Television and I have had a rough relationship in recent years. I am convinced this is because of two main reasons:
- Everything on TV now is mostly dreck.
- I’m not stupid.
The current state of television programming today is nauseating (See: More to Love, Two and a Half Men, and a gaggle of other recently-cancelled shows.) Worthless reality shows combined with tired sitcoms leave evening TV watching more frustrating than enjoyable. Unfortunately, because these kinds of shows appeal to the lowest common denominator, and because America is full of idiots, there seems to be little light at the end of the tunnel. American television even manages to screw up shows that would otherwise be comedy gold – like NBC’s The Office.
A quick aside about The Office and why I don’t like it: The reason the original British version is infinitely more hilarious than the American version is because of the difference between main characters David Brent and Michael Scott (played by Ricky Gervais and Steve Carell, respectively). In any given situation, Michael Scott will occasionally say something truly funny; however, he usually says something that is inappropriate, but not funny in and of itself. This awkward statement leads to an awkward situation, which some people find funny. David Brent, however, will say something that is both inappropriate and funny. So in addition to any potential hilarity that may come from an awkward situation, you get the added hilarity of what he said actually being funny.
Anyway, the only shows keeping me from turning off the TV forever are, in no particular order:
- Wipeout – Admittedly, this show appeals to baser instincts.
- How It’s Made – Always intriguing.
- The Daily Show/The Colbert Report – Funny and smart (and help satisfy my politics/news addition) but rarely earth-shattering.
- The last 10 minutes of The Biggest Loser – It’s nice to watch a TV show that actually does some good; but I really just care about the results (not the drama preceding it).
- Intermittent five-minute segments of So You Think You Can Dance – I’m amazed by the talent on the show (not the commentary surrounding it).
- Family Guy – Although I have become less and less impressed as the series has gone on.
- An honorable mention goes to Bones.
- And although it was cancelled, I think Arrested Development was one of the best shows to ever be on television.
But I recently experienced a pagan, able-to-avoid-death-for-another-year celebration where I received the first two seasons of 30 Rock on DVD. This show is simply brilliant. It is all at once clever, well-written, subtle, ridiculous, and deep. Previous to receiving the full seasons, I had never actually watched a full episode; but any time I caught even a few minutes of the show, I found myself laughing.
So I hope 30 Rock, and hopefully any future shows like it, will help pull television out of the mire it’s willfully jumped into. Until then, I’ll be watching a lot of movies, TV seasons on DVD, and Hulu.
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9 July 2009 at 9:39 am
pdxwordsmith
You are preaching to this choir member for the most part. I am thankful that I sold my television set over half a year ago, because it is much easier to watch TV on the Internet. Do you think that the semi-exodus from broadcast to streamed TV has anything to do with the lack of quality of broadcast TV that remains sub-par? I don’t have a theory yet, but feel there must be a correlation somewhere.
I don’t think that Americans are stupid, though, I think that it’s more accurate to say that there are puh-lenty of vIdiots, if you will, to whom a lot of these shows appeal. There are also lots of connoisseurs who enjoy shows like _Rescue Me_, _Kings_, _Dexter_, and other similar shows which are dense with deep characters and carefully crafted plots.
_Bones_ makes your “good viewing” list? Uh….
I invite you to check out my WordPress blog, “Doug Lavan Writes” which recently put on trial Prime Time television writing!
Happy Viewing!
9 July 2009 at 9:48 am
foodieindenver
I have been uninspired by TV offerings for a long time. We got rid of our cable TV service several years ago due to the cost and the amount of TV we were watching. It was working out to about $10 an hour. As of late we don’t have a TV that is digitally capable and we just haven’t made it out to buy one of those converted boxes. We keep meaning to but there always seems to be something better to do …
We also enjoy DVD of various movies and TV shows. We find ourselves more often in the British genres than not.
With summer here, there are a thousand things to do that are more interesting than watching reruns. Like eating – Foodieindenver
9 July 2009 at 10:06 am
Michael
while I generally avoid anything not on the Discovery Channel anymore, I highly recommend watching Lost. it is the kind of show that people in fifty years are going to look back on and say “that show did it right.”
otherwise, I approve of your list.
9 July 2009 at 10:07 am
sgold2009
Check out “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” If you like “Arrested” you will really like that show. Otherwise I totally agree that tv sucks. Even my favorite show “South Park” has gone downhill the past few seasons.
9 July 2009 at 10:14 am
montagthezine
TV has been going downhill for a longtime. And, perhaps not surprisingly, the dreck isn’t just in fictionalized programming (including “Reality TV”). CNN, a so-called news network, seems especially wired to pleasing audiences. Their recent move, being the appalling Daily Show knock-off hosted by DL Hugley.
I prefer to watch British comedies lately. The contemporaries mostly come out of improv and theater, and the shows are witty and hilarious.
