Everything WRONG With Modern Television

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I don't even know where to start... I could write a book on this topic. (Maybe I will.)

Remember when the concept of "Pay" TV (what we now call Cable or Satellite television) was that when customers are paying for television there will be no need for sponsors and thus no commercials? That's just one issue to start with.

Then there are content issues - like when people say, "800 channels and nothing to watch."

Can anyone tell me why, in wee-of-the-morning hours, cable TV reverts almost entirely to info-mercials? Specialty channels that we PAY for, and which are supposed to serve up a genre of programming (whether it be comedy, science, drama, old-time programming, news, etc.) serve up nothing but advertising from 2:00 - 7:00 in the morning! This is really unfair to shift workers.

But one of the most unforgivable scourges inflicted on modern TV audiences is advertising on the screen DURING your show. And it's everywhere - pop-up ads; ads telling you what's on next; ads telling you what you're watching right now (instead of letting you watch it); giant pop-up banners that cover a third of the screen selling something or other; screens within your screen showing movement in advertisements while you're trying to watch the only thing that's supposed to be on the screen.
They even have on-screen ads with sound that plays during your program!!!

One of the ironies I find perplexing are network logos (some are more intrusive than others). The only time they MIGHT be at all helpful is during commercials - to let you know what network you're tuned into, and yet (and I know you saw this coming from a mile away...) the ONLY time they are NOT on the screen is DURING the commercials!!!

Modern TV has become ridiculous and I can't understand why the populace stands for it. Everything from cutting off the ends of movies for commercials, to minimizing credits so you can't read them, to covering captions and sub-titles with logos & ads telling you what ELSE is on that network.



While I do agree with what you are saying I do not fault them that much. It is a BUSINESS. There's only a few shows I actually watch on tv the night it airs, most I'll either watch online or on Netflix where there aren't commercials. And many may agree with me when I say this, TV shows are starting to become better and more high quality than many movies out there these days. While most of the high quality shows are on paid channels (HBO, Showtime, etc) and on Netflix but you still get those shows (The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Person of Interest, etc) that really do shine on cable. Television is bigger now than it ever has been so I can see why they do it, now do I like it? That's another story all together but there's nothing we can do about it, except maybe to stop watching tv but that is never gonna happen.
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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
While I do agree with what you are saying I do not fault them that much. It is a BUSINESS. There's only a few shows I actually watch on tv the night it airs, most I'll either watch online or on Netflix where there aren't commercials. And many may agree with me when I say this, TV shows are starting to become better and more high quality than many movies out there these days. While most of the high quality shows are on paid channels (HBO, Showtime, etc) and on Netflix but you still get those shows (The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Person of Interest, etc) that really do shine on cable. Television is bigger now than it ever has been so I can see why they do it, now do I like it? That's another story all together but there's nothing we can do about it, except maybe to stop watching tv but that is never gonna happen.

"Person of Interest" isn't on a cable channel. It's on CBS.



A system of cells interlinked
I have pretty much stopped watching live TV, except for of course a football game here and there. I like to catch up with shows on streams or DVD at this point. I agree with much of what OP says.
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“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell



This is really a deeper issue. Why do we, as a society, as a culture, allow it?

Like, do we ever get to a point where we realize a sit-com we're trying to watch is not funny anymore when we've had four commercial breaks, had subtitles spoken by a foreign character covered up by an ad (so we missed the joke), and had to stop 11 times to read something that appeared on the screen that has nothing to do with our desired half hour of "entertainment"?

I understand it's business, I understand it's capitalism, but at some point a society HAS to draw a line.
We all know that being surrounded by marketing and consumed by commercialism is not healthy for anyone, Being barraged with advertising non-stop, day and night, in almost every environment, is no way to live - it is not mentally healthy.

Even if you make the proactive decision to turn your TV off, you still can't escape the bombardment (unless maybe you go live in the woods). Which may be why there's so much emotional instability, mental illness, and general messed-up-ed-ness in the world today.



We are in the golden age of television right now. Studios are investing more in TV shows than in films.

As far as commercials, I pretty much watch everything with DVR so I can skip all of the commercials.
Not a bother at all for me.



A system of cells interlinked
We are in the golden age of television right now. Studios are investing more in TV shows than in films.
I just want to clarify. As far as the content itself is concerned, I must also agree with Foster. So many amazing shows on right now. It's really the medium of live TV itself, with all the pop up reminders and commercials that drive me away from watching on-air TV.



Here's another gripe - the increasing length and / or quantity of commercials & commercial breaks.

One day I was visiting the parents and thought my mom (83) would like to watch The Chronicles of Narnia, which I saw was coming up on a channel she had. You know, it's a fantasy, based on a classic she might be familiar with, (and it wouldn't have sex scenes), etc.
So I put it on for her so she could watch it from the beginning.
Now Chronicles of Narnia IS a long movie: 2 hours and 23 minutes to be precise.
My parents didn't have any of the "premium" movie channels and this movie ran for (get this) FIVE HOURS!
Five hours to show a 2 hour & 23 minute movie!
When my mom found out she'd have to commit 5 hours to watch a movie, she turned it off.

I remember once, trying to watch The Jacksons: An American Dream (which is another extremely long movie itself at 4 hours) - it was on a commercial channel with a run time of SEVEN HOURS! I kid you not. SEVEN HOURS!
Who's going to watch a 7 hour movie (3 hours of which are commercials?)

