When TV was good and pure.

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by Minervah

OP, please dismount from your high horse and realize that you are posting in a TV forum where people genuinely enjoy the medium of TV and do not use it as an excuse for their ills or the ills of today.

If you don't like TV and refuse to see that there is good on it, fine, that's your prerogative but don't come to a place where people do choose and the operative word is "choose" to use it as a source of entertainment, education or just a means to while away an hour or two.

I cannot tolerate extreme violence. It's all over TV. But do I come on here and say violence should be removed from TV because I dislike it? No, I do not. I simply don't watch the violent shows that would bother me. I don't think others watching violence on TV is going to cause them to run out and kill people. Those who might would be doing it anyway so I don't buy your theory of TV "promoting violence" by showing violence.

Regarding TV being so "pure" in the good old days, did you ever watch the "Dean Martin Show" back in the 60's? Old Dean could get pretty raunchy with lots of innuendo. Remember the June Taylor Dancers featured in close ups each week on the "Jackie Gleason Show" in those sexy little outfits? I was just a kid back then but I remember my parents talking about people complaining about the dancers' outfits and how they shouldn't be shown on TV. Back in the day, sex sold everything from cars to TV sets. You don't see too much of that on TV today unless it's an ad for Viagra.

Having a TV that's unplugged is just silly. It's like having a car an not driving it or owning a bed and not sleeping on it. Why would anyone do that?

You don't need to watch TV, think about TV or own a TV. Get rid of it. You'll feel a lot better.

Dean Martin is a good example of something we wouldn't call okay or funny today. He cruized through his show fueled by alchol, and the 'drunk' scenes were done by drunks. And people laughed because 'drunk' was funny then.

I don't mind rauncy with inuendos. You don't get them unless your old enough to get the jokes. Today they don't bother.

I'd argue that having a tv today is still a good thing. You just have to look more carefully. You won't find too much of the good stuff on network tv, especially early where stupid 'comedy's', game shows and reality nonsense rules. But its there. Look on PBS. Look on the subscription services like amazon, netflix and so on. They aren't kids shows but adult sort of thoughtful drama. There are also lots of excellent non fiction shows on PBS and others which are also great to watch.

Just don't watch the garbage and the reality formulas and the so called comedy but look for the things aimed at a higher intelligence than inanity.

[RayinAK]

You can always find good and bad examples if you look for such. But in reality some of the older shows were high caliber compared to some of the shows of today. Even cartoons were cleaner. For example, notice the difference in the quality of the drawings of Tom and Jerry, or just Bugs Bunny, compared to some of the cartoons of today.

The violence in the older movies was not as crude as it is today, and a big difference is that the bad guy (back then) always got caught and paid for his crimes. Today we have movies were the bad guy is the hero.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by nightbird47

Dean Martin is a good example of something we wouldn't call okay or funny today. He cruized through his show fueled by alchol, and the 'drunk' scenes were done by drunks. And people laughed because 'drunk' was funny then.

I don't mind rauncy with inuendos. You don't get them unless your old enough to get the jokes. Today they don't bother.

I'd argue that having a tv today is still a good thing. You just have to look more carefully. You won't find too much of the good stuff on network tv, especially early where stupid 'comedy's', game shows and reality nonsense rules. But its there. Look on PBS. Look on the subscription services like amazon, netflix and so on. They aren't kids shows but adult sort of thoughtful drama. There are also lots of excellent non fiction shows on PBS and others which are also great to watch.

Just don't watch the garbage and the reality formulas and the so called comedy but look for the things aimed at a higher intelligence than inanity.

I agree. jokes about drunks shouldn't have been funny. Dean Martin exploited this and the truth was, as I read in an autobiography of Jerry Lewis, Martin acted drunk because it got laughs but he was really neither a drunk nor a womanizer. Just like Jack Benny portrayed a cheap man when in reality gave thousands to charity in his lifetime.

"Jeopardy" on CBS network television is a good game show. It's been around for a long time. Other network shows like "The Good Wife" and "Madame Secretary" are also well done. The point is, TV has something for everyone whether it's network or pay or whatever.

My philosophy is let and let live. If you don't like it; leave it. Meaning leave it for others to watch. It all boils down to censorship and who has the right to censor something solely on the basis of the idea that it doesn't meet with their standards of tastes of the the decade they are in? That's the point I wanted to make to the OP.