TELEVISION TODAY...WHAT DO YOU THINK...
 

FIRST, THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG HERE...FOR SOME REASON I CAN ONLY TYPE IN CAPS...BUT DON'T WANT TO FORGET THIS, SO AM GOING TO GO AHEAD. I DID A QUICK SEARCH, AND DIDN'T FIND ANYTHING THAT I WOULD BE STEPPING ON, SO HERE GOES...

AFTER WATCHING THE NETWORK NEWS A FEW MINUTES AGO, I CLICKED OVER TO THE E / ENEMA / CHANNEL, TO SEE IF THERE WAS ANY POSSIBILITY OF A DECENT MOVIE ON LATER THIS EVENING. WHAT I SAW WAS A PROMOTION [AND I HAVE NOTHING AGINST ANYBODYS RELIGION WHATSOEVER] FOR THE HOT NEW SHOW CALLED 'AMISH IN THE CITY'...NOW I ASK YOU , CAN THIS GO MUCH FURTHER [QUESTION MARK DOESN'T WORK, REMEMBER]

I HAVE TWO QUESTIONS, 'WHAT CAN BE NEXT', AND WHAT DO YOU IMAGINE THE NEXT 'HOT NEW T.V. SHOW COULD POSSIBLY BE. PERHAPS METHODISTS IN THE BRUSH...SHORT PEOPLE AMONG THE TALL...WHAT THE HELL COULD IT BE, AND EXACTALLY HOW TIRED ARE YOU OF THE WHOLE DAMN THING. [SURE WISH I HAD QUESTION MARKS TONIGHT]

weird about the caps...

but yeah, reality tv never grabbed my interest... it's just another show for me to ignore

Last month I cancelled my extended television cable. I haven't looked back yet

i'm sick of reality tv. i'm sick of tv period. now that i think about it, i don't watch tv much anymore. it's full of crap. really the only shows that i can actually find myself watching now are the Simpsons, Spongebob, and the 10:00 news.
as far as the 'next big thing' goes...*shrug* i dunno..

One of the biggest reasons I dun have cable at home..Plus I dun watch TV enough to have it

Reality shows suck, but the premium channels are good............I heart movies

I cut our programming to the bare minimum because the kids would kill me if I took away Blue's Clues and SpongeBob.

Other than that, we don't watch T.V. at all, mainly movies (DVD's).

The only reason I keep cable is for the movies and certain shows I greatly enjoy watching. Other than that it's horse shit. I always figured that people enjoyed watching what I considered to be mindless drama because at some level they enjoyed the social dynamics, but nows it just processed products of marketing fed into the mind with the technicolor shovel in a deeply unintelligent manner. I find it horrible to watch those damnable promos on Fox Sundays. I stopped watching Simpsons due to the "Laugh Out Loud Sundays." If we raised a generation of kids kept clear and free of the media till 8 I'm fairly certain the economy would collapse due to lack of markets for 39 kinds of the same damn items packaged differently with different titles.

I was losing faith in TV until I got a DVR (kind of a Tivo for cable). There is alot of quality programming out there, it just doesn't usually come on in prime time on the major networks. With the DVR, I never miss an episode of Jeopardy. I also watch alot more Discovery, History Channel, and especially PBS.

TV can be enriching, but it takes some effort to make it such.

(Incedentally, because I was watching too much TV, I took it out of my bedroom. I feel much better off without it.)

I don't bother watching tv anymore. There's rarely anything good on. Digital cable is a joke. The shows I'm interested in i can just download the episodes when i want to watch them.

I do not miss TV at all. I haven't had TV since before January, and I don't want it back. I miss Cartoon Network for adult swim, and I miss The Daily Show (and onyl that show) on Comedy Central. Other than that, there is really nothing for me on TV.

I have a pretty decent amount of DVD's I watch all the time though. ;)

Reality shows suck balls, TV sucks in general these days, but the NFL is starting soon, so atleast Sundays, Mondays and some Saturday's wont be too bad.

you know what I miss? a farking sitcom. Sure I could watch quintuplets, but I am pretty sure I would kill myself halfway through. Why are there no good sitcoms anymore? are they really that hard to write? it pisses me off that the public is causing the dumbing down of tv by watching all of these stupid and cheap to produce reality shows. grr

hmmm..i do miss tv. I have only seen a couple things in the past month, one being the DNC convention and the other being a cooking show and the simpsons on 4 separate occassions and family guy...

