Link (http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1500053)

Out of the recent blood-letting in the local television world comes an astonishing admission from the head of one television network.

Television -as we know it -is "broken." It is a failed, broken model.

In another fast breaking news-flash, he reported that the Titanic had sunk.

Television -as I know it -is a vast wasteland of crappiness. In fact, it is crap-tacular in its crappiness.

Bruce Springsteen has a song called 57 Channels (And Nothin' On) which goes, "Man came by to hook up my cable TV. We settled in for the night my baby and me. We switched 'round and 'round 'til half-past dawn. There were 57 channels and nothing on."

Yet again The Boss is singing my song. I have a satellite dish at my home. I go round and round over and over again but nothing is on.

But what really frightens me is the stuff that is on.

To begin with, I don't watch a lot of popular shows -I have never seen The Sopranos, or ER, or Grey's Anatomy. I have never watched any of the Idol shows, or Survivor.

To be quite honest, it just does not interest me. I consider television pretty unimportant in my life.

With two young daughters, I hear a lot about Hanna Montana, and the Suite Life of Zack and Cody, but really it puts me in mind of jumping off a cliff.

I want to mention a couple of shows that I find truly offensive - in the manner of being physically ill just seeing the commercials - and I will limit it to only two.

There is a show called The Real Housewives of Orange County (I could be wrong on the name but will leave it in hopes that you may never watch it). This show is so deep in its shallowness that, if it were a person, it could be a candidate for public office.

Grown women, dressed with hair and makeup akin to a street walker, with enough plastic surgery to last Joan Rivers a lifetime, worry about the stupidest things in the world, i. e. should they spend $40,000 on their spoiled brat's birthday party, should they get larger breast implants, etc.

If aliens on another planet were watching, they might opt to destroy us rather than invade and catch our obviously contagious stupidity.

The other show is called Toddlers and Tiaras, which is about parental obsession with beauty pageants to fill their own empty lives with enough medals and awards to keep where their brains use to be.

The hair, makeup and clothing tips come from the Orange County show I just mentioned. Children in diapers being drilled, berated and prodded into "performing" as a show dog would for judges.

It is sad and demented. The parents should have their children taken away and get counselling.

And I won't even mention the 3 a. m. four-minute rant by clowns against our troops on Fox, save to say that their ratings are probably lower than the test pattern two channels over.

The rest of the dial is sports (I don't watch it), reruns, and the same thing on 10 channels each.

When I was a kid, Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie couldn't even show her navel.

Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore couldn't even share the same bed as television husband and wife. I Love Lucy couldn't even say the words "Morning sickness."

But now(and I am not a prude) you have people with multiple sexual partners and conversations that would have given Ed Sullivan a stroke.

And kids watch stuff that is just plain unfunny, unadulterated trash.

Elmer Fudd can't get shot in the face with a shotgun anymore nor can the coyote get an anvil dropped on his head, but two channels over some guy can get a butcher knife in the head.

Myself, I watch mostly the news, documentaries, history and, of course, some of the most offensive, sarcastic social commentary I can find.

The fact that they mock government, religions, other bastions of hypocrisy and what passes for "normal" in this phoney world is a good thing.

I would rather have my beliefs mocked than having them mocking my intelligence with stupid, vapid, materialistic consumption.

But do you recall when television was going to be the 'Big Educator?'

We were going to use it for good and noble purposes. Kids wouldn't go to school. They would watch television. But all hope was lost long before Jerry Springer's audience threw their first chair.

There is no local television news. Entertainment Tonight has replaced the nightly local news. I can't find out what is going on here but do know what Paris Hilton ate (or purged) for dinner that night. That is bad for a small community like ours.

So I just won't watch. I am even entertaining the thought of ditching the television entirely.

I remember watching man land on the moon in 1969 and seeing Paul Henderson's 1972 goal as a kid. I watched the shuttle explosion, the collapse of the twin towers and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

But what I see now just sickens me. Television is broken and it has been for a long time.

It suffers from the splintering of specialized interests into their own channels. It suffers from competition for scarce advertising dollars.

It suffers from the race to the bottom with shock-jock, shallow, empty, vapid, sickening, tasteless, offensive, obnoxious, baseless and tasteless programming which has scattered the ashes of what dignity remained to the wind.

As a democrat, a lover of freedom, I can accept that people can watch what they want and others can broadcast what makes money, but now there are 357 channels and nothing on.

Couldn't agree more. Thank goodness for TV on DVD!!!

