I Don't Watch Much Television
It would be an exaggeration to say I watch no TV, because I'll perhaps put on the quiz show 'Only Connect', if it's on - and I got a box set of The Wire for Christmas. (On the other hand that dates from 2008 at the latest, so it hardly counts as contemporary).
I'm wary of writing something that makes me sound like a miserable old woman, or a terrible snob - but the truth of the matter is that there absolutely nothing but unending, miserable, crap, on television, today. And when it's not miserable, it's so patronising as to be offensive (looking at you, whoever
cast,produced and directed this year's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures). So, there's little on to entice me.
Well that's not true, because one can usually count on high-number channels to have a repeat of some grisly and marginally-entertaining murder mystery, or occasionally, comedy, or perhaps if we're lucky, David Attenborough might be making an appearance. But these often date from before I was born. When the best thing on any television channel is an episode of Dad's Army from 1971, the medium clearly has a few problems somewhere along the line.
The world shouldn't be run purely for my benefit, of course, but it also shouldn't be beyond the wit of man to create a few programs which are intellectually rigorous but not snobby, and entertaining without being pandering,
The few 'new' programs I do watch - and it's come even to include news programmes now - are in no way sufficiently interesting, thoughtful, witty, or produced in a way that I care remotely about any kind of outcome, that I remotely miss something I've not seen.
I don't know if it's because British (and other) media companies are more concerned with signalling their immense virtue by emphasising diversity of casts and presenters over their abilities, a lack of imagination, a lack of confidence, an aversion to risk-taking, or something else, or a combination of these. But if it wasn't for the fact that (some) BBC radio is worth the License Fee all by itself, I'd certainly not pay to have a television.
Edit: In fairness, majoring sporting events like the Olympics, some tennis, other athletics, occasionally international football or rugby, or the Boat Race (the last will probably mean nothing to people from outside the UK lol), continue to attract my attention.
I'm wary of writing something that makes me sound like a miserable old woman, or a terrible snob - but the truth of the matter is that there absolutely nothing but unending, miserable, crap, on television, today. And when it's not miserable, it's so patronising as to be offensive (looking at you, whoever
cast,produced and directed this year's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures). So, there's little on to entice me.
Well that's not true, because one can usually count on high-number channels to have a repeat of some grisly and marginally-entertaining murder mystery, or occasionally, comedy, or perhaps if we're lucky, David Attenborough might be making an appearance. But these often date from before I was born. When the best thing on any television channel is an episode of Dad's Army from 1971, the medium clearly has a few problems somewhere along the line.
The world shouldn't be run purely for my benefit, of course, but it also shouldn't be beyond the wit of man to create a few programs which are intellectually rigorous but not snobby, and entertaining without being pandering,
The few 'new' programs I do watch - and it's come even to include news programmes now - are in no way sufficiently interesting, thoughtful, witty, or produced in a way that I care remotely about any kind of outcome, that I remotely miss something I've not seen.
I don't know if it's because British (and other) media companies are more concerned with signalling their immense virtue by emphasising diversity of casts and presenters over their abilities, a lack of imagination, a lack of confidence, an aversion to risk-taking, or something else, or a combination of these. But if it wasn't for the fact that (some) BBC radio is worth the License Fee all by itself, I'd certainly not pay to have a television.
Edit: In fairness, majoring sporting events like the Olympics, some tennis, other athletics, occasionally international football or rugby, or the Boat Race (the last will probably mean nothing to people from outside the UK lol), continue to attract my attention.
