What are the worst things to happen to Television?
By burrito88
@burrito88 (2774)
United States
December 31, 2012 4:45pm CST
1. Infomercials. Yes ago, before cable, we had a limited number of TV stations and they had limited budgets. Usually, sometime after midnight, the stations would actually go off the air. The advent of infomercials helped to change this. Instead of having to pay for programming, the stations were paid to show these things. Of course, why stay up at night to watch these things. The trouble is, we now have infomercials both day and night night and it's a real pain at night to surf through channels to find real programming.
2. Reality TV. Here I'm thinking of shows that follow people around. I don't care about Gene Simmons or any of the Khardashians or if Ice T loves Coco. What's worse, these shows make celebrities out nobodys. Who were the Khardashians before they went on TV but media wannabees and does a no talent like Snookie deserve the money she gets. Now things have gotten worse as they have shows about truck drivers, fake auction shows, hill billies, and moon shiners.
3. Political ads. We just went through another election period where candidates could say how good they were by exaggerating how bad their opponents were. What's worse are the commercials by PACs where they make claims that are lies or borderline lies.
4. Wrestling. We all know it's fake. It's been fake for years which is a shame because amateur wrestling is a great sport. With wrestling shows expanding to the USA, Sy Fy, and Ion networks, it seems like wrestling is growing like a cancer eating away at our programming schedules.
5. Pay for TV sports. To me, this helped kill boxing. There used to be boxing on Friday nights or Saturday and Sunday afternoons. You know who the champions were because you got to them fight. Now I don't know who even the heavyweight champion is.
6. Made for TV movies. This a tough one for me because some Made for TV movies are pretty good. My complaint here is that the regular broadcast networks decided to stop buying theatrical release movies deciding that they were too expensive. So they shifted to making their own movies. The demand for theatrical release movies helped create pay cable networks like HBO. If you don't want to pay for HBO and it's ilk, you have to wait for cable networks to show them because the broadcast networks to a good extent don't even show made for TV movies much anymore.
7. News networks that spout opinions rather than news. Enough said?
8. Cable networks that lost their purpose. When I turn on the Weather channel at night I want to see weather, not shows about flying in Alaska, Coast Guard rescues or Fireworks. Fireworks? What do they have to do with weather. The Sy Fy channel should show Sy Fy, not cheap paranormal shows or silly game shows. The History Channel should show History not Pawn Shops. And A&E should show Arts and Entertainment not tripe.
What do you think?
4 responses
@stealthy (8181)
• United States
31 Dec 12
You pretty much summed it all up. I am in particular agreement about news networks and the news on the three major networks being biased politically. The news reporting when it comes to politics on NBC, ABC and CBS always favors the liberals. Also, on wrestling and Sy Fy, you are correct about both and what is worse Sy Fy cancels Stargate Universe and runs hours and hours of wrestling. I know wrestling is fantasy but it does not belong on the Sy Fy channel.
@Fishmomma (11377)
• United States
2 Jan 13
I think Current is going bankrupt this year. Gore can't afford to throw away money and the ratings have really dropped a lot after firing the guy that was making money.
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
1 Jan 13
Before I moved a number of years ago, I had satellite TV and at one point they had a world news channel that I would occasionally watch. I liked the news from Canada since I felt they would be least biased. Unfortunately Al Gore bought that channel and created Current which is a channel I still don't understand.
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
3 Jan 13
It was just announced that Gore is selling Current to Al-Jezeera of all things. Al-Jazeera wants to build Current into another news network. Time Warner immediately announce it was dropping the channel. I wonder where in the political spectrum the new channel will be compared to Fox and MSNBC. Selling to Al-Jazeera might not be a good thing but Gore turned down an offer from Glenn Beck.
@Fishmomma (11377)
• United States
31 Dec 12
We both know many people want to watch shows that people follow them around, so they will continue and I don't have a problem with this now. I can turn the channel or just do something else.
I have watched a lot of wrestling over the years and watched several people get hurt badly and understand that the moves are planned ahead, but things still can go wrong. I use to see Hulk Hogan in Oregon back in the days it wasn't expensive to see wrestlers in person. He had a huge following; specially, lots of children.
The Weather Channel should have weather I agree, as when I'm planning an outdoor gathering it helps to know if its going to rain that day. This area doesn't get a lot of rain, but occasionally the weather man has something to do.
@Fishmomma (11377)
• United States
2 Jan 13
I liked George Reeves, but know many children did jump off the roof because of the show. He had a sad life passing at only 45. It was even sadder seeing Christopher Reeve passing at 52.
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
1 Jan 13
Wrestling can be bad for kids to watch if they start to imitate the wrestlers moves. I remember when I was a kid you'd have some kids trying to imitate Superman (George Reeves) by jumping off the roof of their house. I used to watch wrestling when I was a kid and I guess I knew it was fake. But in those days they did scream as much or slam people with chairs. Some of it was also funny, like two guys going tag team against Haystack Calhoun.
At night I am almost starting to get tempted to switch to my Roku for a weather channel if I want to see what the weather is or check on the Internet. At least then I can see what the weather is locally without waiting.
@Cutie18f (9551)
• Philippines
31 Dec 12
Well, the television industry has to survive. Back in the day, it became a threat to radio and newspaper and occupied a very good position as having the most number of viewers/listeners/watchers/followers. Then came the internet. Television now is threatened by the interactive and reality sort of entertainment that the internet offers. The YouTube has been making stars out of nobodies. Television needs to have this concept too in order to survive. People nowadays want to watch reality shows. So that's just my two cents. The TV industry has to be what it is today in order to stay afloat.
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
1 Jan 13
I don't things are that dire for television, at least not yet. Print newspapers as well as magazines are almost a thing of the past, but TV still offers enough to keep people watching. It may also get more interactive. There is a show coming up (NCIS LA?) where viewers will be able to vote on what ending the show has. TV networks have also started to put their shows on the Internet, which might be the way to go eventually since it will be very easy for the networks to measure how many viewers they have. In general YouTube is doing what Andy Warhol suggested, giving everyone 15 minutes of fame. I like YouTube more for seeing different bands performing live or just hearing some old songs that people post on there. And as long as people drive in cars, radio will probably still exist.
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
1 Jan 13
How about if they put all the reality shows on one or two networks and let the other channels go back to their original purpose.