I gotta agree with the article. I'm not some anti television person or anything like that, its just a lot of today's programing and the movies that are shown on TV are just not to my taste. One of the reasons why I dont have cable or a satelite. That said there are people who do enjoy what is on TV now, and if you dig it I say more power to you.

Amen to that!!

I thought I was just getting old!!

I admit I only watch a few reality shows(mostly The Biggest Loser & AI, although I haven't been able to watch AI much this season). The rest I really have no interest in. My sister is the total opposite, that's all she watches. She told me recently that she's now gotten into a show called Tool Academy and I remember thinking "Gee, what a shock".

The 2 shows mentioned in the article - Hannah Montana & Zack & Cody. I don't recall ever seeing HM(although everytime I go to the store and see all the crap merchandise they have on her, I just roll my eyes and shake my head). I've seen a little bit of Zack & Cody while switching channels. Didn't see the appeal, and I certainly didn't see anything funny about it.

Like I said, maybe I'm just getting old.

And maybe that's why I've had a growing addiction to TV on DVD(like Catlover had mentioned!)

And maybe that's why I've had a growing addiction to TV on DVD(like Catlover had mentioned!)

You're not alone-- I have that addiction too. A lot of us do. A lot of my viewing comes from that, especially older series.

I'm 23 at the moment and a lot of b-s they have out now is a representation of why our society is growing dumber than dead bricks. Most of the garbage they have on nowadays is just like most of the garbage surrounding the vast majority of today's hip-hop music.

I'm not a fan of 98.5%, maybe 99% of the reality garbage they have on TV nowadays.

And to quote former WCW Boss and former WWE Raw GM Eric Bischoff, "Controversy Creates Cash." And that's in the beliefs coming from the eyes of most of these corporations that run these TV stations, which is sad and true.

Couldn't agree more. Thank goodness for TV on DVD!!!
:yeahthat

Myself, I watch mostly the news, documentaries, history and, of course, some of the most offensive, sarcastic social commentary I can find.

The fact that they mock government, religions, other bastions of hypocrisy and what passes for "normal" in this phoney world is a good thing.

I would rather have my beliefs mocked than having them mocking my intelligence with stupid, vapid, materialistic consumption.

The politically incorrect 'offensive' TV shows which goes after everyone are a rare find.

I remember (...) seeing Paul Henderson's 1972 goal as a kid.

Paul Kelly is referring to the 1972 Summit Series between the Soviet's hockey team vs. Canada's best NHL players. The short of it, Team Canada won the game and the tournament with Henderson's goal which is considered by most as the top-rated goal scored by a Canadian.

I would dump cable TV today if only the other members of the household would agree to it! :lol: Honestly, there is very little we actually watch....the local news maybe, Guiding Light (which will be gone Sept 18) and maybe sometimes stuff on Hallmark, but otherwise it's movies and old TV shows on DVD.

the tv shows in the uk are just as bad and crap as what you have in the US. 20+ years ago, you'd have less than say 10 channels on tv and yet you could always find something of your own taste, because there were 3 or 4 shows worth tuning into. now, tv has gone down the pan. i watch tv online and prefer the classics mostly because i never watch the current shows that are on- well for the exception of ugly betty but i watch it online, as well as on dvd. it is led of course by reality tv garbage. to each their own i'd say but i much prefer watching classic shows online and on dvd which they hardly show on tv these days.

Satellite TV is no better.


My mother just got direct TV. I was over at her pad yesterday. She's got well over 300 channels and I couldnt find anything that I wanted to watch.

Satellite TV is no better.


My mother just got direct TV. I was over at her pad yesterday. She's got well over 300 channels and I couldnt find anything that I wanted to watch.
Reminds me of Bruce Springsteen's song "57 Channels (And Nothin' On)". He should really update it. :lol:

Reminds me of Bruce Springsteen's song "57 Channels (And Nothin' On)". He should really update it. :lol:


Totally

Couldn't agree more. Thank goodness for TV on DVD!!!
:cheers: I still like some dramas on CBS, but most everything else sucks balls. And it's completely ridiculous that you can scan the dial and see the same show being aired on 4 different channels at the same time. Wow...that's diverse.

The 2 shows mentioned in the article - Hannah Montana & Zack & Cody. I don't recall ever seeing HM(although everytime I go to the store and see all the crap merchandise they have on her, I just roll my eyes and shake my head). I've seen a little bit of Zack & Cody while switching channels. Didn't see the appeal, and I certainly didn't see anything funny about it.

Both are full of reallllly bad acting. I know I'm not exactly the 8 year-old audience they are after, but just because kids don't know bad acting is not an excuse to let that crap pass.

