Since I have been ill the past few weeks I have watched more
TV than I would like to. When you are constantly nauseated and tired
it's hard to read. That's what I have been going through, and the
consequence is that it has steered me to the boob tube....what you call
TV. I normally don't watch TV that much because there is little
challenging on it . Apart from some live news and sports events and a
few things I might stumble on, TV leaves me with he feeling that there
isn't much of value to see there. It's probably because I am out of
touch with and don't particularly like what I modern culture that TV
offerings seem stupid, anti intelligent and a time waster. But when too
sick to leave the house and unable to read, TV comes into play.
After several weeks of watching some of the programs that TV shows I haven't changed my negative opinion of it, but I did find a channel or two of nostalgia programs that I like. Those old TV series are shown just as they were presented in the 50's and 60's in the innocent days of the world in which they debuted. In my view, the quality of the TV shows of that generation is vastly superior to what is made and broadcast today. Early TV often could be thought provoking and did not rely on sex, violence or special effects in the programs. In fact those attributes were not allowed by the TV censors of the day. I wish those censors could be brought back to today's TV, and I wish real talent would replace the inane garbage that is what TV is today. Maybe then the producers and performers could instead rely on talent, originality and hard work in bringing us a more entertaining and challenging line up of programming. The death of all reality TV would be a good first step to resurrecting TV.
I will spare you any more rants about why TV is so lousy today. I think you may already agree anyway. But one thing I want to mention is how much fun it was to see the old shows from the 50's and 60's in my much older aged perspective. Those old shows all hold up well today, though they do seem innocent. But I think innocence can be a good thing sometimes. What the old shows were and are is an escape to a more pleasant world than to the ugly world TV shows lead us today. Instead of the violent and cruel escapism that is modern TV, the old shows give a more idealized Disney-like world, one in which we can reside for the hour or so when we watch and feel no stress or angst There seemed to be no politically correct agendas in any of the programs I watched. And most importantly, there was nothing cruel or negative to it. No one is humiliated in those old shows, and scandal does not replace substance.
And how nice to see those performers in their youth again.....Charles Bronson as a young escaped convict in a 1955 Alfred Hitchcock TV episode, a baby faced "new sensation" group named The Beach Boys on a Jack Benny Program episode, an up and coming 18 year old actress named Diane Lane talking about her 18th birthday on the old Tonight Show, A young Nat King Cole singing his new hit 'Mona Lisa'.....and on and on.
I don't imagine today's TV will be as enduring as those older versions have been. TV today is fools gold, not the real thing. It seems to me that today's TV shows are more likely to make me sick than to relieve my tired, nauseated viral symptoms. No wonder TV is such a vast wasteland today.
After several weeks of watching some of the programs that TV shows I haven't changed my negative opinion of it, but I did find a channel or two of nostalgia programs that I like. Those old TV series are shown just as they were presented in the 50's and 60's in the innocent days of the world in which they debuted. In my view, the quality of the TV shows of that generation is vastly superior to what is made and broadcast today. Early TV often could be thought provoking and did not rely on sex, violence or special effects in the programs. In fact those attributes were not allowed by the TV censors of the day. I wish those censors could be brought back to today's TV, and I wish real talent would replace the inane garbage that is what TV is today. Maybe then the producers and performers could instead rely on talent, originality and hard work in bringing us a more entertaining and challenging line up of programming. The death of all reality TV would be a good first step to resurrecting TV.
I will spare you any more rants about why TV is so lousy today. I think you may already agree anyway. But one thing I want to mention is how much fun it was to see the old shows from the 50's and 60's in my much older aged perspective. Those old shows all hold up well today, though they do seem innocent. But I think innocence can be a good thing sometimes. What the old shows were and are is an escape to a more pleasant world than to the ugly world TV shows lead us today. Instead of the violent and cruel escapism that is modern TV, the old shows give a more idealized Disney-like world, one in which we can reside for the hour or so when we watch and feel no stress or angst There seemed to be no politically correct agendas in any of the programs I watched. And most importantly, there was nothing cruel or negative to it. No one is humiliated in those old shows, and scandal does not replace substance.
And how nice to see those performers in their youth again.....Charles Bronson as a young escaped convict in a 1955 Alfred Hitchcock TV episode, a baby faced "new sensation" group named The Beach Boys on a Jack Benny Program episode, an up and coming 18 year old actress named Diane Lane talking about her 18th birthday on the old Tonight Show, A young Nat King Cole singing his new hit 'Mona Lisa'.....and on and on.
I don't imagine today's TV will be as enduring as those older versions have been. TV today is fools gold, not the real thing. It seems to me that today's TV shows are more likely to make me sick than to relieve my tired, nauseated viral symptoms. No wonder TV is such a vast wasteland today.
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