I do like tv for a few things:
1. simpsons
2. southpark
3. daily show.
4. futurama
5. King of the hill
6. Wrestling
7. Enterprise or any star trek or babylon 5
8. News, various channels, CNN or Fox or MSNBC, oreilly factor on certain nights if i'm in the mood to be pissed and shouting at the TV..
9. Free HBO/showtime/movie channel/stars/encore, so maybe a decent movie every now and then, like maybe one a week.

I used to enjoy sex and the city, but can't stand the thought of it on TBS w/out the word, "fuck"

I don't watch all these daily or spend much time in front of the TV, but these are teh only things you'll find on if the TV is on.

Notice: no..NO...reality TV. Wanna know why...simple...it sucks and is degrading and i watch tv to escape reality..i don't watch tv to see reality, i walk out the fucking door...

i absolutely hate reality tv. I think it s the most assanine stuff imaginable....and this is coming from a guy that watches pro wrestling...SERiously, "My big fat obnoxious husband" "who wants to marry a millionaire" "Simple life 1 and 2" "Newlyweds" "Amish in the city' "Joe Schmoe" "Fear factor" "american anything" "who wants to be a ...anything"

and it's a sad state of affairs when there were more votes cast for American idol 1 than for the presidential election that year...

And i'm with Bobaphat...Where the fuck are the sitcoms. I was actually enjoying oliver beene for some stupid reason...i think bc it just made fun of the wonder years. But seriously, I miss shows like the jeffersons or all in the family or mama's family or FUCKING MARRIED WITH CHILDREN!!!! those aren't my faves...well, married wtih children is always a fave, but seriously, is it so hard to find sitcom writers...

Oh, i left out one of my fave shows currently on..'chappelle show' That is the top thing on now, fuck reality tv, dave chappelle is about as real as it gets.

As long as reality television and other crappy fads continue to make money, people will continue to make shows based on them. The sad thing to me is that shows like this aren't getting cancelled....so there are a significant amount of people watching them.
I have digital cable, but I rarely turn it on. Most of the time when I have the urge to watch something, I'll turn to one of my "on demand" channels and just watch a movie or one of those great series they have on there with no commercials (Sex and the City, The Sopranos, Curb your enthusiasm...two of which are now over :()

I have little tolerance for most of the popular fads today and if I were not living with roomates, I probably wouldn't be paying for the services I get now.

I usually stick to the History Channel. Sometimes I watch VH1 when I Love the 70's/80's is on.

Other than that, all I watch is movies. I love movies with all of my body, even my peepee.

:) i watch tv at work... :) I watch movies at home. sometimes i watch movies at work too.

I used to watch the History Channel. Modern Marvels is great! These days, I don't bother. Maybe if I fixed up the living room so there was a place to sit, and if I didn't have to wear clothes... It's too formal.

I'll wait for new South Park eps and tape them. And download them, and watch them on the computer instead.

I make it a point that no "reality" show will ever be shown on any TV in my home. I am the only person I know that has never watched a single pisode of "survivor", or any of the "Joe Millionaire" type shows...ever. I never will. I find it insipid, and demeaning to my intelligence. I'm not denigrating those who do watch them, but I find it odd that so many claim not to watch them, yet the ratings for these shows are sky high. If no one watched them...they'd disappear.

for the most part I watch the discovery channel, the history channel, bbc america. I will admit to being a Survivor addict though, thats my one and only reality show vice.

I watch whatever I watch when I watch it. I actually tivo quite a few shows. However, none are on the big networks. The broadcast networks are utter crap IMHO.

not having cable is probably a good idea. i wouldn't miss it at all. it's funny how we have hundreds of channels now but they're all crap. tv used to be better. now even the news is lame.

I havnt turned on my TV in several months. It is all trash. I've started reading more... much much better.

I don't feel like I get a lot of value out of television in giving me the best information and the best entertainment. However, there are some things about television that I think are very important to pay attention to in order to be connected to the society that I live in. If everyone is watching TV, and certain messages are being relayed over and over again that is going to affect the consciences of many viewers in some way. I want to see these images and break them down to understand how people's perceptions are being shaped.