The shows on Nickelodeon are a little better. I watched iCarly in a waiting room awhile back and it was tolerable, moreso than Hannah Montana.

I Love Lucy couldn't even say the words "Morning sickness."

Actually it was "Pregnant" that they couldn't say, but had morning sickness come up, I doubt they could have said that either.

Wow. I am so grateful to read everyone's comments here; they totally dovetail with my own feelings on modern television. I, too, just thought I might be "getting old" and couldn't appreciate modern television but secretly, I kind of knew I was right all along, lol.

There is NO WAY in thirty years that anyone will remember most of these high rated shows of today. Can you see a future nostalgia channel with "Survivor", "Two and Half Men", "Grey's Anatomy", "The Bachelor", "Dancing with the Stars", "30 Rock", "American Idol", etc.?

It is to laugh.

Conversely, I would wager that thirty years hence, people will STILL be searching out and enjoying "MASH", "All in the Family", "Bob Newhart", "Barney Miller", "Mary Tyler Moore", "Taxi", WKRP", "Carol Burnett", et al. The writing and acting on these shows are timeless. They don't just appeal to a certain people at a certain time and place; they transcend all cultural considerations. These modern shows are, for the most part, flash in the pans that are glib but not wise, frenetic but not complex, and tasty in small bites but ultimately not nutritious or filling.

Amen, my friends!!

...And it gets worse with each passing year. :rolleyes:

I have never seen one single episode of AI, Survivor, or any of the reality or talk shows that litter the airwaves today, nor do I want to.

I like a few shows today but overall, I can take it or leave it. TV on DVD and old movies are my main thing too.

Wow. I am so grateful to read everyone's comments here; they totally dovetail with my own feelings on modern television. I, too, just thought I might be "getting old" and couldn't appreciate modern television but secretly, I kind of knew I was right all along, lol.

There is NO WAY in thirty years that anyone will remember most of these high rated shows of today. Can you see a future nostalgia channel with "Survivor", "Two and Half Men", "Grey's Anatomy", "The Bachelor", "Dancing with the Stars", "30 Rock", "American Idol", etc.?

It is to laugh.

Conversely, I would wager that thirty years hence, people will STILL be searching out and enjoying "MASH", "All in the Family", "Bob Newhart", "Barney Miller", "Mary Tyler Moore", "Taxi", WKRP", "Carol Burnett", et al. The writing and acting on these shows are timeless. They don't just appeal to a certain people at a certain time and place; they transcend all cultural considerations. These modern shows are, for the most part, flash in the pans that are glib but not wise, frenetic but not complex, and tasty in small bites but ultimately not nutritious or filling.

Amen, my friends!!
:clap BRAVO!! I couldn't have said it better myself.

Things have gotten so bad that I've started reading.

Wow, I didn't realize how many of you felt the same way I do about television today. I don't watch any of the main U.S. networks (except for CBS just for 'The Price Is Right', but that's daytime). I find myself watching mostly the specialty channels in Canada - Discovery, History (which has MASH reruns), Home & Garden Canada, W Network, TVTropolis (has a lot of documentaries).

Can we get more crime procedurals? How many of those are there? I watch a lot of TV shows but not a lot of TV. Maybe 5 hours a week of actual current shows but mostly DVDs, both prerecorded and from my collection. But really, 90% of TV has always been bad. The difference is now the bad shows are more than bad, they are offensive. I also think the percentages are worse. With 3 networks, you had a lot fewer bad shows on the air than you do now with hundreds of networks.

Satellite TV is no better.


My mother just got direct TV. I was over at her pad yesterday. She's got well over 300 channels and I couldnt find anything that I wanted to watch.

I also have direct tvand I konw exactly what you are talking about. There really is nothing on tv these days. The only thing that I watch is Boomerang and tv land (the jeffersons, leave it to beaver, three's company) and nick @ nite (family matters, roseanne) other than that nothing is really on. That article is so true. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who feels this way.I am sick of all of the reality shows, bad sitcoms, and I have yet to see an episode of 30 rock, how I met your mother and two and a half men. I think that I'll do like everyone else and stick to tv on dvd.

Satellite TV is no better.


My mother just got direct TV. I was over at her pad yesterday. She's got well over 300 channels and I couldnt find anything that I wanted to watch.


I refused to believe that. Directv has it all

I refused to believe that. Directv has it all



Believe it, I was not impressed at all with DirecTV. I couldnt find one thing I wanted to watch.

Believe it, I was not impressed at all with DirecTV. I couldnt find one thing I wanted to watch.


two questions

are you a male?

if so do you watch sports?

two questions

are you a male?

if so do you watch sports?


