The state of TV and radio.

[Jodie]

I don't really think it makes sense to deride TV because there's some rubbish on it.

Let's deride the rubbish, not the medium. I'll accept that, as the TV is pretty passive
for the end user (you just sit and watch it) rather than a book (which you mostly have
to hold and turn pages, except audio books!), there's a bigger temptation to consume
without consideration - but there really is some good stuff on there; some of it has
even got me out of the house

After all I'm sure there are some fairly poor books out there too. I don't think I'm
saying anything new or earth shattering here?

I'd wholeheartedly agree that daytime telly is more noise than signal though.

 

[British Red]

As I said Jodie - the opiate of the masses.

Opiates are very useful used with discretion and intelligence for their intended purpose. Used repeatedly and indiscriminately though they lead to a desparate craving and people tend to consume their fix without worrying that someone has removed the content and added a useless and even dangerous filler.

Big Brother

The case for the prosecution rests m'lud

The fact that I occasionally, and under supervision, take an episode of "The Tribe" or indulge in some Jack Hargreaves after dinner is different

I can give it up any time I want....................

Red

 

[Tadpole]

it's mostly about the USA, but what they have now give it 10 years and we'll be doing the same

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgOWTM5R2DA

T.V., is it the reflector or the director?
Does it imitate us
or do we imitate it
because a child watches 1500 murders before he's
twelve years old and we wonder why we've created
a Jason generation that learns to laugh
rather than to abhor the horror
T.V. is the place where
armchair generals and quarterbacks can
experience first hand
the excitement of warfare
as the theme song is sung in the background
Sugar sweet sitcoms
that leave us with a bad actor taste while
pop stars metamorphosize into soda pop stars
You saw the video
You heard the soundtrack
Well now go buy the soft drink
Well, the onla cola that I support
would be a union C.O.L.A.(Cost Of Living Allowance)
On television

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

 

[suburban bushwacker]

Re the TV
It’s called the idiots lantern for two reasons
1. They are drawn to it like moths to a flame
2. They use it to light their way through the darkness.

 

[Twoflower]

I've not owned a telly for over a year now and I can't imagine that I'm missing anything. Every few months I'll get a chance to watch Sky for a night where there are some good documentaries shown .. but one night every few months is all that is needed to watch the entire programming of Sky telly. What I find sad is that there are people that happily pay good money for 500 channels of nothing every night and, my biggest hate on telly, commercials at the exactly the same time on every channel so you can't flick around between programmes

Upgrade to Sky Plus so you can record sh*t we play over and over again anyway!

Something else I've noticed .. no matter where you are, if there is a telly on then most people's gaze are drawn to it! I know it happens to me and it's damn annoying.

 

[Jodie]

Nicely put Red

Probably my favourite passive activity is going and hearing talks, with slides or
without, from people who can tell me something interesting. But I do love my
telly, YouTube and TV Links.

I thought the advert for Big Yellow's storage facilities was really quite lovely - it's
on YouTube (the advert is called Waves). A visual treat among the dross.

Jo

 

[Grooveski]

Six months since mine blinked out and don't miss it one bit.
(Except for the bike racing )

I am gross and perverted
I'm obsessed 'n deranged
I have existed for years
But very little has changed
I'm the tool of the Government
And industry too
For I am destined to rule
And regulate you

I may be vile and pernicious
But you can't look away
I make you think I'm delicious
With the stuff that I say
I'm the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I'm the slime oozin' out
From your TV set

You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don't need you
Don't go for help . . . no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold

F Zappa

 

[Silverback]

I am afraid I am going to have to go widely against the grain and say I love my telly. I spend three nights a week in the gym, one night a week out shooting and go stalking and shrafting as often as I can with two little boys and a long suffering wife to boot. I could not live without any of the aforementioned for sure but given my active lifestyle I sit down in front of the old goggle box guilt free and enjoy. That said I don't tend to watch the dross (anything on saturdays or before 6pm weekdays) but like nothing more than a dodgy horror flick, a bit of Hell's kitchen (the particular bit being Adele Silva at the moment ) and a generous helping of the discovery channel. I also love my Playtstation 3 and ipod but they are all enjoyed in moderation (with the exception of my wife and kids - I can't get enough of them ) , I think that is the key

 

[Tengu]

http://www.tvbgone.com/cfe_tvbg_main.php

Im am fortunate in that Im almost never in a situation when I need to use mine.

But the times I do....

 

[Jodie]

Heh Tengu that's brilliant

I've switched televisions off at the mains (if the plug is visible) but your method is
much subtler, sneakier and works even when the plug is hidden.

 

[Too Much Kit To Carry]

I don't really think it makes sense to deride TV because there's some rubbish on it.

Yes I agree Jodie - but there are standards........perhaps we could all remember them and live by them

Phil.

 

[Jedadiah]

I feel the need, the need to contribute!

TV, i feel, provides a service. A service that the consumer can choose. They can choose to watch any channel and any programme they like. There is so much choice that they even provide an off button. I choose to watch whatever i like and i have watched some marvelous programmes. Items that educate and items that amuse. I choose not to watch programmes that exploit the vain need's of happless and feckless individuals, and i sometimes wonder what type of world we live in that requires a programme to be made that features Jeremy Kyle. I like programmes that inform, but i don't like programmes that patronise. Then i exercise my right to turn off.

