Am I getting old or does TV seem to be getting worse?

[SSScout]

Any Parents TV Council members out there? Since voting with our remotes hasn't helped much of late, maybe going 'public' with our observations might.

 

try www.parentstv.org

 

Anybody like The Truman Show? Sorry it was taken off the air...

 

 

 

 

[Jeffrey H]

Eamonn,

 

I agree with you. Except for some PBS programs, TV is pretty bad and most prime time programs are not fit for family viewing.

 

TV is a window of our culture. It's a fair indicator of our common moral standards and what we accept as entertainment.

 

We do not have cable or satellite TV. We can afford it but we prefer not to have that temptation in our house. Broadcast TV is bad enough and we use great discretion with what we watch.

 

--Jeff

[stevejb]

I still remember in the 70's, when I was a teen, I would hear my dad call the television "the idiot box". We kids just laughed, after all, he was dad and not hip with the way things were. Now, I understand that not only is television the "idiot box" but we can add the terms immoral and adult oriented. Like stated earlier, there are not many good family oriented shows anymore.

 

To make matters worse, the "idiot box" now has cousins known as gaming consoles and computers.

 

Steve B

http://melrosetroop68.org

[emb021]

"Except for some PBS programs, TV is pretty bad and most prime time programs are not fit for family viewing. "

 

Oh? You have whole channels devoted to family/kids programming (Disney, ABC-Family, Nickelodean, etc), TVLand shows a lot of old shows that are good, many good non-fiction shows on channels like Animal Planet, Discovery, TLC, History, A&E, etc.

 

 

 

[msnowman]

As a kid of the 70's I loved HR Puffenstuff (and the other Sid and Marty Croft shows...they all looked a like) for Saturday morning tv. I remember watching the Mike Douglas show when I got home from school, while waiting for my mother to finish dinner. Of course some time was spent with that weird new game called Pong with the red console. Tuesday nights were reserved for Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. I think Thursday were for Mork and Mindy and Sunday was Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and Wonderful World of Disney. The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie fit in there somewhere.

 

Of course now I am a reality tv junkie - Survivor, Amazing Race, Big Brother, Iron Chef America (does that count?), but no, no, no American Idol. America's Got Talent? Sure, if by talent you mean a certain "train-wreck" quality. I'm also hooked on Hero's and CSI. I'm a recovering Gilmore Girls watcher (don't even get me started there, lol). Oh yea, and I love "Are You Being Served?", "Keeping up Appearances" and Alistair from "Cash in the Attic". And I still cry thru the Waltons.

 

YiS

Michelle

[scoutingagain]

I don't know if TV is getting worse or not. I think there is just a lot more of it. What, most households get at least basic cable with maybe 40-50 channels. Many get another dozen or so "premium" channels. To fill all that air time there are a lot more just bad shows. However, without cable we would not likely have the Discovery channel or History channel that occaisionally broadcast some really good stuff. Now the Comedy Channel on the other hand....and how would we know what's really going on in the world without FOX news, what with the liberal bias in all of mankinds' other forms of mass media.

 

As others have said, in the good old days, when men were men and scouts actually had to hike, stalk, signal, and swim to earn rank advancement, you were lucky if you got 3 channels comming into the one TV in your house. Not nearly as much opportunity to develop really bad programming. And we had Walter Cronkite.

 

I have to admit, while I remember most of the older shows mentioned so far, many had hit the mid afternoon, saturday morning, syndication time slots by the time I started watching them. Kind of suprised no one mentioned the original Superman series. Other shows I liked back in the good old days were Combat, with Vic Morrow. "Cage, Kirby, Little John..." and the original Lassie series, as well as Disney.

 

Now, about the only show I'm a real fan of, in the sense I will make a point of trying to watch it is 24 Hours with Kiefer Sutherland. Just how many terrorist plots can one man break up in a day?

 

SA

[SR540Beaver]

Jeffrey,

 

With all due respect, you need to retire the old horse and buggy and get one of them new fangled horseless carriages that are all the rage today.

 

Seriously, yes broadcast TV of today isn't what it was years ago. The reason for that is because cable TV came along and marketed to niche markets. In order to stay relevant, not to mention stay in business, the broadcast channels did the old capitalist thing of competing. If you limit yourself to broadcast chaneels and use it to judge all other TV media, you do yourself a disservice. Today's TV market is like buying produce. There is a wide variety to pick from and you have to thump a few mellons and squeeze a few tomatoes to find the good stuff you want in your diet. Heck, there are multiple 24 hour news channels. There are multiple channels that deliver nothing but weather. You can find out what the weather will be like on the other side of the nation at 3 AM if you are so inclined. There are any number of educational channels with some absolutely wonderful programming. There are channels that give you nothing but your favorite style of music. There are channels with cooking shows where you can get some tasty as well as healthy recipes. There are even outdoor channels. There is literaly tons of programming for kids.

 

Even with all it has to offer in a positive way, it can be overdone....but they put this cool thing called an on/off button on the remote.

 

Yep, put ol Hoss out to pasture and buy you some driving goggles and gloves and enjoy motoring around town in style.

