Anyone else think TV is crappier than ever?

[Feyd]

whenever I turn the t.v. on I notice that I don't know exactly what I want to watch, I just hope I can find something worth investing half an hour to an hour watching.

tonight I watched a rerun of seinfeld and a rerun of the office while cooking and then eating dinner... basically just because I was in the kitchen/living room. otherwise I don't watch anything. I just listen to music and dick around online....

 

[miltonchitlin]

I've been watching paranormal cops and ghost hunters on demand. Marijuana Planet is on Fridays at midnight, it's worthwhile. Wonder how deadliest catch gets on without capt Phil.

Swamp loggers, ice road truckers and bull run are all crap.

On mainstream TV I still enjoy Survivor and CSI. Jackass and nitro circus are cool when ppl are over and it's time to chill.

 

[medi-useA-Redux]

I gave up on tv 10-15 years ago...
I have never seen any of the 'reality shows' they've been spewing out...I've never seen an episode of Seinfeld, mad about you, sex and the city, desperate housewives or any number of other programs...I actively avoid the crap on tv...and the incessant 'sports events' ...I mainly watch documentaries on the ABC {Australian Broadcasting Corp} and SBS {a multi-cultural and ethnic broadcaster}...and when th@'s not enough...DVD's...
Documentaries are good.
The World at War.
Many of the Nugus/Martin series are worthwhile...
Ken Burns has some great ones...
There was one on blues music, I think co-produced by Scorcese or another well respected film director...it was suprisingly good!...

Older tv shows on dvd are great.
Callan is superb.
Battlestar Galactica, the newer series, is good.
Fawlty Towers shines...as usual
The Brittas Empire is a hoot as is Red Dwarf!
The new version of the Origional Series of Star Trek with re-rendered special effects and sound is bloody marvelous.
...
...
When there's crap on tv, go dvd!

muA

 

[Marywanna]

We like to make up stupid names for TV shows........."Head Of The Class" was always head up yer ass. Just think of the possibilities...........

 

[Islandbud]

We kicked the TV habit two years ago and couldn't be happier. I thought I'd miss the televised Olympics but the web coverage was better.

Time is so special and shouldn't be wasted on the idiot box especially the crap they are showing. Make the switch and you'll feel better with less mind clutter.

 

[-~Wind Walker~-]

and me? I might not have even turned my set off once in 4 years.

with well over 100 channels & the ability to flip through the cable guide 10 stations at a time I often see there's nothin' worth watching so I've built a huge DVD collection, yeah I've seen them all but I'm always in the mood for a classic.......

Around Christmas time I bought for $2.00 at a bargain store

Shaft in Africa

One of the best movies I have watched, and one of the best soundtracks I listened to in a long time.

-~WW~-

 

[cork144]

I was waiting for you to chime in with that.

sombody has to tell the truth.

 

[Marywanna]

Around Christmas time I bought for $2.00 at a bargain store

Shaft in Africa

One of the best movies I have watched, and one of the best soundtracks I listened to in a long time.

-~WW~-

Hey WW,if you like Shaft,you will LOVE "Blacula"

 

[cork144]

1. TV makes you deader.
TV-viewing is a pretty deadly pastime, research suggests. No matter how much time you spend in the gym, every hour you spend in front of the TV increases your risk of dying from heart disease, according to a recent report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. Australian researchers studied 8,800 adult men and women for an average of six years and found that every hour spent in front of the TV translated into an 11 percent increase in the risk of death from any cause, a 9 percent increase in the risk of death from cancer and an 18 percent increase in the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. So, compared to people who watched less than two hours of TV a day, those who watched four or more hours a day had a 46 percent higher risk of death from any cause and an 80 percent higher risk of death due to cardiovascular disease. And that was true even among people who didn’t smoke, were thin, ate healthy diets and had low blood pressure and cholesterol.

2. TV makes you drunker.
TV may make you drink more. When it comes to drinking, we’re apparently very susceptible to what we see on TV, according to a report published in Alcohol and Alcoholism. To discover whether what we view actually affects drinking habits, researchers rounded up 80 male university students between the ages of 18 and 29 and plunked them down in a bar-like setting where the students were allowed to watch movies and commercials on TV. The researchers found that men who watched films and commercials in which alcohol was prominently featured immediately reached for a glass of beer or wine and drank an average of 1.5 glasses more than those who watched films and commercials in which alcohol played a less prominent role.

3. TV can make your kid pregnant.
Teens who watched a lot of TV that included sexual content were twice as likely to get pregnant, according to a study published in Pediatrics. Once a year for three years, Rand Corporation researchers surveyed 1,461 youngsters — ages 12 to 17 at the beginning of the study — about TV-viewing habits and sexual behavior. Boys were asked if they had ever gotten a girl pregnant and girls were asked if they had ever been pregnant. To get a handle on how much sexually charged TV kids were watching, the researchers asked teens if and how often they viewed 23 specific programs.
Another study showed that kids who watch two or more hours of TV a day start having sex earlier, according to a report in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. Researchers followed 4,808 students for a year. The kids — all ages 15 or younger — had never had sex at the beginning of the study. Among kids with parents who disapproved of teen sex, those who watched two or more hours of TV per day were 72 percent more likely to start having sex by the end of the study. The researchers said they weren’t surprised to find no TV effect among kids with parents who didn’t care about teen sex since those kids were at high risk of early sex anyway.

