Friday, April 08, 2005

 

What Happened To My Oldest Friend.

I remember a time when my oldest friend and I were a happy and content pair. From the time I was a little boy, as far back as I can remember, my friend and I would spend many hours each and every day together. I remember when I would race home so I could spend some time with my special friend, we especially loved Saturday mornings. Back in the late seventies and early eighties, were the happiest times for my friend and I. But lately, for maybe half a decade now, we haven't been so happy. I still love my friend, for he/she is still capable of great things, but there has come an evil and greatly insidious force between my television and I.

Back in the late seventies, my early teen years, TV was brilliant. There was such amazing and timeless shows as Battlestar Galactica (with the TV legend Lorne Greene), The Six Million Dollar Man and the spin off The Bionic Woman (Steve Austin is still cool these days), Charlies Angels (to my teen hormones they were goddesses), Chips, Dallas (with evil and always scheming JR), Different Strokes (I can't watch it without cringeing these days, but 'whatchoo talking bout' was always funny when i was a kid), The Dukes of Hazard (the stunts were the real stars of this show), Fantasy Island (who can forget the start of every ep 'The plane, Boss, the plane.), Happy Days (Heeeeeeeyy), Hawaii Five-O (still one of the best themes around), The Incredible Hulk (the cool Bill Bixby and the bad green make-up on Lou Ferigno? how could they miss.), Kojak (gotta love Savalas and his lollypops), Laverne and Shirley (crazy girls and Lenny & Squiggy. Way cool), The Love Boat (crazy and evil Seigfried from Get Smart as Doc), Mork and Mindy (Robin Williams' break), Soap (Billy Crystal's big break), UFO (fantastic British show with what I still think is the best theme music of all time), Wonder Woman (drool drool), Number 96 (one of the best soaps ever produced in Australia). These were just a few of the shows that I enjoyed with my friend as I was growing up in the late seventies and early eighties. Saturday morning cartoons were also better back then, but that is talk for another day really, a whole other kettle of fish.
These days, there are a lot of great shows to be sure, 24, Alias, The Batman, Boston Legal, Cold Case, Crossing Jordan, Carnivale, CSI in all three incarnations, The Dead Zone, Deadwood, Desperate Housewives, Lost, The Bill, Smallville, to name but a few. But, despite the fact that my oldest friend is still capable great things, the evil and insidious black force known as 'reality' TV has reared up its ugly head, marring our relationship.

Good God above.

Why, oh why, in the name of all that is holy and sacred in the multiverse, do the networks, keep on coming out with these wastes of space called 'reality' shows? Why do they seem to be taking precedence over real TV shows? Sure, I can almost understand the high ratings, the pumping out of any old crap in the first couple years of the 'reality' craze. The novelty value alone would've put the ratings up high, but now, after a number of years has gone by, and the novelty has well and truly worn off, they still feel the need to pump these pieces of rubbish out. What happened to the real shows? I don't know about America, but here there has been a number of great shows pushed aside and dropped, being replaced by the likes of Survivor, Joe Millionaire, Idol (both American and Australian), Big Brother, The Biggest Loser, and from what I have seen of the ads what has to be the worst of the lot Super Nanny.

When will the insanity stop and good TV be put back on? Please please please see sense, people, and put these shows in their place (the rubbish tip).


Comments:
Tell me about it! Its not everybody's piece of cake, but the way that Enterprise was assassinated by channel 9 (I don't know what the situation was in Perth) in favour of mindless pap like the current crop of reality TV has driven me away from live to air TV.

Nowadays I watch cable TV - there's still a lot of crap there but at least you have more choice - and involve myself myself in Fan Productions.

Like they say, if you want something done, do it yourself!

Cheers

Kirok
 
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