TV Stinks

Modern TV programming stinks, so I don't watch TV very much anymore. It must be one of those inverse laws that as the technology of our TV screens improve and look so much better, the programming put on them degrades into a mindless mush. Other than sports, news and informational shows TV leaves me uninterested. It's quite a change from my childhood days when I loved the medium and  even watched too much. But then, TV was programming far better shows for us and had a spark of intelligence now and then. But today most of what is shown on TV seems to me to be badly written, insipid, boring, vulgar, and stupid.  It's not only a vast wasteland,  but kidnaps time we should use for better things.

Aside from all that bad programming I notice a few other irritating things about the boob tube. Whenever I watch modern TV I am bugged by things that have crept into the programs. One that irritates me is the TV commercial. They always had them, but never so many per hour of broadcast. No I am not imaging this. I researched this and found that in the early days of TV the average time that a commercial was shown per hour was 13 percent. Today 31% of the hour show you watch is filled with TV commercials. And the commercials have gotten so personal. There are even ads now for Viagra, condoms, adult diapers, hemorrhoids cream and subjects that we know enough about and would rather keep to ourselves.

Another thing that bothers me about TV is the on screen clutter I see. I hate it when I am watching  a dramatic moment in a football game and an animated logo pops up at the bottom of the screen telling me not to forget to watch the next big game, next week. Why do TV shows promote upcoming shows while a current one is on the screen? Do they think we will actually pay attention to or even notice those promos? Maybe I should put adhesive tape over the bottom of the screen.

Does the volume inconsistency of TV bother you too? I hate it when I am watching a show and a commercial comes on. You can bet the volume of the commercial advertisement is louder than the show it is advertising. The businesses that pay for their commercials want to make sure we hear them, but I think playing them too loud just makes us tune them out.  There is supposed to be a law in the U.S. prohibiting TV stations from raising the volume for commercials ads.  But most of the TV stations ignore it, knowing that the power of TV to make advertisers happy usurps a law passed by Congress any day.

Then there is the technological aspect to TV that I hate. That's when a person on a show tells the viewer to "Go to Face book now to chat" about the topic or to "Remember to follow me on Twitter".  It's another indication that the show the viewer is watching must not be important or entertaining, and that TV is losing it's importance to the internet connections out there. The good thing about these programs encouraging the viewer to turn off the TV and go on line is that it may help to kill TV altogether. That might raise all of our IQ's.

The filthy dialogue and plots on TV also annoy me. Why does every character on TV talk as if he or she has a sewer in his or her mouth? It's not authentic nor cute to speak that way. Except on a TV show, life isn't about four letter words and deviant plots. If those Martians in outer space ever intercept our earthly TV series and watch a few minutes we won't have to worry about Martian invasions. What species would want to live in the potty world that TV projects?

If you disagree with my view of modern TV I dare you to watch a few of those idiotic reality TV shows back to back. If that doesn't change your mind you probably already have been enslaved by the boob tube. Just turn up the volume and surrender your mind to unreal world of  your favorite reality program.