Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests whats wrong with tv today

it seems as though there are only 3 types of shows on basic network television today:
-drama, some of these are ok
-sitcoms, almost every one of these sucks
-reality, there is nothing realistic about these

problem number 1 is the proliferation of so called reality tv. i personally don't understand the appeal of these shows. i have tried to be open minded about this but every minute(all 5 of them)i've spent viewing one of these shows i feel myself getting dumber. at first they didn't seem all that bad but each successive new(read:recycled) show is worse than the one before. i should point out here that i hold a distinction between shows like american chopper/monster garage and american idol/fear factor.

problem number 2 is far worse imo. why is it that every sitcom must portray men incompetent bafoons hardly capable of dressing themselves? now, i do like everybody loves raymond and sometimes i enjoy king of queens (leah remini=woohoo) but both of these shows are prime examples of what i'm talking about. completely incompetent boobs as leading male characters. or frasier, i really like this one but again we have a leading male character who can't help but be a bafoon despite extensive education. i realize this isn't exactly a new thing but recently things have gotten out of hand. why exaclty can't we have a show with perfectly normal people who are totally competent. when i mentioned this to my roommate he said the way these shows portray people(like idiots) is completely accurate. i don't think so. there is more but i don't feel like writing an essay. what is everyone elses take.

Haha... no one is normal... I love reality shows... well only the ones on MTV... the others don't interest me.

I'm not sure if the shows I like are 'reality' shows or not...I think they are. I like shows like deadliest catch and american chopper... used to like junkyard wars when that was on. Although mostly I just watch the news, occasionally i'll watch things like south park or chapelles show or something funny like that. if i catch a good cooking show i might watch that... ('good eats' is the only one i can think of though)

as far as everything else goes... its not a big deal to me really, i used to love sitcoms like 'friends' and 'frasier', 'king of queens' etc... but recently they havn't been appealing to me at all...in fact I loath 'friends'. Maybe I don't like them because of what you said... they are all the same basically and about mostly idiots. I'm sure my tastes will change eventually though, so we will see.

Perfectly normal, competent people are far from entertaining. But I hear you, network TV sucks. There are far too many crime drama shows, and the reality shows have far outlasted their welcome. Sitcoms aren't even watchable.

Again, HBO is the place to find real, good shows.

I agree with you. Pretty much all I watch are the Discovery shows ( American Chopper, Deadliest Catch, Monster Garage, etc) all week, and wrestling on Monday and Thursday.

comedy central, speed channel, occasional discovery/tlc/spike/animal planet, and of course fox on sunday nites. To me, that's plenty. No reason to spend all your time in front of the TV.

network tv sucks! reality shows are the worst!!

I only watch a scattered tv show when I get the chance. Seinfeld or the Simpsons usually. Occasionally Family Guy and King of the Hill.
No time for tv in my life anymore and I don't miss it.

Since we're inundated with shows of all variety, it is interesting that really we are filled with just drama/sitcom/reality. I find it weird and annoying, the amount of shows that are the same just with a different twist. How boring.
Good shows, I find, don't last too long because Networks base the audience on just a few weeks of showing.

It reminded me a something I watched (ironic..) about the Carol Burnett Show. Well, the ratings back then took a month or two to get back to the Network. The show was a "failure" the first couple shows, but the network wouldn't know for weeks more. Then, it became a huge success by the time the first ratings came in.

i would agree that reality shows suck, i say this as im watchin some miss america contestant eat somethin really slimy on fear factor...yum!