[Jeffrey H]

Oh? You have whole channels devoted to family/kids programming (Disney, ABC-Family, Nickelodean, etc), TVLand shows a lot of old shows that are good, many good non-fiction shows on channels like Animal Planet, Discovery, TLC, History, A&E, etc.

Like I said, we don't have cable or satellite.  We had cable in the past but we dropped it.  I know about those channels and they are excellent.  However, with those channels you also get inappropriate channels.  We watch enough TV as it is and don't need the tempatation to watch more.  Now, if we could only get those channels you mentioned and nothing else then that would be a good deal.

Discoveries we made as a family:  We talk to each other more when the TV is off.  My wife and I talk to each other more and that's a great thing and keeps us great friends (keeps the "romance" up as well).  When the TV is off, we tend to read books and read classic stories aloud to each other.  My children have learned the fun of reading books and using their imagination which enchances their creativity.  Yes, we have DVD's, but that has it's time and place.

Finally, my volunteer work with the Scouts and Church basically keeps me away from the TV.  I don't have time to watch much even if I want to.

 

[frankj]

We have not had TV of any sort in our house for 14+ years. I might have mentioned this in some previous post. Although we don't go around trumpeting this fact, it is fun to see and hear people's reactions when the fact is revealed. "How do you know what's going on?" (There's radio, daily newspapers, and magazines). "Your kids were raised WITHOUT TV?" (Yes, one is an Eagle Scout & HS class officer and the other was a Girl Scout, is now in college on a scholarship).

 

I do watch it when out of town for work and staying in a motel. I mostly channel surf although last night I did watch the show EAMONN alluded to: "Deal or No Deal." I read somewhere (probably in one of those 3 newspapers) that of the game shows, it is the one most firmly based in the science of probability.

 

To answer EAMONN's question, from 1992 when we abandoned network and cable TV, to the present day, I think the "good" that was on TV has either held its own or gotten better and the "mediocre" that was on TV back then has gotten worse, much worse.

 

I believe that what is on TV is a reflection of the products for sale in our economy. While watching the History Channel, you might see ads for Viagra or Cholesterol medicine or a host of other products that the producers of the History Channel think their viewers might be interested in. Likewise, I don't think MTV runs many ads for arthritis remedies or Buicks ... you get the point.

 

 

 

 

 

[ozemu]

The tv is off right now. The family are away.

 

I agree with those who believe that tv is getting worse - but some parts are definately improving.

 

The worse part is the exposure to murder, mayhem and over indulgence. My kids are sucked in as much as any.

 

We watched 'Meet Joe Black' the other day. Remember when the main character gets hit by the car and is flung across the road? When I first watched that I remember my wife and I gasping.

 

My kids laughed - it wasn't real enough.

 

That struck me as terribly sad.

[Eamonn]

Hi ozemu

A couple of years back the house was full of kids watching the Patriot on DVD. They'd found a battle scene, where a guy gets his head blown off by a cannon ball. They slowed it down and were re-watching it time after time. Trust kids to find that part.

When I was first married UK TV had just started having programs on all day. To fill the day they were airing Australian soap operas. I can't remember the title but there was one about some vets in the outback.

Every time I see your name (ozemu) it reminds me of Rod Hull and Emu, a mute, highly aggressive arm-length puppet.

One night during the 1970's,Hull and the uncontrollable Emu made their most famous appearances. The bird repeatedly attacked Michael Parkinson during an edition of his chat show, eventually causing the interviewer to fall off his chair. Fellow guest Billy Connolly threatened, "If that bird comes anywhere near me, I'll break its neck and your bloody arm!".

Eamonn.

[ozemu]

Billy Connelly is pretty funny. We like him here. Jimoen too. Basically any of the 'rebels' from there. Goes back to the Irish being shipped here by the boatload along with Londons poor.

 

I might be biased with my Scottish ancestory. Last name is Pringle. Middle name Longpockets

[Eamonn]

ozemu

Strange you should mention the Irish.

Some where in your fair and pleasant land I have an uncle.

Both my parents are / were Irish.

Strange thing was that they met in England even though they grew up less than ten miles from each other.

When my Dad met my Mum, he was on his way to Australia. At that time you could emigrate and the boat fare was only ten English Pounds.

My Mum thought that Australia was too far from Ireland and her parents, so she wouldn't go.

Maybe if things hadn't turned out the way they did I could be your next door neighbor.

Longpockets?

I have a couple of pals who seem to have deep pockets when it's their time to buy a round!!

Eamonn.

 

[ozemu]

Not such a long shot I imagine. I have met a number of 10 pound emigrants. Wish I could head the other way for 10 pounds. I want to visit Scotland, around Berwick on the Tweed. A place called Galasheils apparently is the starting point for the move to Aus some four generations ago.

 

Back to the tv...I listen to the ABC and prefer to watch that channel also. It is equal to the BBC here. Is there a state owned channel in the US?

 

Anyway one announcer called for a 'turn the tv toward the wall' day. It was to declare that we are not controlled by the tv. We don't have to be back home in time for ### nor do we need to watch tv to find out what is going on etc. Hanging a towel over the plasma tv on the wall was allowed.

 

Couldn't convince my family. CSI was on!(This message has been edited by ozemu)