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Should Television Smarten Up?
XIV
Posts: 21,588 Forum Member
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Over the years, I have noticed that people I know and people in the media have said that television have dumbed down. Gone are the days of intelligent programmes like Civilisation, World in Action and he Jewel in the Crown . Instead we get programmes like Love Island, Jeremy Kyle, DIY SOS etc.
Although there are some intelligent programmes e.g. Planet Earth, Cuttting Edge, It seems that TV bosses want programmes that are aimed at the Lowest common denominator.
My question is, should televison smarten up or will we be stuck with stupid programmes?
Although there are some intelligent programmes e.g. Planet Earth, Cuttting Edge, It seems that TV bosses want programmes that are aimed at the Lowest common denominator.
My question is, should televison smarten up or will we be stuck with stupid programmes?
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Society has dumbed down so TV follows suit.
With the dumbing down of television,I think there are other factors at work. I feel that is more a case of the education system failing. When I talk to some of my friends they have no idea who Ovid.Plato or Homer were. It often makes me wonder what is being taught in schools in the past 30 years. Brains don't seem to get stretched anymore. Thought processes became too narrow. Children are not encouraged to think,thus,attention spans dwindle because they are so used to being spoon fed like babies. Which makes it harder when they get to University.
Due to this,the television companies make programmes for their demographic.
Chav Television at is best is the Jeremy Kyle or Jerry Springer Show. Where they find such degenerates from I have no idea. People must know people like that for them to be lampooned on television in such a caustic manner. In Victorian times,it was called a freak show.
Obviously,nothing much has changed since Bedlam times. Maybe thats the idea,the Middle Classes make fun of the chavs the same way the Victorians made fun of the mad. A sorry story because we have not progressed any where. We are still stuck in the past.
Answering your question more fully,If we did smarten it up,viewing figures would be terribly low and it would not be profitable. Its more profitable to make "idiot lantern" television because it has a longer shelf life and does not need thoughtful analysis. Nice and safe and cushioned. It makes me wonder if thats what the government wants! After all,a thinking populous is a lot more dangerous than a dumbed down one.
Hmm well it all depends on who you talk to or who you know. For example, I know who Ovid, Plato and Homer are, but then I go to a grammar school. Everyone is going to be different. It's just the way certain things are portrayed that will lead to views being generalised. It's just the way of things.
I havnt dumbed down though and i want intelligent tv . I feel like putting society in front of a set of machine guns .
I agree, but I think this generation is a goner.
You can't fill that many hours of TV with quality programming.
If it wasn't for the BBC and it's remit ITV would never have made World in Action or anything else vaguely educational.
They just don't/didn't want to be seen as lower class tv.
I suspect things are only going to get worse as channels have to dumb down to chase viewers.
The BBC won't exist unless it has a good viewing figures, so they'll have to go the same way eventually.
We've got cable downstairs, Kids sit and watch cack most of the time 'fresh prince' and other old tut, I don't even know what they watch, if I had my way we wouldn't have cable just for the simple fact that they want to watch rubbish.
I couldn't get them to watch a documentary or anything factual most of the time.
There's something to be said for a lack of choice at times.
TV as it used to be: Boring documentary on BBC 'nothing' on ITV, oh well might as well watch the documentary then.
All i know is that most TV shows today are SO boring...not a patch on what we used to get 20 years ago. I would say that the drama genre has suffered the most. Everything is filmed in 'soap opera' form today which i don't particularly like.
Having said that, our TV is still much, much, MUCH better than in Australia!
ITV1 in particular is a disgrace. If I want to see documentaries or anything different nowadays I just put the satellite channels on.
The main voting/viewing demographic happens to be thick as pigshit. To chase ratings, the channels have to aim to please this, their biggest audience. So we get dumbed-down TV created especially for them. The thick demographic gets bigger due to the dumb scheduling. The number of mind-numbingly trivial shows required to keep them happy increases. And so on.
How did the majority get so dumb, lazy, spoilt and unconcerned enough to allow this to happen in the first place? Well historians have studied TV, Human Rights and their effect on older and younger generations since 1980 and after much deliberation, have come to the conclusion it's all Esther Rantzen's fault.