With that said, I have some observations. TV has gone down the crapper. The quality of programing has gone down dramatically, probably due to media mergers. Without competition, the need to be the best for the consumer isn't there. There are a couple things worth my time.

C-SPAN gives you a straight look at politics in action with no mediation. This can be very important to understand what really is happening in society. I like some sports; and in spite of many sociologist claims that sports are used to make people stupid and enforce the superstructure of society, I think that athletes provide us with a very compelling example of what humans can do by combining creativity, creative thinking, and our bodies together (you can imagine that weight lifting is something not interesting to me). Beyond that, it is fairly hit or miss. There are a few shows that I enjoy, which I won't enumerate because they're the exceptions and they change seasonally.

Same here brother! I hate all reality tv shows.
Agreed with Bobaphat. I don't care if the sitcom suck, at least they're trying, and thats what I like.

My gf loves these reality shows for some reason. I've watched some of them with her and I can't see how anyone really believe this stuff is "reality". Wasn't there something about that in Sociology? Once ppl know they're being filmed/observed they'll never act the same so there goes the whole "reality" concept. Hollywood and the entertainment industry have been out of ideas for decades now.

NO NEED TO FUCKIN' YELL.

MAYBE IF YOU READ THE POST, YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND THE CAPS THING

When I was a kid, I used to watch ALF. Now the show they have in that slot is probably some perverted angry sex show. I remember coming home from school to watch Duck Tales and Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers, now it is That 70s Show which is not appropriate for young kids at all.

I can imagine these programmers as apes who throw shit on the wall just to see what sticks. If what is on TV is indictive of the state of our culture... then we live in a sick world.

ya


WE NEED NEW SHOWS DAMIT
I CANT STAND TO WATCH ALL OF
THIS CRAP!!!!!

but i like 3 main shows

1.Angel
2.Charmed
3.Buffy The Vamp Slayer

there all si-fi:rolleyes:
and "Horor"

lol I think you just contradicted yourself demon man. You can't stand to watch crap and those are the three shows you watch?

Charmed is the only one that's ever half-way decent but at least when I'm watching it, I know it's crap.
The other two....make me cry with their horrible stories/scripts/acting. I find them too painful to watch.

ya buffy is geting "sad"


angel is alwase cool



and plenty of gurls on charmed:D

ahahah

I totally forgot about one thing that pisses me off about tv today

Where are teh cartoons? Simpsons...maybe for children, southpark..heh...but i'm tlaking about that afterschool timeslot that used to be filled with GREAT shows like:
Transformers...more than meets the eye
GI Joe...cmon, we're at war, these guys were always at war wtih an evil terrorist organization out to rule the world
Garfield and friends..hey, it's garfield
Go-Bots...transformers lite
Gargoyles..cmon, it had Will riker and Deanna in a freaking cartoon and it was awesome. (jonathan frakes and mirina sirtis..damn trekkies)
Ducktales...cmon, that was just fun
He-man..master of hte universe..cmon, chant it with me, "I HAVE THE POWER"
She-rah..ok, so she sucked, but cmon, cartoon cleavage is fun when you're 10..
Thundercats...Thunder..thunder..thunder..HOOOOOOOO

Gizmoduck anyone...

how about fuckin TOM and Jerry...is that really too violent??? Bugs bunny? yosemite sam? Wyle E coyote??? cmon....


Teenage mutant ninja turtles? Anything???

I remember when saturday morning cartoons started at 7 am and went until noon and they were all great...

but seriously, what's on tv in the afternoon now...nothing worth watching and nothing i'd want my children to watch if i were a parent...

Sheeesh, tv sux lately

Yeah there used to be a lot of good tv shows for kids....I hate how all kids shows now have incredibely exaggerated acting. When I was little, some of my favorite movies were The Sound of Music, Star Wars, The King and I, Grease, and other classics. Kids don't need to be subjected to such horrible acting. They may not understand the whole story until they're older but they're not stupid and they don't need to be talked to the way you talk to your dog or cat.
...I think this is just more proof of the stupidity of whoever is making up shows that are fed to Americans every day.

When I was little, I used to get hyped up about educational shows....Hell, my half-brother, who is a TV-addict today (at 15), loved Captain Planet when he was younger. It was funny to watch him get excited about saving the environment. But most cartoons I see on tv now are far from being educational. Not only that, but they think our kids are getting tired ot the classics and instead, produce new "better" versions of them that completely insult the success of the series.

