Thoughts??

[Sharktopus]

I can think of a thousand reasons why there is nothing wrong with TV ... hell they're even bringing Futurama back on the air!

As in making new episodes? Now that would be sweet.

No, it IS sweet. The first of 4 DVD movies should be released in December, later to be chopped up into episodes to air on Comedy Central.

[SecretAgentSuperDragon]

I get what you're saying... I just look at it from the other perspective. I don't think it's the networks conspiring to dumb down America. They play what gets the ratings. To piggyback onto the food analogy... they aren't nonchalantly throwing out stale dog food and saying "eat this or starve"... they've been running a buffet for over a half century. As tastes and trends and fads come and go, they continually rearrange and substitute the shit behind the sneeze guards until only the popular items are left. If their customers want junk food, then that's what they are in business to provide. As anything else in a free market, there wouldn't be supply without demand (or at least you would eventually hit equilibrium).

Now you could make a case against many networks for continually going the easy route and playing to the lowest common denominator... but it's up to the public to reject that at some point. I think the crazy reality show boom is on the downside of the curve... and while it's been replaced by the "three pseudo-celebrities judge dumb talent contest" boom... it's at least kind of a step to the side instead of backwards. Also, you mentioned a good number of thought stimulating channels... and more and more of them seem to be coming around all the time as well. There's like 6 Discovery sub-channels now... where the hell were those when I was a kid and TV was supposedly smarter? Those wouldn't exist today if the country was already over the edge plummeting towards the cliffs of retard. Somebody out there is fighting the good fight.

I am glad that someone is doing that, but honestly, TV is too big of a thing to try and hope you'll make a difference in it. Maybe that's why Mike doesn't own a TV.

I am not saying completely get rid of everything except educational shows, but I'd like to see it balanced. But I know that what I like and what will happen are 2 completely different things.

Hell, if I was making buttloads of cash by putting crap on the air, I wouldn't want to sacrifice my income and livelihood just to hope that people will watch whatever you put in the 8 O'clock time slot.

[MSTJedi]

I think there's a lot wrong with TV and some right. Currently I don't have cable, but when I did, my family almost exclusively watched Discovery, A&E, History, and Cartoon Network. The kids would watch Nickelodean during the day and I'd watch some stuff on G4, Comedy Central, and Sci-Fi. Those channels are what's right . . . for the most part. Then there are channels like E!, MTV, VH1 (which used to be good, but now sucks donkey balls), and all the other brainless pop-culture crap they show on local network stations. So it's a mixed bag. I just choose to ignore the crap and watch what I like.

Meh, I can channel surf like nobodies business ... many of the channels you mentioned have shows I love... Discovery has CashCab, History has Modern Marvels, Comedy Central has South Park, Cartoon Network has adult swim (w/ new Futurama episodes coming soon), E! has my favorite show- THE SOUP)

anyway I'm tied to TV for life, if for no other reason than to watch sports or sports related TV ... plus if TV stops producing crap then what are my two favorite comedians (Joel Mchale and Mike Nelson gonna riff on every week!?)

I have to say that I do like The Soup . . . but that's because it pokes fun at all the pop crap that E! tends to pump out for the rest of the day.

I can think of a thousand reasons why there is nothing wrong with TV ... hell they're even bringing Futurama back on the air!

As in making new episodes? Now that would be sweet.

No, it IS sweet. The first of 4 DVD movies should be released in December, later to be chopped up into episodes to air on Comedy Central.

Now that's some good news.