Like many of you, I watch a lot of TV, too much,
way too much. I am of the first generation to grow up with TV. My folks enjoyed
it, but watched very little. Actually, I watched very little, but not by my
choice. As I grew, I watched more and more, until, with the exception of my
wild days in the '60s, I just seemed to automatically turn the set on when I
entered the house. I still do that and recently have begun to ask just what is
wrong with me.
I get up in the morning to the news and usually within 20 minutes I have absorbed the days doings, at least all they are going to explain. For reasons I do not understand, I leave it on for hours of analysis that explains nothing. The rest of the day is spent turning from one ancient rerun to another. Blessedly, I get the Golf Channel and four days a week I can watch a tournament or two.
Now I execpt full responsibilty for my addiction and I am going to work on that, but I sometimes wonder what the various networks are thinking. For example, the USA network shows Law and Order SVU, NCIS, Modern Family, and occasionally CSI. That, plus a few movies, is their lineup. And when I say a few movies, I mean a few. They have a handful of second rate movies they show repeatedly. TNT shows Charmed, Supernatural, Bones and Castle, day in, day out, again broken by a scattering of movies.
At one time, i could count on Discover, National Geographic, and the History Channel for some decent programming, but no more. Now, Discover is dominated by shows about commercial fisherman, Nat Geo is obsessed with Alaskan Law enforcement and History is a blend of Pawn Stars, American Pickers, and Ancient Aliens. Yes, sometimes those things are interesting and they do, here and there, throw in a few other features, but they do not vary things a lot. There used to be The Learning Channel, TLC, that did a lot of fascinating, educational programs, but last time I checked, they seemed to show little but wedding and party planning. Bravo used to have some great cutting edge programs about the Arts, now all they show is Real Housewives. Anyway, you get my point.
Again, this idiotic addiction is my fault and I am writing this because I imagine that many others out there are suffering the same hang up. There is more, however. All of the networks make huge money by selling advertising on these shows. If we do not watch them, their revenue would drop, and they would either go broke or get better programs to regain their viewers, that is how our economic system works, supposedly. I would be curious to see if that really would happen. I suspect not. I think that many businesses are not concerned with making money. If you own a huge conglomerate of businesses, it is often uselful to set one or two up to lose money. This allows you to manipulate your corporate taxes. It also may be a sign of something even shadier, something very sinister. That will be the topic of my next post. In the meantime, just say no to Pawn Stars.
I get up in the morning to the news and usually within 20 minutes I have absorbed the days doings, at least all they are going to explain. For reasons I do not understand, I leave it on for hours of analysis that explains nothing. The rest of the day is spent turning from one ancient rerun to another. Blessedly, I get the Golf Channel and four days a week I can watch a tournament or two.
Now I execpt full responsibilty for my addiction and I am going to work on that, but I sometimes wonder what the various networks are thinking. For example, the USA network shows Law and Order SVU, NCIS, Modern Family, and occasionally CSI. That, plus a few movies, is their lineup. And when I say a few movies, I mean a few. They have a handful of second rate movies they show repeatedly. TNT shows Charmed, Supernatural, Bones and Castle, day in, day out, again broken by a scattering of movies.
At one time, i could count on Discover, National Geographic, and the History Channel for some decent programming, but no more. Now, Discover is dominated by shows about commercial fisherman, Nat Geo is obsessed with Alaskan Law enforcement and History is a blend of Pawn Stars, American Pickers, and Ancient Aliens. Yes, sometimes those things are interesting and they do, here and there, throw in a few other features, but they do not vary things a lot. There used to be The Learning Channel, TLC, that did a lot of fascinating, educational programs, but last time I checked, they seemed to show little but wedding and party planning. Bravo used to have some great cutting edge programs about the Arts, now all they show is Real Housewives. Anyway, you get my point.
Again, this idiotic addiction is my fault and I am writing this because I imagine that many others out there are suffering the same hang up. There is more, however. All of the networks make huge money by selling advertising on these shows. If we do not watch them, their revenue would drop, and they would either go broke or get better programs to regain their viewers, that is how our economic system works, supposedly. I would be curious to see if that really would happen. I suspect not. I think that many businesses are not concerned with making money. If you own a huge conglomerate of businesses, it is often uselful to set one or two up to lose money. This allows you to manipulate your corporate taxes. It also may be a sign of something even shadier, something very sinister. That will be the topic of my next post. In the meantime, just say no to Pawn Stars.
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