Garbage TV

[SkepticJ]

I'm guessing it's mostly due to the blossoming of the number of television channels that has resulted in this state of affairs--most of TV is just not that good. Some of it--too much--is downright garbage.

"Reality" TV, Ghost-shows and most of what's on The History Channel are trash by default, so it's unnecessary to mention them further.

First up is Time Warp. The show is high speed digital video cameras recording things. That's all it is!
"Hey, wonder what _______ looks like in high speed." "Dude, lets bleepin' record it!"

Tosh.0--all the most moronic videos on YouTube collected and distilled for TV.

[ABR.]

Because it simply has to be listed in this thread: Quark.

Thank you, I'm done now.

[Swift]

most of TV is just not that good. Some of it--too much--is downright garbage.

Yes.

We have basic cable and get something like 50 or 60 channels. It is quite normal that among those, I can not find a single thing I want to watch. Good thing I have BAUT to spend my time on.

[TheOncomingStorm]

When I saw the title I thought of this.
http://www.discoverychannel.ca/showpage.aspx?sid=19241

[KaiYeves]

I thought the title was "Garbage IV", which seemed... rather disturbing.

[DonM435]

Awhile back, I was sitting in a waiting room at an automotive place while having my oil changed. I got to see one of those daytime-TV "talk" shows that exploits confrontations and has lots of stupid people screaming at one another with 70% of the words bleeped out, and the occasional start of a fistfight. Talk about ghastly.

As soon as the other patrons had left, I switched it off and relished the silence.

[Buttercup]

I'm guessing it's mostly due to the blossoming of the number of television channels that has resulted in this state of affairs--most of TV is just not that good. Some of it--too much--is downright garbage.

Yep. That's also why we have scads of "celebrities" these days. Or pseudo-celebrities I should say.

[mahesh]

I thought the title was "Garbage IV", which seemed... rather disturbing.

HAR!

You are soooo funny, Kai!

[Swift]

I thought the title was "Garbage IV", which seemed... rather disturbing.

Sure, everyone knows the odd-numbered Garbages are the best.

[SkepticJ]

We have basic cable and get something like 50 or 60 channels. It is quite normal that among those, I can not find a single thing I want to watch. Good thing I have BAUT to spend my time on.

I have over 100, and it's basically only because I have a DVR that I get to watch anything worthwhile.

[KaiYeves]

Sure, everyone knows the odd-numbered Garbages are the best.

No, I mean like an IV in a hospital.

[SkepticJ]

Awhile back, I was sitting in a waiting room at an automotive place while having my oil changed. I got to see one of those daytime-TV "talk" shows that exploits confrontations and has lots of stupid people screaming at one another with 70% of the words bleeped out, and the occasional start of a fistfight. Talk about ghastly.

Almost describes the Fox News Channel perfectly.

[danscope]

"300 CHANNELS AND NOTHING IS ON. It is mindblowing how much garbage
passes for something supposedly 'worthy' of television. Even the food TV channel is deteriorating into garbage 'competition' shows , whereas they used to have intelligent programs like Emeril who actually taught you everything.
Smart TV. My local cox co actually REMOVED one of the three PBS channels
we used to have access to. The island is getting smaller. Getting news at night is difficult or impossible. You get nancy grace beating some dead horse
or fox sputtering their nonsense.
When there is some golf on, golf channel is a haven. It has it's share of infomercials which is realy too bad. What is left? the weather channel?
And yes.... I find Baut refreshing!
You are not alone. We all suffer from garbage tv.
Protest!!!! READ a BOOK !! PROVE that you have an intellect to yourself.

Danscope has an extraordinary library.

Best regards,
Dan

[Chuck]

Television is like an IV for the brain.

I have only broadcast TV. I've seen 300 channel TV whilst dogsitting for some friends. I won't be paying for TV anytime soon.

[tdvance]

Almost describes the Fox News Channel perfectly.

I've watched a fair amount of Fox News and have never seen that show.

[R.A.F.]

For some reason on my local provider Comcast cable I can get the golf channel, but not the NASA channel...

Thinking of going to satellite just for that...


OK...as far as garbage, how about Dancing with the Stars (I like to call it, "shut up and dance" ).

Their idea of what a "star" is, is debatable to say the least.

Actually any reality show is pretty much garbage...

[A.DIM]

Simply put, there need be an "equals" symbol (ie = ) after the first word in the thread's title.

[mike alexander]

Among my favorites are the channels selling jewelry. Ghastly. The jewelry, I mean.

Then there are the Law and Order channels. At least it seems like there are several. I'm waiting for Law and Order: Infinite Series. Lately I keep hoping Vincent D'Nofrio will just charge in from off-camera and strangle Christopher Mellloni.