Yes I am I male, but have zero interest in sports.

Yes I am I male, but have zero interest in sports.


well that's why, any guy into sports always has something to watch on Directv

well that's why, any guy into sports always has something to watch on Directv

+1.

If if wasn't for the sports,i've would've convince my folks to ditch the dish a long time ago.

Things have gotten so bad that I've started reading.
:lol:

I don't watch any of the main U.S. networks (except for CBS just for 'The Price Is Right', but that's daytime). The only show I sometimes watch of the main US networks is NBC's SNL and even that all too often sucks.

Things have gotten so bad that I've started reading.

Reminds me of a Simpsons episode. This is not an exact quote.

Homer: Marge, I'm bored, there's nothing on TV.

Marge: Why don't you read a book?

Homer: I'm not looking to increase my boredom.

I too couldn't agree more with this rant.Enough is enough of this "trailer-park" trash they put on T.V.And you are so on,although I don't expect anything good from DISNEY.They always have talk down to their audience,made them feel less than nothing while selling them their overrated products,which is what they all about,but I expected better from NICKELODEON.I was hopeing that their shows would be smarter,not a bad imitation of DISNEY,but that what they did,right down to the skinny scrawmly actresses,too good to be true looking boys with obnoxious adults deeling out bad advice.Then they pat themselves on the back and call themselves geniuses!!!This is what I think of them and how they make me feel::barf: !!!

Im mean really it's the truth, all that is on now is Jersey Shores, 16 and pregant, and Teen wolf, and toddlers and tiaras. Now who wants to watch THAT. I mean I now give up the remote and enter the world of the internet watchin youtube poops and roseanne episodes on youtube.

Minus the lack of diversity, and with a few exceptions the sitcoms of the 60s, 70s, and 80s were better than the ones from the 90s onward.

You can pick a memorable episode from those past sitcoms where as the newer ones don't have anything to remember.

They are mostly 30 minutes of characters having dumb conversations over dumb things.

And it seems as if writers have parent issues because there are no longer a Mike Brady or Tom Bradford or even Carl Winslow types.

The parents if there are any, are usually idiots.

I know no family is perfect and I certainly was raised by my mother who was divorced from my father but I would never speak to either my parents the way television kids do.

I am not trashing all of the sitcoms because there are a few that are fun to watch.

It's not a total wasteland, there are a few good shows on TV, you just have to hunt them down. ;)

There's still some good shows on, I like Chuck, Eureka, Psych, Dr Who, Haven, Outcasts....

I don't mean to be insulting, but I find it hard to believe that Viacom, NBC, CBS, and other network outlets simply show the garbage they show because 'that is what people want'. I see a very real agenda behind it. A purpose in dumbed down, distracting, voyeristic programming that appeals to a population of non-readers and short attention spans. Even all "news" channels are a joke. They spend more time talking about the latest celebrity meltdown than on issues the American people need to be gravely concerned about.
If all the cable channels basically show the same kind of programming, why not just go back to three networks?
Or, is that the idea to begin with? Nothing else seems to make sense.

http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/5162/711908050recent.jpg (http://img813.imageshack.us/i/711908050recent.jpg/)

I only keep my tv on all night so I can kill mosquitos, Its a perfect trap.
They always go where there is a blue light. I always have to clean their blood
(my blood) off the screen.

I am only 20 and there are so many sitcoms I love, most of them are old, but there are some new ones too. Here are all the ones I like: 227, All in the Family, The Brady Bunch, The Cosby Show, Diff'rent Strokes, Everybody Hates Chris, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Facts of Life, Family Matters, Family Ties, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Friends, Full House, George Lopez, Gilligan's Island, Good Times, Green Acres, Happy Days, Home Improvement, I Love Lucy, iCarly, The Jeffersons, Laverne and Shirley, Maude, Mike and Molly, The Nanny, The Partridge Family, The Ropers, Sanford and Son, Three's A Crowd, Three's Company, Too Close for Comfort, Two and a Half Men, and Who's the Boss?
Now that's a lot of shows for one person to enjoy.

I vote... wasteland. It's sometimes odd looking back at how things have changed, but many years ago I used to regard television as a pleasant, welcome presence in the household. With just a few limited channels, there was almost always something relatively engaging (or at very least unobtrusive) to be found on the dial. It was like an easy-going, friendly neighbor who drops in for a visit to your home for a genial conversation. But I find television nowadays to be more akin to some belligerent, loudmouth drunk who barges into your home, screams at you, tells a dirty joke, and then drops their pants and takes a leak on your carpet.