Like right now they have series where all the famous super-heroes are teenagers who work together. WTF? Scooby doo and wonder-woman just don't belong in the same show together. I'm sure the kids won't mind if they keep airing normal batman, daffy duck, bugs bunny etc. It's not like they've seen it before.

I DID. I JUST FELT LIKE BEING AN ASSHOLE.

never cared for the survivor, joe millionaire kinda reality shows at all, but i enjoyed watching the osbornes, the newlyweds (nick & jessica) & the simple life.
most people think those 3 shows are stupid. *shrugs* /me likes 'em.

Haven't watched a reality show yet. I like racing and 24. That's about it. I like the Simpsons and King of the Hill, too. I dont' watch much TV. I think my daughter watches more in a day, then I do in a week. Pisses me off.

I watch Star Trek: The Next Generation, Trucks, World's Scariest Police Chases, and Robot Wars. That's about it. And I rarely watch those. One thing I've realized over the years is that I hate TV.

The one reality show that I really like is The Amazing Race. It is one of the good ones left. Very well produced, get to see so many places around the world, and its really competitive. I definetly like that show. I admit I watch survivor too...

And a fine job you did The Origional King...I always kinda enjoyed The Andy Griffin Show, was that you that played the no biting, barking dog that laid on his front porch.

Television is the most successful and powerful tool for psychological manipulation ever devised. Does it have another purpose?

Generally, my T.V. is on either History Channel or Discovery. I rarely watch any of the crap that's on now though, although I will watch an occassional Law & Order.

My fiancee and I were commenting on how much of what is on Nickeloden sucks now. It's garbage compared to what they used to have. The only thing kids learn from these shows now is absolutely nothing. Well, maybe they do learn how to ignore everything around them. We were eating at the dinner table the other night and her brothers were watching the TV, and they could not take their eyes off of it at all. We kept on trying to get them to engage in a conversation or at least pay attention to their food and they couldn't. One of her brothers was trying to put some food on his plate and he was scraping his plate, not the food dish he was trying to get stuff from. After dinner, we found out that they had already seen the damn show also. When I was little, I couldn't stand watching the same thing more then once or twice unless it was really good.

Yup. :) It keeps children, cons, couch potatoes, and mental patients entertained.

I love television. :D

I find that as long as I recognize the attempts at manipulation, they do very little. This is why I always talk about the "news" and listen to what others have to say to avoid missing points of view about something. Combine this with a vast number of sources, and I feel prety well informed. Feel the bias from all directoins and whittle it down to the bare facts. Then assume that the facts are either hyped up or watered down, and you'll have a sense of what is really happening.

Am I allowed to be an asshole too if I feel like it, or would that give me a one way ticket to ban land?

You have to wonder that if this is true. I mean, either that or these Amish people are very weak-spined and have no conviction in their values and religion. I mean, cmon, don't the Amish have a thing to swear off any new invention, etc, blah blah. You know what I mean.

Were these people tricked? Are they actors? Or was the promise of money money money just too good to pass up, even over their supposedly strong desire to adhere to the Amish values?

Television is poop. My wife watches it, and I put a ziplock baggie under her head to catch the brains as they liquefy and dribble out of her ears.

Shit, that quote made my day!

:crazy: :lol:

Hehe. I remember when there were decent programs. Something for everyone. Mission Impossible, Man from U.N.C.L.E., Wild, Wild West, Peyton Place, Combat, Jack Paar, Mannix, McHale's Navy. Hell, even the Lucille Ball show was miles ahead of anything that's on now. Let's not forget Ed Sullivan, and yes, Mr. Bubbles, Lawrence Welk. Mitch Miller. Rawhide, the Rory Calhoun Show, Have Gun Will Travel. Perhaps not all stellar gems, but certainly better than the pap we are given now.

TV was once a valid means of entertainment.

Currently, the situational comedy, while sometimes funny, relies almost entirely on sexual inuendo, "out of character" and sadly precousious children, or negative ethnic sterotypes for laughs.

The recent fad to show us reality misses a most very important fact: Observing reality changes reality. Then it's no longer reality, but a group of people acting to the camera.

