2015 American television is such a joke

[Billy F 1988]

I hate to be the TV heretic, yet along NFL heretic, but, I have to in this case. As a whole, the American television medium turns out to be a joke. It really is a joke. Almost every channel you flip through you get Jeremy Kyle garbage, wild hyena hoodrat sisters in the audience checking out the Wendy shows, reality TV is just...nope....don't wanna even entertain the notion of what I think that part of American TV is.

Could I say the same for 70's TV? Nope.

Early 80's TV? Nope.

Late 80's TV? Not so much until shows like Geraldo and others kinda broke the deal for a lot of people.

90's TV? Now there were some pretty good shows, but again, they got overshadowed by crappy shows like Survivor, Fear Factor, Springer, and others I can't name.

2000's TV? Now were dipping...deep. More shitty shows, less good shows.

This current decade of the 2010's so far?  Stick a fork in it. There are just too many shitty shows to count now. They flood well over two-thirds of the broadcasting day.

Why do I feel this way? It's not only that I feel this way, I've been far and away from the TV since 2003 and I'm keeping it that way even well after I'm six feet under. The crappiest of TV shows left a bad taste in my mouth.

[SignGeek101]

I don't watch TV anymore, really. Only news and weather, and only if it's already on.

[NE2]

hepcats

[DTComposer]

I would certainly say that the sheer amount of garbage television has increased simply because of the explosion in the number of channels.

But let's try this experiment: some person in the 2014-2015 season watches an average of two hours of TV per day, every day. That's fourteen hours - let's say that works out to about twenty shows per week. Let's say that same person has done so each year since 1950 or so.

I'd wager that someone could make a list of twenty shows from this season, put them against twenty shows from any other season, and have them compare favorably (and in most cases better) in terms of writing, acting, production values, and the furthering of the medium as an art form as well as a provider of information and entertainment.

Again, there's a lot more channels, so a lot more crap, but we're just filling 14 hours of viewing time, not 24/7. I think the best of television today rivals or bests the best of television at any other time.

[Brandon]

I love rose colored rear view mirrors.  A lot of TV in the so-called golden era was crap.  A lot of TV in the 70's was crap.  A lot of TV in the 80's was crap, and so on and so forth.  We like to remember things as better than they actually were.

[The Nature Boy]

As someone said above though, we have a greater volume of bad TV today. Before cable, you have maybe 5 channels (more if your market had independent channels). Today you have a lot more and they have fill time somehow.

[jeffandnicole]

I love rose colored rear view mirrors.  A lot of TV in the so-called golden era was crap.  A lot of TV in the 70's was crap.  A lot of TV in the 80's was crap, and so on and so forth.  We like to remember things as better than they actually were.

Winner.

People love to talk about the wonderful shows back in the 50's and 60's. They'll mention their favorites, which were on for a half hour, once a week. That still leaves an awful lot of time unaccounted for.  Shows were still aired and cancelled after a season. There was still crap TV back then, but you will only hear of the few good shows people liked.

Today, there are hundreds of channels.  People will say it's all crap and nothing good is on, even though some of those channels are airing classics: the exact programs that made TV good in the 50's and 60's.

[texaskdog]

It's horrible.  Sitcoms aren't funny anymore.  Fake reality shows are not real.  It's like they've run out of ideas and keep rehashing the same crap.

[roadman]

^^^^^   Ding! Ding! Ding!  We have a winner!

[texaskdog]

The Big Bang Theory is great.  (dont call me malcom in) the Middle is okay.  Every other one is awful.  Modern Family-awful.  New Girl-awful.  I think the millenials don't know what good stuff is and the bar has been so lowered.  SNL used to be funny in the early 90s too.  I'm not a comedy snob but the 70s/early 80s sitcoms were so much better.  These current ones will not live on forever in syndication.

[wxfree]

The brain is programmed to learn, to gather new information.  Especially at a young age, gathering new information is rewarded with feelings of pleasure.  This causes an emotional attachment to the sources of that information.  As you get older, the brain's wiring gets "set" and the feeling of pleasure from new information reduces.  You get set in your ways and it's harder to like new stuff.

I watched a lot of television during summers in the 80s, so I like a lot of the older sitcoms that were in syndication then.  I specifically like certain shows more than others.  The ones I like more are the ones I watched more back then.  I like The Munsters over The Addams Family, I Dream of Jeannie over Bewitched, and The Beverly Hillbillies over Petticoat Junction.  The shows I prefer are the ones that were on more consistently and my brain attached to.  They aren't the better ones; they're just the ones I learned to like.

I'm still pretty good at liking new music.  And movies require only an investment of a couple of hours.  But new television shows are harder, because they require a big investment of time.  There are a few new ones I like, none of which is "reality" based.

