Who's watching what??
honestly, every once in a while i worry about some of the shows i watch--are they going to make it through the season with their ratings?? And over the past few years, I've gotten frustrated with quality shows being cut due to the ratings. So, then i go check the ratings and then am thunderstruck about what is on top. let me ask this......Who in the HELL is still watching "survivor"!!! isn't that in it's like 17th season??? Is it really exciting to see the same crap re-dramatized on some 'new' tropical location, which means that they just re-arrange the trees and grass on the set. And i really can't ever find a single person who watches 'CSI', much less to neccessitate the need for a CSI in 8 different american cities. What makes it more exciting to have a dead person in New York rather than Miami, is he more dead down south?? ya know, if they really want my attention-make a CSI "Mobile, Alabama" or "Delta-Mississippi" where the concept of 'redneck' must be delt with from week to week, no technology-just shotguns and racial theories. The fact that "Dancing with the Stars" catches more viewers than shows like "lost" astounds me--does that mean only women count as viewers?? Again, who is watching these TV shows! Seriously, I want a phone call from someone who says "ya know, I 've had a hard day at work-and I just really can't wait to get home and watch some has-been actors do the tango." WHO IS THAT PERSON?? One theory I have is that Old people don't know that you can change the channel beyond CBS. The only saving grace to that network is their Saturday broadcast of SEC football. How is "Two and Half men" the highest rated comedy? please, someone tell me?? It is a tragedy in the history of TV that 'Arrested Development' couldn't make it, but no no--Charlie Sheen is halarious...come on. I worry about "The Office" and this new show "30 Rock". This is kind of a 'new' type of humor that i think old people don't get. I keep hearing that NBC just keeps getting killed in the ratings, they have several shows (particularly comedies)that are MUST watchers. NBC though needs to axe 'ER', I heard someone say "the first 9 seasons of ER were amazing." The first '9 seasons'? um, that's like 2x the life of most shows. ER is the "Magic Johnson" of TV, the complete antithesis of knowing 'when to fold em'. ABC probably has the best shows, but again who is watching "ugly betty" and not 'The Office' in the thursday 8pm timeslot--if you fall into that category you should be utterly ashamed of yourself and consider a monastic lifestyle until you come to your senses.
CBS has 37 crime shows and old people watch every one of them, i even think that when 20 or so of them are crowded around the TV at the retirement communities-they all get counted. ABC has several of the best shows, but also several of the worst. Fox has a few bright spots, when they bright they are bright. NBC has no idea about when to cut and when to keep.
but seriously here is the point: Old people are killing our TV shows and the source of keeping crap going. Now we do all have that "closet" TV show we are sadly addicted to and refuse to admit to (see "Saved by the bell Factor"), But sweet emotion must address the absurdity of what is popular and what should be. So, if your looking for something good to watch-don't look at the ratings....ask a YOUNG friend.
posted by Alex @ 12:14 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
In response to Kurt's comments about me below:
First of all, I never claimed to be a master orator. If Mark wishes to bestow such a title upon me, I accept it humbly and graciously, with fond memories of our days at the Chi O house, eating poppyseed chicken and hiding bowls of Oreo Delight in the freezer so that we houseboys could have dessert.
Second, your comment (that recruiting has no effect on a coach's success/failure) deserved no more than a cursory dismissal. When I'm walking down the sidewalk, and I see a pile of dog crap, I don't examine it. I don't turn to the person next to me and say, "Hey, see that crap? That crap is bad for the following reasons..." and then list the reasons. I simply say, "Don't step in that crap."
Third, your biggest problem is that you're tangling two separate issues: 1) should Ole Miss have fired Cut, and 2) should Ole Miss have hired Orgeron. You can't logically cite our current record as evidence per se that Ole Miss should not have fired Cut. There were countless intervening circumstances between the firing of Cut and the hiring of Orgeron. The wisdom of the second decision has no bearing on the wisdom of the first. Therefore, all references you make to our "meathead" coach are superfluous, having no bearing whatsoever on the Cut question.
