Television Is Boring
Friday, November 30, 2007 Filed in: Media
Television has become predictable and boring. 500
channels and nothing is on. The next great thing on
television isn't on TV.
It isn't just network television which has become banal, boring, and bad. Cable television suffers from the same intrinsic defect. Originality ended with Robin Williams as Mork.
The times, they are a changing and the winds of change are coming to the boob tube, too. So-called 'hip' situation comedies are simply faster dialog with no laugh track. The Bionic Woman is hot but dark. House is dark but not hot.
Television producers haven't figured out that less is more. Shows these days are more about 'more is not enough' and the ever present need to flog our sensibilities with ever increasing ridiculously dramatic turns of event.
Reality shows are not based on reality. Soap operas have invaded the prime time scene, but lost the soap monicker. Lost is a soap opera.
Popular serials on the SciFi Channel have multiple season premieres and season finales. That's two seasons in one year. Why?
If television in the 21st century is boring, what will television be like when everyone else realizes it's boring?
I have a theory. At some point, television will be controlled by our computers, and programming will come, not only from network broadcasts and cable outlets, but via the internet. Think of it as a melding of cable television programming with DVR's and TiVo and your computer, which records whatever you want, and plays it back whenever you want.
One thing is for certain, advertising, which pays the bills, will not go away. After all, it's advertising which keeps television entertaining.
It isn't just network television which has become banal, boring, and bad. Cable television suffers from the same intrinsic defect. Originality ended with Robin Williams as Mork.
The times, they are a changing and the winds of change are coming to the boob tube, too. So-called 'hip' situation comedies are simply faster dialog with no laugh track. The Bionic Woman is hot but dark. House is dark but not hot.
Television producers haven't figured out that less is more. Shows these days are more about 'more is not enough' and the ever present need to flog our sensibilities with ever increasing ridiculously dramatic turns of event.
Reality shows are not based on reality. Soap operas have invaded the prime time scene, but lost the soap monicker. Lost is a soap opera.
Popular serials on the SciFi Channel have multiple season premieres and season finales. That's two seasons in one year. Why?
If television in the 21st century is boring, what will television be like when everyone else realizes it's boring?
I have a theory. At some point, television will be controlled by our computers, and programming will come, not only from network broadcasts and cable outlets, but via the internet. Think of it as a melding of cable television programming with DVR's and TiVo and your computer, which records whatever you want, and plays it back whenever you want.
One thing is for certain, advertising, which pays the bills, will not go away. After all, it's advertising which keeps television entertaining.