I agree that today's television (even the networks) has a lot of garbage, just because there's a lot more of it.  But someone must be watching it.  I'm shocked at how popular some of the junk is.  But I believe television is better than it's ever been, because there are so many options.  You're not being forced to watch the stuff you don't like, and are more likely than ever to find stuff you do like.

A big part of what you like or don't like is simple chance, based on what your young brain attached to.  Beyond that, when you grow outside of the key demographic (young adults) you should almost expect a lot of programming not to be targeted toward your interests.  There's a reason old people are cranky; they believe that things are getting worse.  Even things that beyond question are getting better, like modern cars, are looked down on.

Old people love the crappy cars of their youth: cars that would never last half as long, be half as reliable, or a quarter as safe as even the cheapest modern ones.  (This is a whole different topic, so I'll stop here.)

[bandit957]

Also, MTV is useless now. It's crap.

[Pete from Boston]

Junk food is horrible for you. No one has enough free time.  Love and money are hard won.  And TV is lousy.

The list of perpetual and obvious truths remains.

[kkt]

I love rose colored rear view mirrors.  A lot of TV in the so-called golden era was crap.  A lot of TV in the 70's was crap.  A lot of TV in the 80's was crap, and so on and so forth.  We like to remember things as better than they actually were.

I agree.  Most TV has been crap throughout its history, with occasional bright spots.

[berberry]

I can see the point in a lot of the conflicting posts here. I think it's true there's a lot more crappy TV today than there was in earlier decades, but that's largely because there is so much more TV than there was in earlier decades. There is still a lot of good stuff, though for my money there isn't nearly enough to justify cable prices. Netflix and Amazon are my go-to TV channels. I think they have the best original series these days, and they both have good selections of TV shows I actually enjoy watching.

Yes and no on 'The Big Bang Theory'. Some episodes are top-notch comedy, while others are no more inventive than the reunion movie of 'Gilligan's Island'.

[J N Winkler]

I hate to be the TV heretic, yet along NFL heretic, but, I have to in this case. As a whole, the American television medium turns out to be a joke. It really is a joke. Almost every channel you flip through you get Jeremy Kyle garbage, wild hyena hoodrat sisters in the audience checking out the Wendy shows, reality TV is just...nope....don't wanna even entertain the notion of what I think that part of American TV is.

I think the problem here is the method, not the content.  Flipping through channels at random is an excellent way to end up with the impression that TV is wall-to-wall unwatchable trash.  If TV shows are chosen in a systematic way, however, it is usually possible to find something that satisfies even the most selective tastes.

But new television shows are harder, because they require a big investment of time.  There are a few new ones I like, none of which is "reality" based.

Personally, scripted drama series are the only TV genre I have even the slightest interest in watching.  And even there I see a definite hierarchy:  a minority of shows will grab me and hold my attention all the way through (Stargate SG-1--all 200+ episodes of it--was one such), while the majority have a fair share of foot-tapper episodes.  To some extent this is a function of saturation, since it is easier to pay attention to indifferent TV if you have gone an extended period of time without watching any TV at all, but whenever I encounter a show that falls into the second category--TV-saturated or not--it's really easy for me to "drop out" and do something else instead.

Old people love the crappy cars of their youth: cars that would never last half as long, be half as reliable, or a quarter as safe as even the cheapest modern ones.  (This is a whole different topic, so I'll stop here.)

I think a lot of the love for old cars comes from their no longer still being around and it being therefore impossible to access daily reminders of the inconveniences that are elided from the good memories.  For example, I have long been a fan of the last US generation (1989-1992) of the Toyota Cressida, and the other week on eBay I found a super low-mileage hundred-pointer 1990 advertised for sale.  In order to attract punters willing to pay over the odds for almost like-new condition (Buy It Now price of almost $10,000, no bid or make-an-offer option, blue book regardless of mileage about $5,800), the seller posted over two hundred high-resolution pictures.

The picture collection reminded me of some issues with Cressidas I had forgotten:  fan speed and mode selector controls you can operate only by pushing a button to push out a button tray, door-mounted lap/shoulder belts, no airbag, and so on.



While it is easy to blame older people for lacking the plasticity to accommodate new user experiences, in some cases this is a matter of perspective and it is equally valid for older people to complain about the naivete of the young.  For example, there is a subset of tech-conscious older people who dislike smartscreen technology because it tends to be locked down, which makes it less flexible (can't run scripts on an Android smartphone the way I do on my Windows laptop, for example), and the interfaces are designed to insulate everyday users from the realities of memory, processing, and file-structure constraints.  Meanwhile, lots of younger people have no idea any of that is even there in the background.  Result:  I have had at least one millennial accuse me of being a Luddite, and then turn around and admit she can't program.