In other words, taken as a whole, it's become an awfully nauseating presence. This isn't to say that there still aren't some fine programs out there. Obviously there are. But I ultimately reached a point where it didn't seem worth the effort to wade through what seemed like an open sewer to find the few gems. It's become far more satisfying to avoid all that and to limit my viewing almost exclusively to dvd's, the only real exceptions being news and weather. Other than that, modern tv is pretty much dead to me.

I'm not much into TV. I don't own one at all and don't want one. My monitor that I watch DVD's on doesn't even get local channels. I liked vintage Unsolved Mysteries, which is the reason I joined this site, and a few other true crime shows I catch on some online vids.
Oh and Little House on the Prairie. LOL
My friend has cable TV, and when I visit we tend to just watch old Perry Mason episodes which air somewhere and he Tevos them. Those are awesome and I am in love with all the old clothing and hairstyles.
Other than that, I read. Our local library has FINALLY reopened after Hurricane Ike annihilated it almost 3 years ago, so YAYY!!

American modern television is a cesspool that's for sure.

Hey, guess what guys? Netflix Streaming is turning into a vast wasteland as well and the price is going up! All of the good content is gone because the studios and networks are greedy.

I worked on some of these reality shows. When I'm on set, I really do shake my head at what I see. Some of these shots are repeated until the producers get what they want from talent. I'm close to getting my cable back so I can watch some of the nostalgic channels with the good stuff.

I must agree. Particularly sitcoms. My friends have tried to get me to watch "Hot in Cleveland" and while I love Betty White, I think the show just falls flat. I watched about five minutes of "Retired at 35" and couldn't believe that made it to air. I refuse to watch anything with Fran Drescher. YICK!!!!

Thank God the old shows are coming out on DVD, otherwise my TV would just take up space.

That's one of the best articles on television I've ever read and it mirrors my feelings as well. Naturally, it took a Canadian to state the obvious but I doubt if any of the networks will listen until people say enough of this crap and put on some real shows otherwise we'll go back and watch the stuff we like, whether it's on DVD or online, which is what I do when there's no hockey games to watch on TV. (The Paul Henderson reference really got to me. I saw that game too!) :)

I was also fascinated by the "vast wasteland" quote that made up the title of the article. If that sounds familiar to you, it's because it was part of one of the most famous and notorious speeches in US history. It was made by Newton Minow on May 9, 1961 in front of a group of TV executives in which he flat out accused the shows of that era of being worthless, mindless drivel. In that speech, he says:

When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there for a day without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland. ---from Wikipedia page on Newton Minow

If I were to have followed his advice back then to sit in front of the set for a whole day, I would have jumped at the chance. In May of 1961, the TV universe---all 6 channels worth---was filled with the following sitcoms:

Dennis The Menace, Jack Benny, Danny Thomas, Andy Griffith, Father Knows Best, Ozzie and Harriet, Dobie Gillis, My Three Sons, Donna Reed, The Flintstones, Leave It To Beaver.

Wow, that's a real wasteland alright. I couldn't disagree with him more. (Now you know what I watch when I'm online! :lol: ) If you weren't into comedy back then, there was still plenty to see such as:

Ed Sullivan, Walt Disney, Lassie, Maverick, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, Candid Camera, What's My Line, I've Got A Secret, This Is Your Life, Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, Peter Gunn, Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, Route 66, Perry Mason, Twilight Zone, Bat Masterson, The Untouchables, Wagon Train, The Price Is Right---and Hockey Night In Canada on Saturdays---all in prime time!!

These days, the month of May is also Upfronts month. If you were lucky and privileged enough to attend the network upfronts in May of 1961, you would have heard about their great fall lineups, which would have included the following:

The Dick Van Dyke Show, Car 54, Where Are You?, Ben Casey, The Defenders, Bullwinkle, and Mr Ed in syndication.


Now if Newton Minow thought all this stuff was bad, what would he have considered to be good? I guess he just didn't like Westerns, among other things. I can also assume that he would have hated with a passion a show like "Gilligan's Island", which arrived only 3 years later. One of the many running gags on the show was the name of their ship, the S.S. Minnow, named specifically after him!

I can only imagine what he would have to say today about stuff like "Jersey Shore", "The Real Housewives Of ---", "Teen Mom", or "Kate Plus 8" and "Keeping Up With The Kardashians", real garbage if there ever was such a thing. People back in 1961 and for about a full decade before and after didn't realize how lucky they were with their programming choices, although I think now the picture should be coming in clearer, especially with the TV set being turned off.