-Charles
great post Alex. It is embarrassing that Dancing with the Stars gets a higher rating than The Office. The Office is the greates comedy sitcom since Seinfeild, and Dwight is the greatest TV character since Kramer.
Is the show Fear Factor still on? Good grief, talk about a horrible show that kept airing year after year.
One other show which got the axe before it even finished its season was "My big fat obnoxious boss." Now I'm not saying it was quality TV...but it was hilarious TV. Contestants believing they were on a reality show only to be bashed and treated like trash by a "actor" boss. Good stuff.
My wife contributes to the CSI Craze. I'll have to see what I can do about that.
the problem with TV is that we have too many shows that seem to have great possibility get axed, and too many shows that bore us stay on for years.....seriously, fear factor has been in syndication for at least 7 years
I get to watch the shows that my wife likes to watch. For that reason I make no appologies for my contribution to the ratings. My wife's favorite shows are Grey's Anatomy, Brother's and Sisters, Desperate Housewives, My Name is Earl and the Office. Now because she is a woman (thank God for that) she also likes shows on some of the minor cable channels. Big People, Little World and most anything on HGTV.
I watch most of these shows with my wife and I enjoy Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives (GA is fairly interesting because anyone can identify with the characters, to some extent anyway). I think Desperate Housewives is smart.
The office is one of the best shows ever, hands down. I am glad that my wife likes it. But after Earl goes off she usually sneaks out of the room so she can get ready for Grey's Anatomy.
All that to say, "their's no accounting for people's tastes". People are sheep... especially anyone that watches TV. Maybe we should watch less TV. Maybe we should go outside more and work in the figurative yard. Let get off our butts and spend time with our families instead of watching so much TV. Until Saturday and Sunday when the Saints are playing.
kelly
One huge reason crappy shows stay on the air is that 9 times out of 10, crappy shows take absolutley no effort to watch. You sit there and stare at the TV while the "humor" goes in one ear and out the other without the watcher having to make any kind of effort to analyze or consider it. Great shows like Arrested Development and The Office actually take some effort to watch. If you don't pay attention, you will easily miss 50% of the humor. That's a huge reason these shows are so great. I can watch the same episode over and over and will always notice some genious bit of humor that I have never noticed before. Most people are too laxy to give great shows the attention they deserve and therefore write them off as bad shows. Instead they change the channel to Fear Factor to watch one more person attempt to eat a turd while trying to escape from a car suspended upside down under Niagara Falls.
Two and a Half Men is the most unfunny show ever made. People that watch that show need to be severely beaten.
"that recruiting has no effect on a coach's success/failure," i agree, that is a moronic idea...
but no one, especially me, said that...moving on to the topic at hand...
I think women love reality shows like the Bachelor (a favorite of many here in Jackson) and Survivor (a favorite of my wife's), because they love to snipe at other women's character flaws and shortcomings. Both of those shows provide ample ammo (Survivor b/c the women have no make up and hairy underarms; Bachelor b/c the women are making fools of themselves for some schmuck).
The reason reality shows last so long is because they are infinitely cheaper to make than dramas, sitcoms, etc. I heard that NBC was going to do more reality T.V. b/c they were getting killed in the ratings...which is really disappointing.
Nice analysis Kurt. Reality shows let you laugh at others. HGTV capitalizes on Women fantasies. They convince the watcher that indeed your house could look like this for just $500. It baits them in everytime.
I guess HGTV is a woman's 24. I watch 24 and it capitalizes on my fantasy. If I was backed into a corner like Jack Bauer, I would probably save the word as well. At least that is my fantasy.
Philip's analysis on Fear Factor made me laugh.
yeah, these are some brilliant analyses...i think our we do watch alot of what our spouse makes us watch. i'm right with Kelly, my wife is OBSESSED with Grey's Anatomy, and is a fan of desperate Houswives (they it's pansy, Pastors should watch that show). Phillip is right about the humor these days, i usually tape the office and rewatch it during lunch sometime later and pick up on lots of stuff i missed...I think almost anything i watch is my fantasy--being anyone but myself, also a reason i never watch shows like "american idol", i have no desire to be like anyone on that show
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