TV Wasteland

[Zoneboy]

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Rather than re-invent the wheel, I'll start my column today with an appropriate quote:

"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 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. You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons. And endlessly commercials - many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you'll see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to try it."

I spent more than a little more time than normal recently in front of the idiot box, because of the combination of the recent bad weather and a persistent cold, and I have to say those comments I just quoted came to mind.

What is extraordinary is that they are very old; they were made by the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Newton N. Minow on May 9, 1961.


What is even worse is that, back when Minow made his observations (which went down in history as the "Vast Wasteland" speech) there were only three major networks; there was no cable or satellite television.

Today we have a "vast" selection of channels n I have satellite TV at home n and hundreds of programs to choose from every hour, and yet there are many times I sit down and play "spin the remote" and have trouble finding anything worth watching.

Television in the U.S. squandered its great potential to do good in society, and instead - thanks to natural human greed facilitated by free markets - became an advertising racket. I'm sure you've had moments, as I have, when you've wondered if you'll even remember what you were watching, when the commercials end.

In other countries, they address the banality of television in different ways. In England, you have to pay a tax on your TV; it pays for the BBC, which then delivers its programming without commercials. They have regular channels in England, with commercials like we do, but they have the "best" network running without advertising.

In Italy, they segregate the commercials at the start of the evening into one block of programming, so they won't interrupt the shows. The beauty of that system is that you have to want to watch the commercials, so the businesses tend to make them clever and entertaining.

Indeed, in many countries, television commercials are more interesting and/or clever than the ones here. American commercials grab your attention by being stupid and/or irritating.

It's a great reason to grab a good book, or even read the newspaper - front to back.