Misery of TV
Once upon a time watching TV used to be a mission when it was a strict no-no by parents, until I had completed the home work (so I mostly failed this mission). I had to wait for Sundays to enjoy some of my favorite shows freely. Then it became an easy target as home work or monitoring of home work reduced in college. Then soon it became an addiction with some programs made their way into my routine and it even lead to some hard fought battles between me and my siblings, thanks to my brother who is a cricket freak like me and always stood by me in those battles, whenever they involved a cricket match.
That was then, some 7 years ago, and since then I have seen a constant dip in the quality of content the TV has to offer, or in fact the quantity of the quality content. The situation seems to such that if you do not have pre-fixed favorites, sometimes it is impossible to stand the TV, forget about using it as a ‘time-passing’ device.
The reason for this is that there is just a bit too much to whatever is shown on TV nowadays and rather than we wanting to watch a program, the channel wants us to watch the program be it a K-series soap, or a sensational newscast, a movie premiering on TV or even World Cup cricket.
The entertainment channels have found family serials revolving around dirty conspiracies and poor drama as their mode of entertaining families. There is absolutely nothing inspiring or moralistic. Then they have reality shows copied from West, with added masala to derive controversy and hence popularity somehow.
The news channels only believe in casting sensational news, or sensationalizing news rather than reporting. They make a superhero out of a child who fell in a pit, and laugh it out when President Kalam raised a question over the role of Indian Media in National Integration and Development. The quality of these channels has gone down so much that some of the reporters themselves don’t know what they are talking, and you are left exercising your brains trying to comprehend them.
Watching your favorite movie on TV, when tele-casted by a leading movie channels can be the worst torture for you as the movie by default last for 4 to 5 hours, thanks to the streaks of advertisers which will keep you busy. I am not the one who believes that Indian team is not worth a watch just because of the World cup performance, but I surely think that whatever the monetary equations are the telecast of an even such as the world cup should be given to professional sports channels like ESPN, Star, or even Ten. The quality of Cricket that is being tele-casted on Star Cricket at present is much better than what was on display during the world cup.
Cribs and Whines apart, I still have some of my favorites on TV that I always catch up with whenever I have time. Some Channels have stuck to the quality standards, they had set when I started to like them, but due loads of useless stuff that has made its way on TV, the overview of TV has taken a hit.
That was then, some 7 years ago, and since then I have seen a constant dip in the quality of content the TV has to offer, or in fact the quantity of the quality content. The situation seems to such that if you do not have pre-fixed favorites, sometimes it is impossible to stand the TV, forget about using it as a ‘time-passing’ device.
The reason for this is that there is just a bit too much to whatever is shown on TV nowadays and rather than we wanting to watch a program, the channel wants us to watch the program be it a K-series soap, or a sensational newscast, a movie premiering on TV or even World Cup cricket.
The entertainment channels have found family serials revolving around dirty conspiracies and poor drama as their mode of entertaining families. There is absolutely nothing inspiring or moralistic. Then they have reality shows copied from West, with added masala to derive controversy and hence popularity somehow.
The news channels only believe in casting sensational news, or sensationalizing news rather than reporting. They make a superhero out of a child who fell in a pit, and laugh it out when President Kalam raised a question over the role of Indian Media in National Integration and Development. The quality of these channels has gone down so much that some of the reporters themselves don’t know what they are talking, and you are left exercising your brains trying to comprehend them.
Watching your favorite movie on TV, when tele-casted by a leading movie channels can be the worst torture for you as the movie by default last for 4 to 5 hours, thanks to the streaks of advertisers which will keep you busy. I am not the one who believes that Indian team is not worth a watch just because of the World cup performance, but I surely think that whatever the monetary equations are the telecast of an even such as the world cup should be given to professional sports channels like ESPN, Star, or even Ten. The quality of Cricket that is being tele-casted on Star Cricket at present is much better than what was on display during the world cup.
Cribs and Whines apart, I still have some of my favorites on TV that I always catch up with whenever I have time. Some Channels have stuck to the quality standards, they had set when I started to like them, but due loads of useless stuff that has made its way on TV, the overview of TV has taken a hit.
posted by ramana @ Sunday, August 19, 2007
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