Interesting you should mention The Office, as it’s not the first of shows lately to be some revamp of European or Australian programming. There’s a major difference between show content here and there, besides the boundaries of sex and language. If you’ll remember, the UK version of The Office focused on the droll of the white collar life. It was funny but at the same time, poignant social commentary (typical to Steve Merchant and Ricky Gervais, I think, after seeing ‘Extras’). The American version, save a few startling lines from Pam and Jim, and sometimes the other, almost never dwells on that. Michael Scott is meant to be the slapstick centerpoint, and the other characters follow suit.
I will, however, defend some of the cable networks like HBO and Showtime where, with the right budget and good writers, have to put together a handful of particularly stellar shows in recent years. Rome, Deadwood, Trueblood, Dexter, and The Wire come to mind.
Thankfully, there’s plenty of options these days to subvert the limited dreck. Netflix, the Internet, etc.
9 July 2009 at 10:25 am
courtneydiles
So happy somebody said it. I’ve turned my TV on maybe once or twice in the past year, and I find flipping through channels just depressing. So much is moronic. I can hardly ever find anything that I think will enrich my mind–or even entertain me.
9 July 2009 at 10:31 am
Joshua Parker
I have to agree with you. If you like murder mysteries, you should check out Harper’s Island. It is a tv show that is running for only one season with 13 episodes.
9 July 2009 at 10:42 am
Paul
Funny I should read this today, our household recently completed a 1-week Nielsen Ratings diary.
I knew we didn’t watch much TV, but doing the diary really brought it home. About a third of the time the TV was on I found I was marking the “nobody watching” column anyway.
We watched exactly zero hours of prime time major network shows. Zero. Hours. It really is all warmed over, unappealing lowest common denominator stuff, with as many adverts jammed in as possible. They’ve found a formula that gets ratings right now, but God help them if the average viewer wakes up and realizes how poor most of it is. The fall season is a bit better, but the only two shows we consistently watch then are both going into their 6th seasons and could jump the shark at any time (if they haven’t already).
Even the “big brain” channels like Discovery are starting to fall into the same trap of reheating old ideas that were successful. “Deadliest Catch” was a huge success, so now there’s a whole genre of “tough guys doing dangerous jobs in harsh environments and shouting at each other a lot” shows cluttering up those channels, half of which for some inexplicable reason are about chopping down trees.
9 July 2009 at 10:44 am
Scott
pdxwordsmith: I’ll have to think about the connection between more online watching and less good broadcast TV; a future post, perhaps. I have seen a few episodes of “Rescue Me” and was impressed; most of my grievances are directed toward the network stations.
foodieindenver: amen.
Michael: I’ve never actually attempted “Lost” because I’ve been told it’s too late to join; I’d be too lost (pun intended). Maybe I’ll get it on Netflix.
sgold2009: I’ve watched a bit of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” and while the premise of each episode is hilarious (like opening their bar to under-age drinkers or everyone trying to sleep with each others’ parents) the execution has not been there for me. In other words, funny premise; not always dialog/acting/etc.
asaresearch: I hate CNN with a passion. If you search my site for CNN, you’ll find nothing but barragement.
courtneydiles: amen.
Joshua Parker: I’ll have to check that out, too.
9 July 2009 at 10:45 am
Scott
Paul: “Tough guys doing dangerous jobs in harsh environments and shouting at each other a lot” sounds like a decent SNL sketch. You should get in touch with Lorne.
9 July 2009 at 10:50 am
AdamBlueKC
I absolutely agree with watching TV series on DVD. It’s really the COMMERCIALS that are killing you. Let me just get into that a little further:
Drug commercials – what the hell? Does anyone remember drug commercials in the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s? Maybe the occasional Tums, Aspirin, or cold medicine – but today’s drug commercials are CRAZY. Every other word is “heart attack” and “stroke” – it’s actually started to affect me subconsciously.
My favorite thing to do while watching TV commercials is to see how the marketing reps match up their product with their audience. How many fried chicken commercials do you think that you’ll see during a re-run of the Bernie Mac Show? I always know that I’m watching intelligent TV when the commercials are less McDonald’s and more Financial Companies. Watch the golf channel for instance to see what I mean. No commercials for stupid people on the golf channel, but you’ll sure see a commercial for PayDay Loans on any given Reality TV Show.
Here’s another good one – the tv execs are taking advantage of a terrible economy. The best example is the new STUPID tv show with the two hideously obese mexican fat asses going around repossessing cars. This is a TV show?? Bet you’ll see the old Colonel selling his chicken during THAT show.
I suppose my point is, if you like – or think that you might like a TV show – wait until it comes out on DVD and enjoy it commercial free.
And in closing, a good rule of thumb is to watch what kind of commercials are coming on during the show you are watching – that will usually tell you what mentality level the show is on.
Seinfeld Rules – end of story.
9 July 2009 at 10:58 am
Scott
AdamBlueKC: I agree with everything you say, except your last remark. While I agree that Seinfeld was good, I could never really get into it. Many people joke that it was “A show about nothing” as if that made it endearing; but that was the main point that turned me off to it.