[jeffandnicole]

The Big Bang Theory is great.  (dont call me malcom in) the Middle is okay.  Every other one is awful.  Modern Family-awful.  New Girl-awful.  I think the millenials don't know what good stuff is and the bar has been so lowered.  SNL used to be funny in the early 90s too.  I'm not a comedy snob but the 70s/early 80s sitcoms were so much better.  These current ones will not live on forever in syndication.

What's funny is that SNL was close to being cancelled in the 90's because it was so horrible compared to the show in the 70's and 80's.  Most people will say the show sucks now (with now being whatever date or year you choose), but once a main comedian leaves, people say how great he was and the show won't be the same without that comedian.

[DTComposer]

The Big Bang Theory is great.  (dont call me malcom in) the Middle is okay.  Every other one is awful.  Modern Family-awful.  New Girl-awful.

And everyone is entitled to their opinion. I would argue the opposite - I don't dislike Big Bang Theory or The Middle, but I do find them to be lesser imitations of better shows from earlier decades. I can take or leave New Girl, but I find Modern Family (more so in earlier seasons, less so now) to be one of the better (and more original) series from the last few years.

I think the millenials don't know what good stuff is

Sure they do. It's just that what's good stuff to them is not what's good stuff to you. Doesn't mean that any of those things are necessarily better or worse, it's just different. Your parents' generation said the same thing about things you like, as did their parents, and so on.

[rantanamo]

Black-ish turned out to actually be great.  Such subtle jokes and gags that had great continuity all season.  Modern Family, Big Bang, The Middle.  On CW, The 100 was actually great.  I think many would be shocked at what a compelling show that has turned out to be.  Really intense with some crazy plot turns that you wouldn't expect.  Really got stronger and stronger with each episode.  Flash, Green Arrow and iZombie all ended being actual quality television.  Brooklyn 99 is actually a great show as well.  Community is still on Yahoo! so I watch it through Roku.  The Walking Dead isn't great, but is as good as anything else.   Its actually stayed as good as it was on NBC though I miss Troy.  On cable, there are lots of great shows too.  Game of Thrones, Penny Dreadful, True Detective.  I've discovered Salem this season(wish it was on HBO).  The show that I think is the best though is Rectify on Sundance channel.  That is some serious drama.  You then have your streaming shows.  Community, Outer Space, Orange is the New Black, House of Cards.

Don't see how anyone can complain about television right now.  Yes, there's a lot of junk, but there is probably more quality shows than there have ever been.

[english si]

I find Modern Family (more so in earlier seasons, less so now) to be one of the better (and more original) series from the last few years.

The Middle, when its good it is great, but runs on a lower average objectively*. Modern Family is consistently reasonably good, but while the poorer episodes aren't that bad, the better episodes aren't worth writing home about.  The Big Bang Theory has two good episodes for every bad one, but the bad ones are pretty bad, and it runs at a similar average to Modern Family.

The creativity of Modern Family is getting the standard sitcom formula to work with double-digits characters (all of which are common sitcom tropes - the camp gay, the straight nerdy gay, the gruff old man with a heart of gold, the nerdy kid, the party kid, the too-adult kid, the wise cracking cute kid, the hyperorganised mom, the irresponsible fun dad, the foreigner). It does it and it does it with high standards, but other shows are much more comedicly creative (especially older ones).

*subjectively I like that it doesn't take itself too seriously unlike the other two. Of course its formulaic, but the formula is the formula because if you get it to work, it works well enough to run for years. Also, it helps that I've not seen a lot of the forerunners in the same vein of sitcom-based-around-family.

Black-ish turned out to actually be great.

Need to binge that during the summer. Watched a few episodes and felt it was good, but had too many shows to watch, so it fell by the wayside.

On CW, The 100 was actually great.  I think many would be shocked at what a compelling show that has turned out to be.  Really intense with some crazy plot turns that you wouldn't expect.  Really got stronger and stronger with each episode.  Flash, Green Arrow and iZombie all ended being actual quality television.

And Jane the Virgin is another surprisingly good show from CW (who'd have thought they'd have so many decent shows this year?). Not seen Flash or  Arrow as I don't like superhero stuff much, but I've heard nothing but good things about them.

Maybe the issue is that the good TV is being made on places that people don't have (premium cable, streaming services, etc) or wouldn't think to look (The CW)?