For news I watch The Daily Show and Colbert Report so I can get some actual content in the stories.

[tdvance]

You know, if people bought channels individually instead of in packages, I bet things would be cleaned up. Legally, the option has to be available from cable companies, but of course, each channel is expensive enough that unless you want to buy just a few, it's cheaper to get a package. Essentially, the well-watched channels and shows subsidize the others.

[danscope]

Hi, How about a "Pick 40 " option. It wouldn't take long to scrap some stupid channels.... especially the cis cleveland/ newark/ tempe...etc.
Fill in the blank. Why would I want to pay for either that, soap opera or
the chump jewelry channel??? Imagine buying diamond(??) jewelry on tv?
How ridiculous. And I wonder how those 'shoes' fit on HSC and qvc ?
That's why we have shoe stores,folks.
Ah.... well.
Best regards,
Dan

[HenrikOlsen]

I think the problem isn't that there's less quality TV, but rather that the growth of quality TV has been much less than the growth of the amount of TV broadcast hours per day,which has resulted in a plummeting quality/garbage ratio.
It's still there, but the task of finding it is much harder.

[DonM435]

There's the old Sturgeon's Law that says that 90% of everything is crud.

Back when you had 10 channels, you might have one good one.

Now, you have 300 to choose from, but fewer than 30 good ones. Maybe two or three good ones.

Only problem is that the ratio has gotten smaller.

[peter eldergill]

Why is there so much "Reality TV"?

Easy: It's cheap, cheap, cheap programming to produce. Even if the "prize" is $1000000, that's a pittance compared to actually, you know, paying for actors

It's also really easy to take 10 minutes of content and stretch it into an hour. North American TV is really bad for this, with endless recaps of what already happened, previews of "what's coming up next", having the participants prattle on about how their opponents are such jerks and so forth.

For an example of this, take a look at the difference in the British version of Ramsey's kitchen nightmares and the (unwatchable) American version just called Kitchen Nightmares. I also find Hell's kitchen unwatchable.

Enough ranting for now

Pete

[sarongsong]

I think...quality TV...'s still there, but the task of finding it is much harder...

...who will teach our students how to look at television, and when not to, and with what critical equipment when they do...The problem is not that television presents us with entertainining subject matter, but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining...
Neil Postman

[mike alexander]

Why is there so much "Reality TV"?

Easy: It's cheap, cheap, cheap programming to produce. Even if the "prize" is $1000000, that's a pittance compared to actually, you know, paying for actors

It's also really easy to take 10 minutes of content and stretch it into an hour. North American TV is really bad for this, with endless recaps of what already happened, previews of "what's coming up next", having the participants prattle on about how their opponents are such jerks and so forth.

For an example of this, take a look at the difference in the British version of Ramsey's kitchen nightmares and the (unwatchable) American version just called Kitchen Nightmares. I also find Hell's kitchen unwatchable.

Enough ranting for now



Pete

Quite. Like watching one of those disaster episodes on the Discovery Channel and the damned asteroid hits about eight times the second half hour. Never the first half hour, so you stay in suspense about whether the dinosaurs get wiped out or not.

[Tensor]

Quite. Like watching one of those disaster episodes on the Discovery Channel and the damned asteroid hits about eight times the second half hour. Never the first half hour, so you stay in suspense about whether the dinosaurs get wiped out or not.

I musta missed that. Did they get wiped out, or did they survive?

[mike alexander]

Tune in next week!

[Noclevername]

It's also really easy to take 10 minutes of content and stretch it into an hour.

Not to mention taking a half-hour of news and stretching it fill 24 hours. That's the reason we have so many yammering pundits dotting the landscape, having crazy guys yell at each other fills a lot of dead air time.

[NEOWatcher]

First up is Time Warp. The show is high speed digital video cameras recording things. That's all it is!
"Hey, wonder what _______ looks like in high speed." "Dude, lets bleepin' record it!"

Actually; some of that was pretty good, but they seemed to run out of ideas reeeeally fast.
How many times can you see a "shockwave" go through a body.
And this week was "look at us scream on a roller coaster in slow motion". Huh? Why?

Oh; yeah, people want to see people now, not learn anything.

I was watching some storm chasers last night. They would show a cloud, then cut to the person filming saying "oh wow, look at that. It's amazing how it's forming. I've never seen anything like it." Then they would take a quick shot of a tornado, and cut back to the driver saying "we better get out of here".

Then there was a great line on some science channel show about the guy on the Empire State building antenna.
"It's fourty something degrees outside, and in these winds it feels like 17. In subzero temperatures like this..."

[Disinfo Agent]

The great thing about crappy TV is that it gives me more time to catch up on my reading.