However, if you do turn on at 17:30 and language like that is used, are they surprised that the younger generation talk like that? How can they make programmes about the degeneration of todays youth when they are in fact, perpetuating the downward spiral of respect and common courtesy. I was always brought up to 'treat people as you would like to be tret yourself'. I still believe it. Respect cannot be genuinely earnt by force, aggression or intimidation. I think that TMKTC has done the right thing and i fully support his actions. .

More people should complain. I know it's not a 'British' thing to do, but now we are 'European' we should learn to be European. That means, we should be as efficent as the Germans, sleep all afternoon like the Spanish, be as likeable and chilled out as the Dutch, ride scooters and pinch ladies bottoms like the Italians and strike and complain like the French. I'd like to apologise if i have offended anyone, but, like Channel 4, i dont care!

 

[xylaria]

Yes I agree Jodie - but there are standards........perhaps we could all remember them and lived by them

Phil.

I agree, But as parent who feels she very liberal minded, I have banned certain children products/promotions from the house because they are tantamount to grooming. I actually prefer my daughter to witness swearing than watch bratz or some of the over sexualized drivel that is pumped at her generation. She is ten, and the intellectually vacant cartoon characters which is on the the TV espeicially on cable, filling childrens heads with ultra passive feminine role models. The vast the majority of cartoons aimed at girls of her age pump the barely clothed, passive, stupid, you want boyz to like you, stereotype.

I can counteract most of the brainwashing that my children are exposed to by pointing out the motivation of the media, but I find it very difficult to discuss why there is section of the media that wishes to sexualize her age group to sell dolls that are dressed like whores. Because frankly the motivation of the production companies involved in marketing these products is very worrying.

On jedadiah piont of respect I try and teach my children to respect there bodies as well others, I do not need a media that teaches them to disrespect women, or teaches them they are sex objects. They should not be exposed to swearing either.

 

[Matt Weir]

Listening to todays afternoon play on Radio4 there were 2 'sh!ts' at 14:30!

 

[Porcupine]

hmm, i tend to think the current state of tv and radio is a mirror of the wants and needs of the average person out there.

if it pulls a public they program more of it, conclusion for me is that the average joe or jill wants to see swearing, racism, fighting and plenty of other things im not enjoying.

it is not so much the radio or tv thats in a sorry state but the general population i am afraid

 

[Tengu]

You should try Anime, Xylaria.

I was watching one of the latest series on my Saamitop (it must be, mustnt it? they all have them) `Ergo Proxy` and it sent me off to the bookshelves to look up various philosphers I had long forgotten about.

 

[Silverback]

It is unfortunate the way that some abbreviations have been adopted over time as particularly offensive swear words because the actual origins are quite interesting and relatively tame

Bird droppings were once prized as fertiliser and were transported on board ship low down in the holds which regularly flooded. The abbreviation for Store High In Transit was daubed on the crates to prevent them from becoming waterlogged and thus useless

Couples used to have to gain royal permission if they wished to have a child and once granted would display the abbreviation for Fornication Under Consent of the King on their front doors

As I said before I in no way endorse the use of bad language in front of children but I found this interesting so thought I would share

 

[Tadpole]

It is unfortunate the way that some abbreviations have been adopted over time as particularly offensive swear words because the actual origins are quite interesting and relatively tame

Bird droppings were once prized as fertiliser and were transported on board ship low down in the holds which regularly flooded. The abbreviation for Store High In Transit was daubed on the crates to prevent them from becoming waterlogged and thus useless

Remorsefully, but this is just a modern myth started on the internet some time in February 2002

Couples used to have to gain royal permission if they wished to have a child and once granted would display the abbreviation for Fornication Under Consent of the King on their front doors
As I said before I in no way endorse the use of bad language in front of children but I found this interesting so thought I would share

Fornication was something married people could not do, only unmarried people fornicate. so it's an old old myth.
the word comes, either from an Indo-European root 'peuk' "to *****" via Norwegian dialect fukka meaning "to copulate"; and Swedish dialect focka meaning "to strike, push, copulate" or from a pseudo-latin word 'fuccant' first used in 1278, by John le Fuc.ker

Non sunt in celi quia fuccant uuiuys of heli.

 

[Silverback]

:11doh: Well there you go just goes to show how much I know

 

[thingswelike]

I wasn't allowed to watch Grange Hill when I was a child, and I hated the fact that everyone would talk about it at school and I didn't see it.
But now I'm a parent I can see exactly why I wasn't allowed to see it - it's mostly just people being mean to each other. But then how many adults watch the same thing on Eastenders!

Before Niall was born, we decided to get a home cinema projector instead of a TV. It's the best thing we ever did. First, the screen is in the ceiling most of the time so it isn't just a grey box begging to be switched on. We have proper family get-togethers around things like Planet Earth, occasional films, etc. The system is also too complicated for Niall to understand how to switch it on, which helps.

Now he's started school, it will be interesting to see if he comes home asking to watch stuff. There are countries where series like Pokemon/Bratz/etc are seen as advertorials and are banned. I've always been amazed that adverts aimed at children are allowed at all tbh. Is it Sweden where it's not?