[vdeane]

One thing that may or may not be a factor is changes in how ratings are assessed.  Back in the 60s, while demographic info was collected, it was never compiled or used in deciding how to schedule shows.  As a result, shows had to be popular across ALL demographics back then, not just the young adult demographic.  There are shows on today that would have been cancelled back then and vice versa.  One notable example is Star Trek - considered weak at the time, recently the ratings were recompiled with modern methods and it was discovered that it was a HUGE hit with the young adult demographic and would have never been cancelled had demographics been considered the way they are today.

I definitely think three's a tendency to remember the good and forget the bad when reminiscing, which skews the results.

I don't seek out new shows; I start watching if I hear about them and get intrigued.  This does limit the amount of stuff I discover, but it works well; I don't know how I'd have time to follow a zillion shows anyways.  The current shows I follow are Once Upon a Time, Last Week Tonight, The Big Bang Theory, The Librarians, and Doctor Who.  My coworker, on the other hand, actively seeks out new shows on Netflix all the time and watches a ton of TV; on the other hand, she's more willing to drop shows once she gets bored with them than I am.  When I watch something I like to see every episode, so there's a bit of commitment there.

[nexus73]

You want exciting TV that's real?  Get a shooting war started in the South China Sea or Ukraine with nuclear war bearing down and I promise there will be eyeballs glued to the news channels!

Rick

[formulanone]

Don't see how anyone can complain about television right now.  Yes, there's a lot of junk, but there is probably more quality shows than there have ever been.

I've mentioned recently that I don't watch much TV - I would rather do other things and show my kids there's more to do than watch television/gaming - but I'd agree. The little bit that I do watch entertains me because that's what I want it to do, although I rarely watch anything with any sort of regularity. It's easy enough to over-scrutinize TV and movies, but sometimes you have to go along for the ride.

There's always been a mix of good and bad, the old stuff from one's youth doesn't always stand the test of time. Sometimes we have to smash the rose-colored glasses to improve our vision. I'd figure with more programming choices than ever before, there's (almost) inevitably a greater mix of good and bad.

[thenetwork]

Why does TV largely suck nowadays?  Because in nearly every TV genre there seems to be "requirements" (written or not) that every show must have -- many of them in the long run hurt the show.  But these "requirements" must happen or these overzealous wacko groups get mad.

Just like how Saturday Morning TV must (by FCC law) have E/I shows (and look at how boring most of them are...), the unwritten requirements in most shows include:

-  Game Shows must offer some sort of Million Dollar prize, whether it is in the form of a contestant performing near-impossible chain of events (Wheel of Fortune, Millionaire, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader,...) or in an annual Tournament of Champions (Jeopardy!).

- Sitcoms must include at least one LGBT character.  I don't have a problem with such characters, but many seem to be wrenches thrown into a well-oiled machine whose ensemble of characters were fine as is (See Two and a Half Men, The Millers, Modern Family, etc....)

- Sitcoms nowadays seem to require the frequent use of terminology and situations that were no-no's 30+ years ago, (words like "penis", "vagina", "coitus" and situations where the couple is in bed right before or after sex,...)

- And overall, most TV shows feel the heat if they don't have "diversity characters" represented in their programs.  From CSI-type shows to children's shows to comedies and reality shows, you almost always have to have a token African-American, Hispanic, LGBT,... character that appears in at least one scene per episode, else the NAACP, ACLU, NOW, or other equality group will call your show anti-________. 

I tend to watch more shows on MeTV than on any other network because of the wholesome factor.  And that back in the 60s and 70's, character casting was more realistic, and shows that had diversity in their ensemble did it for a legitimate reason, not because everyone else did it or had to do it to satisfy the fringe minority groups.  A great example of this was "All In The Family".

[roadman]

One of the biggest problems I have with American free television (including basic cable channels) is the increasing proliferation of advertising, even to the extent of cutting down or re-formatting older episodes of shows to fit the present time guidelines.  As an example, the History Channel seems to have standardized on an "eight-four-eight" allocation - i.e., eight minutes of programming (which is really only five or six minutes when you consider that they always spend two or three minutes "recapping" what happened in the previous segment) followed by four minutes of commercials, then followed by another eight minutes of programming.  Even using a DVR, which I do because I'm usually not home when most shows I like air), it can be very painful to endure this.

And some of the children's networks are even worse.  When I used to watch Nickeloden with my nieces and nephews, the allocation in a 30 minute time slot was easily 15 to 17 minutes for programming, with the remaining 13 to 15 minutes allocated to commericals.

This "advertising everywhere and anywhere" mentality is just another example of why I believe that one of the best things we can do as a country is to forcibly remove every mid-1980s business school graduate (the ones who were taught that everything is automatically a profit center and that every penny of additional potential profit is worth pursuing, regardless of the long term costs - monetary and otherwise - to your business) from positions of power.