UPNetwork  

Go Back   UPNetwork > General Forums > The Misc

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 05-20-2018, 04:12 PM   #1
Doppleganger
我が名は勇者王!
 
Doppleganger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Emina Isle
Posts: 14,194
Send a message via AIM to Doppleganger
Television is terrible

Last night, all three members of my family spent 4 hours watching television. It was notable because there is a television in my room, so I had to find somewhere else to sleep at 2 AM. I tried to watch what they were watching. It was mind-numbing.

Sister: Disney movies
Mother: FoxNews
Father: Star Trek OS

I've stopped watching TV over the past 10 years. Part of the issue is I moved to places where I had no television for about 5 of those years, but the other 5 there was nothing particularly engaging or interesting to watch.

The last shows I routinely watched were documentaries on Discovery, during the time when reality TV was taking over. Said documentaries are no longer that interesting compared to YouTube, where you can look up all the animal videos you want without the forced narratives, or Wikipedia which gives you comprehensive information on whatever you're reading about.

Yet, I appreciated shows like Modern Marvels and Dirty Jobs because they also looked in to things you might not know about. Like how razor blades are made and how they used to be made. Or how organic waste is "cleaned up" once it is set away from the chemistry lab.

Nothing like that is on TV anymore. So it's of no value to venture out of what you are already interested in, and reruns and cable news are as vapid as possible. It's also particularly passive, especially when eating or sleeping while doing it.

With the advent of the internet, heck let's just say video games, how can people continue to still watch TV?
__________________
あなたの勇気が切り開く未来
ふたりの想いが見つけだす希望
今 信じあえる
あきらめない 心かさね
永遠を抱きしめて
Doppleganger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2018, 04:20 PM   #2
Lady Kuno
The hostess with the mostess
 
Lady Kuno's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 226,521
Television is in a very weird place right now because a large number of people are not just cutting cords, but many younger people have never had cable (and don't want it). Television is great for advertisers but many people are fed up with paying a shitload of money for tons of advertisements (and sped up television shows to fit in extra commercials), as opposed to something like Netflix where you pay and you don't see advertisements at all.

The net result of this is that TV quality goes down because channels don't want to take risks and instead put shows that appeal to current cable demographic.
__________________
JUST NUKE THE FUCKING SUN


PROUD OWNER OF A MISSINGNO. IN FIZZY BUBBLES
Lady Kuno is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2018, 04:35 PM   #3
Doppleganger
我が名は勇者王!
 
Doppleganger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Emina Isle
Posts: 14,194
Send a message via AIM to Doppleganger
Was it better in the past or what it always bad and I'm just more aware of it? When I was growing up I watched KidsWB/Fox Kids/Fox Box/4KidsTV and Cartoon Network almost exclusively...with a few Nickelodeon shows sandwiched in between. Some Whose Line on Comedy Central. Then I moved to Discovery/Animal Planet. Then I got off the ride entirely.

The Big Bang Theory, which my sister watches, is a smarter sitcom than those which aired in the aughts like That 70's Show and Friends, with the writers having a similar education level to myself...but it's still pretty vapid and shallow. That comes with the territory of sitcoms. Television is written with commercial intercuts in mind and so little of it is surprising or engaging.

For boring anime, I often resort to microblogging or writing a post after the episode insulting it, because otherwise the show is too passive to sit through. That applies to 100% of television I see these days.
__________________
あなたの勇気が切り開く未来
ふたりの想いが見つけだす希望
今 信じあえる
あきらめない 心かさね
永遠を抱きしめて
Doppleganger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2018, 05:32 PM   #4
Lady Kuno
The hostess with the mostess
 
Lady Kuno's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 226,521
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doppleganger View Post
Was it better in the past or what it always bad and I'm just more aware of it? When I was growing up I watched KidsWB/Fox Kids/Fox Box/4KidsTV and Cartoon Network almost exclusively...with a few Nickelodeon shows sandwiched in between. Some Whose Line on Comedy Central. Then I moved to Discovery/Animal Planet. Then I got off the ride entirely.
Things were better because they had to be. The biggest changes to TV were the internet and the writers strike. The writers strike resulted in a lot of lower quality TV because they realized they could get away with it. As you remember the mid/late 2000s was filled with reality garbage. Why cater to a specific demographic when you can just appease the lowest denominator. Plus lifelong fans of shows or genres can get upset and stop watching if you do stuff they don't like, whereas reality TV and stuff lower budget is meant to be safe and appealing to wide audiences.

The internet just changed distribution so it's out of cable companies hands. The market for XYZ is gone from TV because it's all online now. So why would a TV channel try to reach for that market when it was barely profitable to begin with.
__________________
JUST NUKE THE FUCKING SUN


PROUD OWNER OF A MISSINGNO. IN FIZZY BUBBLES
Lady Kuno is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2018, 04:28 PM   #5
McSweeney
Soul Badge
 
McSweeney's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Posts: 1,488
I disagree. I wrote a post here where I argued that TV is way better now than it used to be in the 90s. Although I wrote the post 4 years ago so maybe "the new golden age of television" has now passed and it's crappy again.
__________________


Smoking Gary sez:
"Stay in school kidz"
McSweeney is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2018, 04:31 PM   #6
ChampofPokemon
Cascade Badge
 
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 407
TV has gotten a lot better for me over the last 5 years or so.
ChampofPokemon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-29-2018, 12:55 AM   #7
AK2
Boulder Badge
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Somewhere in America
Posts: 170
Send a message via AIM to AK2 Send a message via Skype™ to AK2
Some of the shows I watch are Hulu/Netflix originals, or anime streamed from Japan, so that already destroys the Desi Arnaz 30 minute with commercials format that American tv has known for 70 years. However, to REALLY drive it home, I can't remember the last time I haven't watched something on Youtube/on my hard-drive via VLC and either not doubled the speed or multi-tasked on something important. No commercials, stay productive OR cut the time in half... BOOM! Always up to date on the shows I really care about, and still have time for the rest of my day.

For money and time reasons, since I've always been more of a story-line person over the game aspect much of the time, 90% of my gaming experience has been similiar: watch it on youtube with the play-through, maybe get some funny commentary and check out half-assed witty comments, double the speed and fast-forward when I want too, and we have there a new chapter in my gaming life.... so long 100 hours spent leveling up in an RPG or dying redundantly for hours on end in an action game!

Gotta love modern technology.
AK2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-31-2018, 01:00 AM   #8
Chiko
Chiko Chiko Chi
 
Chiko's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: To the world, to the world, to the world, to the world where you live
Posts: 1,834
TV is great doppel... oh wait, my tv is hooked up to streaming services, carry on.
__________________
Chiko is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-09-2018, 01:33 AM   #9
big bad birtha
Volcano Badge
 
big bad birtha's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,878
What's sad is that I'm beginning to understand the people who watch the droll monotonous shows on stations like MTV and whatever reality show nonsense that airs.

I'm in a similar phase where I just don't want to watch anything engaging. I'd rather just stare at something that I don't have to pay full attention to until I fall asleep.
big bad birtha is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Lower Navigation
Go Back   UPNetwork > General Forums > The Misc


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:21 AM.


Design By: Miner Skinz.com
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.