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I can tune in anytime of the day and there's always something good on. Back in the day, if it were late the only thing on were infomercials. But some were quite entertaining like this:
On one hand, there is a lot more crap out there, with redneck shows and reality TV (and combinations of the two), and whatever the hell is happening on Lifetime/Spike/We and other specialty channels.
On the other hand, when I was younger there was no sign of well written shows the way there has been over the past 15 years, such as The Wire, Breaking Bad, etc.
I think that there are much better shows now, and TV has more of a cinematic quality, but there's a lot of garbage to weed through first.
The writing, production, acting, and overall quality has risen but few shows (mostly on HBO, it seems) have the cajones to tackle issues/content like they did on Network television in the 70s. Remember PSAs? The irony is that Network television was required to air those things until they came to an agreement to integrate the PSAs into the programming instead. Not to say that todays programming has become totally PC but we will never have a show like All in the Family or even Maude again.
has TV got better or worse since you were younger.?
It's infinitely better.
When I was a kid, Three's Company was a hit. Literally, that was the cream of the crop. The A-Team. Alice. Sheesh, that one was so big it ran for nine seasons! The word 'worse' doesn't even begin to describe it - there were a few shows with some actual intellectual and plot heft to them, but mostly television, as noted in the examples above, was mind-numbingly idiotic.
The Sopranos? Six Feet Under? Breaking Bad? Mad Men? These shows explore themes that would have given a studio head a heart attack 35 years ago, and are shown in a manner that not only would have (and still do) get all sorts of undies in a bunch, in the era before cable series they could not have been shown at all. For all the endless sniveling of 'political correctness', the fact is that societal codes were far more restrictive then than now.
Acting is better.
Writing is better.
Production values are vastly better.
Then there's the far greater variety of today. Who cares if 95% of it is crap? The 5% that isn't amounts to more than everything that was available back then, from crap to mediocre to the few shows that were halfway decent.
It's no contest.
Right now, we are living in an absolutely golden age of television.
TV started life as "entertainment" with a purpose. Contemporary tv shows give us hard-core voyeurism, and an open window into other people's personal, private lives with no holds barred. Nothing is sacred. Nothing. Hate language, foul words, sex, violence, blood, gore, torture, brutality, rape - the very worst of human nature is thrown at us 24-7. Things we're seeing on HBO now would have been shown only in an x-rated movie theater in the 1970s.
I highly recommend "The Four Arguments Against Television." It is a powerful book that talks about what TV has really done to us, individually and collectively.
A few decades ago, TV had a moral compass and some integrity. Programming was designed to uplift, educate or inspire, as well as entertain.
My favorite shows were (and are) Hazel, Andy Griffith Show, Dick Van Dyke Show, Johnny Carson Show, and The Waltons.
So my vote would be that TV is much, much worse. The Golden Age of Television was the 50s, 60s and 70s.
There aren't really "shows" on now. What is aired is geared towards 20 somethings (IMO) - w/interests in stupid "reality" shows (which ARE NOT REALITY), vampires, zombies, etc. - My vote is worse.
It's difficult to answer fairly. When I was a kid, I was only allowed to watch "kid's stuff". Now granted, most everything was kid's stuff back then, but it something more "potent" was on, I would never have been allowed to watch it.
Now I can watch what I want.
And it's much, much better. Game of Thrones, Justified, The Wire, LOST, Breaking Bad... these are shows that really explore the human condition, and make you think. And you can't wait for the next episode.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RosemaryT
My favorite shows were (and are) Hazel, Andy Griffith Show, Dick Van Dyke Show, Johnny Carson Show, and The Waltons.
So my vote would be that TV is much, much worse. The Golden Age of Television was the 50s, 60s and 70s.
Disagree. Those shows are an idyllic rose-colored glasses view of America in a specific period of time. Middle-class white people living their lives.
I liked those shows too, but could most people watch them today, as a series? Not a chance. Other than Johnny Carson, the greatest talk show host ever. But even he is dated.
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