Not to mention that the producers are scrapping the bottom of the barrel. Come on, "Growing up Gotti? As if we really want to listen some vacuous bimbo playing up to the camera? Or more especially, who really wants to see the antics of those two animals she's responsible for raising?

I spend most of my TV viewing time flipping between discovery channels, history, the learning channel, and food tv. And such bullshit there, too. designer challenge, landscaper challenge, how to have a party, what not to wear. team building projects, surprise designing projects. The whole genre is nothing but warmed over gameshow bullshit. Here's a fucking challenge: Provide some original, decent programming. Teach us something, show us something original, not warmed over from some other show.


What I hate about you, survivor, blind date... I'd as soon suck on a piece of strycnine. Local TV channels... Garbage. Ethnic sterotyped humor lost its glitter in the 70's. Now its appeal is to the poor ill-educated mannerless people who have so lost their way in life that they have to model themselves on the rantings of some semi-educated actor who's only talent lies in punching up negative sterotypes.

Local channels are no bargain. They're more worthless shit than even Bravo and A&E. I remember when A&E actually had programming that was arts and entertainment. Poor bastards.



The only thing I can honestly say I enjoy is the Western Channel. If I could cut my cable down to the Western Channel and the Weather Channel, I'd dump the rest of the crap.

As usual, I don't know for sure what I'm talking about, but this is what anitra told me. The Amish send their young people somewhere different than where they were raised, learned, and I presume, gained their values. I don't know how long they are gone for, but it is supposed to show them the cruel world the rest of us live in. Perhaps it's to see if they will be tempted to leave the community...perhaps thats all a pile of bull crap.

Different subject that the thread started, but perhaps, good or bad the upcomming program, isn't as rediculous as it first seemed.

The Amish have this thing where at a certain age (17?) they send their kids off...I thought it was only for a year but maybe I was wrong...anyway...their kids go out and travel and see the world - use electronics etc etc etc....then at the end of their time they come back home and they have to decide whether they want to stay a part of their Amish community or if they want to leave and go out into the real world. If they decide to leave, their family basically disowns them and they can never see or talk to their families and friends again. Most people decide to stay.

Anyway...this show probably takes a bunch of kids during the time when they're out in the world and films them...they're probably going to go back to being Amish after the filming of this (which means, they're probably living in their Amish communities right now).

Tropple, your words are eloquent. I whole-heartedly agree. What made me think is your comment about how the programming on even TLC, the Food Channel, etc., is just a pimped up version of gameshows. I used to love watching TLC and Discovery because they actually had programs that I could learn something from. But now, you are right, it is exactly crap; what to wear, how to design a room on $1000...

Although I do enjoy some of these shows because it doesn't cater to negative stereotypical slurs and/or scrape the bottom of the barrel, it does in a way make me yearn for a once forgotten way of tv. And it makes me think how even those programs have been dumbed down for my entertainment. So now a dilema, turn off the tv for good? I mean now that I think about it, nothing on tv really has any real value anymore.

I like the caps here; i picture john mchlaughlin haughtily yelling at everybody on his show hehe.

TV gave us The Three Stooges.
TV is harmless. People think for themselves.

Do you really think that is true powerclown? I agree that tv does not have the influence so many "scholars" and "researchers" but for those with lower IQs, like so many dumbass Americans today, these dumbed-down shows influence in subtle ways.

I think once people leave the house and leave their tv sets, instincts take over and people act naturally.
People are more than the sum of their tv-watching habits.

I could be wrong; just one person's opinion.

TV, in my humble opinion, is the cause for the degredation of society as a whole and soley responsible for the society's crumbling social standards . . . I recall sitting down as a child on a sunday evening watching Walt Disney (even being excited about it coming on), but now its simpsons, reality tv and other crap . . . . .

Burn your TV now . . .

S

Crap, and I just bought a really expensive new flat screen too. Oh well.

TV needs less "reality" shows and more swearing/sex.

See there Stompy...there is one we can agree on!

Believe it or not, I actually saw that show on TV last night...or saw the first part of it anyway. Have no idea what network it was on, one of the upper ones that has tractor pulls and wrestling.

Anyway, anitra, and trisk were right...they go away for a while, and get a taste of life on the "outside", then decide if they want to be fucked up like everybody else in the world, or go home and be fucked up there.

I am seriously thinking of killing my digital cable. I barely watch it anymore. Nothing but pure shit on these days.