4. TV weakens your bones.
Hours spent watching TV can set a kid up for later problems with brittle bones, according to a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics. Until we hit 25 or so, we accumulate bone in a kind of savings account. The more bone we build when we’re younger, the less likely we are to develop the brittle-bone disease osteoporosis.

To see whether TV watching might impact kids’ bone growth, researchers followed 214 3-year-olds for four years. The children’s height and weight were checked every four months, along with their activity levels. At each checkup, parents were asked about their kids’ TV-viewing habits. The more TV kids watched, the less bone they grew, regardless of how active they were at other times.

5. TV makes you less engaging.
A recent study found that when the TV is on — even if it’s just in the background — parents interact less with their kids. To learn more about TV’s effects, researchers brought 51 infants and toddlers, each accompanied by a parent, to a university child study center, according to the report published Child Development. Parents and kids were observed for half an hour in a playroom without a TV and then for a half hour with the TV tuned to an adult program such as "Jeopardy!" When the TV was on, parents spent about 20 percent less time talking to their children. And when parents did pay attention to their kids, the quality of the interactions was lower: With a program on in the background, parents were less active, attentive and responsive to their youngsters.

 

[SpasticGramps]

Funny how a lot of things seem a little off or don't quite feel right these days, eh? Little things that tug at people's instinct, but then the TV tells us it's all ok.

There is always method to madness by people smarter than you or I.

Those questions are your survival instincts trying to scream at deaf ears.

 

[Red Fang]

I used to like Lost but now it just has me, well, lost!
Marijuana Planet? I haven't been able to find that, will do another search.

 

[ocean99]

Was TV ever not crappy? Only channel I'm into is Animal Planet. Used to like a couple shows on Adult Swim, but their lineup now is bullshit.

 

[stc9357]

Nope, tv's excellent especially after that ass r**ing UCONN just took the line for St. John's was 1.75 laughing all the way to the bank love it.

 

[anonamix]

on the 21st tune into discovery, Planet Earth: Life
Seriously, i've watched other episodes stoned the whole time slack jawed and mesmerized.

Also I like parks&Rec, the office, breaking bad, always sunny in philly, Cash Cab, tosh.0, man vs. wild, survivorman, alot of animal planet.

Theres some good shows out there if you know what to look for. I love comin home from work, rollin one up, and tunin in for my shows.

Although nowadays I could almost just use the web for entertainment.. Utube, watch-movies.com, etc..

 

[Reefdoggie]

Call me crazy, but I think TV is better than ever. Back in the day, there were very few channels one could receive, and they were mostly mainstream plek! Now, I can tune in some nudity, cussing & fightin, seriously cool sci-fi/fantasy shows, and lots of creative programs from around the globe. And the equipment is much better too, which seriously enhances the viewing & listening a ton! Sure, it's not perfect (too many commercials, no "carte blanche" selectivity on cable lineups, expensive, etc.) but it seems to be evolving for the better. Overall, I find the TV viewing experience vastly superior to the state of tv watchin from even a decade ago. Now if my TV could just "auto-mute" the ShamWow guy...

 

[K.J]

Another dissenter here. TV is better than ever, yet worse than ever....all because we have SO much programming to choose from. If you choose wisely, you win with some REALLY good programming...if not, well, then TV still sucks.

Try something intelligent, like Caprica (SyFy), or perhaps Breaking Bad (AMC...coming back in a few months for another season). I could list more, but I won't bother...just spend some time digging through your providers menu and record a few. Oh, that's the other thing...other than live news, I WILL NOT watch anything but DVR'd TV. You can get so much more quality TV in without the need to waste time being advertised to (not that I'm anti advertisement, I just find most of them insipid and unoriginal).

 

[anonamix]

Another dissenter here. TV is better than ever, yet worse than ever....all because we have SO much programming to choose from. If you choose wisely, you win with some REALLY good programming...if not, well, then TV still sucks.

Try something intelligent, like Caprica (SyFy), or perhaps Breaking Bad (AMC...coming back in a few months for another season). I could list more, but I won't bother...just spend some time digging through your providers menu and record a few. Oh, that's the other thing...other than live news, I WILL NOT watch anything but DVR'd TV. You can get so much more quality TV in without the need to waste time being advertised to (not that I'm anti advertisement, I just find most of them insipid and unoriginal).

Just to let you know, Breaking Bad season premiere is March 21st!

Also, I see what you mean with DVR, but when theres a new episode of my show, i just can wait lol

 

[medi-useA-Redux]

Another dissenter here. TV is better than ever, yet worse than ever....all because we have SO much programming to choose from. If you choose wisely, you win with some REALLY good programming...if not, well, then TV still sucks.

Try something intelligent, like Caprica (SyFy), or perhaps Breaking Bad (AMC...coming back in a few months for another season). I could list more, but I won't bother...

Is th@ the prequel series to BattleStar Galactica? the new version?

muA

 

[motaloca]

I moved house and there is no cable acces. after a couple of weeks of cold turkey I'm fine and don't want cable back. i watch no TV at all now.
I got a huge dvd collection that's enough for me.

 

[bong-king]

Anyone thats looking for something stimulating to watch, head straight over to http://www.TED.com. Their tag line is "Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world".. Thought provoking talks given by people that actually know what they're talking about. Freaky huh ?!