first couple seasons of Battlestar Gallactica (before the story went off the deep end), etc. On the whole, though, I would far rather play guitar or video games, watch a documentary, read a book, etc. I feel like these media ask something of me....I get to participate in the entertainment rather than passively receive it. Even films (good films at least) ask quite a lot more from the audience as they don't have to sell advertising (in theory), and therefore films don't need a gag every 10 seconds to keep people from changing the channel.

In short, I don't watch TV, but that's just because I find it boring.

If you ever feel like giving TV programmes another chance here are some great (and I mean GREAT) ones you should out: The Wire, Breaking Bad, Six Feet Under, Arrested Development, Deadwood and Generation Kill.

[fuzzbender]

Strange, it seems nobody likes the popular except the populace

somebody's gotta be wrong, surely?

[A.B.Negative]

"Television" is like "books", there are good and bad examples of each.

You could say, "I don't read books, I prefer quality entertainment..."

[Mjark]

TV does suck. At least with the internet you have more control and choice. Maybe Canadian TV is superior to US TV. At least you have Curling on TV. I'd watch that.

[fuzzbender]

Everything sucks, that's why you can't beat a good straw

poll

[O- Fender]

Originally Posted by Mjark

Maybe Canadian TV is superior to US TV.

Woah, let's not go there. Canadian TV has a reputation for sucking big time for so long. Even when we produce great TV (which is often), we prefer not to talk about it.

[J-man]

Originally Posted by O- Fender

Woah, let's not go there. Canadian TV has a reputation for sucking big time for so long. Even when we produce great TV (which is often), we prefer not to talk about it.

I liked Due South as a kid, so that's at least one good Canadian programme!

[blargfromspace]

TV does suck. It's a huge waste of time. I went without one for years and didn't miss it one bit. And why are they in pubs? It's hard to find a pub that doesn't have at least one enormous TV on the wall that people sit about staring blankly at. Last NYE I was at a pub that had the channel 9 NYE special on TV as visual entertainment. Seriously.

Don't misunderstand me - there are shows I really enjoy watching that are made for TV, but with the proliferation of TV shows on DVD, it's easy to rent them from the video shop or library and not have to endure the ads. The endless, relentless ads.

[flathd]

Originally Posted by blargfromspace

TV does suck. It's a huge waste of time. I went without one for years and didn't miss it one bit. And why are they in pubs? It's hard to find a pub that doesn't have at least one enormous TV on the wall that people sit about staring blankly at.

Good point. Why would someone waste their time watching TV, when they could be spending quality time and money in a pub?

[jjkrause84]

Originally Posted by A.B.Negative

"Television" is like "books", there are good and bad examples of each.

You could say, "I don't read books, I prefer quality entertainment..."

I would agree....and so would Thoreau.

“The works of the great poets have never yet been read by mankind, for only great poets can read them. They have only been read as the multitude read the stars, at most astrologically, not astronomically. Most men have learned to read to serve a paltry convenience, as they have learned to cipher in order to keep accounts and not be cheated in trade; but of reading as a noble intellectual exercise they know little or nothing; yet this only is reading, in a high sense, not that which lulls us as a luxury and suffers the nobler faculties to sleep while, but what we have to stand on tip toe to read and devote our most alert and wakeful hours to”