When it gets to the point where Television just doesn't seem worth it because it's become so diluted, so obstructed, so filled with distractions, so sensory-overloaded and so time-consuming to watch just one thing, then what is the point?



We are in the golden age of television right now. Studios are investing more in TV shows than in films.

As far as commercials, I pretty much watch everything with DVR so I can skip all of the commercials.
Not a bother at all for me.
What should be a bother is the fact that you had to buy another device just to make television viewing tolerable.

See? That show's we've gotten to the point of ridiculousness - where we have to go out and purchase more devices to make our former device tolerable. So who knows? Maybe in the near future, you'll have to go buy another device to make your device that makes TV tolerable, tolerable itself. (and so on, and so on.)



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Like Foster, I watch all the new shows on the DVR so that I can fast forward through the commercials. For movies, I try to find the DVDs cheap at garage sales or online streaming so I don't have to watch commercials,



I guess my problem is I'm an idealist.
I discern good & bad, right & wrong on principles. And the principle here is this...

See, I'm old enough to remember when we were told that sponsors paid for TV shows with their commercials (so we begrudgingly accepted them).

And then we were told we (the consumers) would be paying for TV directly, but it would be BETTER because there would be no need for commercials since our paying for it supplied the funds for the programs! And it would be piped directly to our sets through cables.

Well now, virtually all of us ARE paying for TV directly and there's more commercials than ever, they're putting them right ON TOP of the freaking TV shows, half the "shows" are just some kind of commercials disguised as shows, and they won't even put any gosh-dang actual TV shows on in the middle of the night!

GOOD GOD!

We've been swindled.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I guess my problem is I'm an idealist.
See, I'm old enough to remember when we were told that sponsors paid for TV shows with their commercials (so we begrudgingly accepted them).

And then we were told we (the consumers) would be paying for TV directly, but it would be BETTER because there would be no need for commercials since our paying for it supplied the funds for the programs! And it would be piped directly to our sets through cables.

Well now, virtually all of us ARE paying for TV directly and there's more commercials than ever, they're putting the ON TOP of the freaking TV shows, half the "shows" are just some kind of commercials disguised as shows, and they won't even put any gosh-dang actual TV shows on in the middle of the night!

GOOD GOD!

We've been swindled.

My parents bought a VCR back when they were a new item, so I'm used to fast forwarding through the commercials. At least now, I'm not connected to the DVR by a long wire.



There was a 2 year period where I just watched netflix. It was strange because I was completely disconnected from any new movies coming out.

Because there were no commercials I never saw any trailers!
Kind of made me wish there were a few commercials now and then. Funny huh?



My parents bought a VCR back when they were a new item, so I'm used to fast forwarding through the commercials. At least now, I'm not connected to the DVR by a long wire.
I know people will say there are ways to beat the "system." (And I'm not faulting anyone for that. I don't blame anyone for not wanting to endure the sensory cacophony that TV has become).

But I'm saying the system should never have gotten to the point where it had to be beat - it started as a free service to anyone who could afford a TV set and remained so for decades.

And, as I just pointed out, we were then told it would no longer be free, but the trade off was that it would be better because there'd no longer be a need for advertising.
And yet, as this thread points out, not only is the advertising more pervasive than ever, but it has exploded to absolutely ludicrous extremes to anyone who can still afford a TV set... and cable or satellite bills that increase by unfounded increments every year... but who maybe can't afford the technology to beat the system - the one we were lied to about out of consumerism and greed.



There was a 2 year period where I just watched netflix. It was strange because I was completely disconnected from any new movies coming out.

Because there were no commercials I never saw any trailers!
Kind of made me wish there were a few commercials now and then. Funny huh?
I'm not even saying there should be no commercials at all (nothing wrong with an intermission or bathroom break) - I'm ranting about the abuse of advertising - that it's on the screen during the show (seriously, there's no need for that). On most 30 minute programs, there is some form of advertising on the screen about 24 minutes out the 30 (that's not counting the network logos which are on during everything BUT the commercials & can sometimes cover captions & subtitles).

I like to make the analogy of paying to go see a Broadway play - now there's an Intermission and they may announce drinks or snacks in the lobby at the start of that intermission, but imagine if you paid to see the play and right in the middle as the actors were performing their lines, a guy with a giant billboard came out, blocking your view of the stage & distracting you from what you'd become interested in, and his sign was telling you what was showing at that theater next month. Then another guy came out and walked in front of the stage with a sign letting you know the name of the theater you were at, etc., etc.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
It's just like anything else. As long as people continue to pay for it, they'll continue to do it. Unless people are willing to stop watching TV, or pay extra for streaming services or DVDs that don't have commercials, we will always have commercials and ads during our favorite TV shows.



It's just like anything else. As long as people continue to pay for it, they'll continue to do it. Unless people are willing to stop watching TV, or pay extra for streaming services or DVDs that don't have commercials, we will always have commercials and ads during our favorite TV shows.
True enough.

Years ago I wrote to AMC because they went commercial. Before that they were the same as TCM (Turner Classic Movies) and showed movies, unedited & in their entirety. Not only did AMC add commercials - they started editing the movies, cutting off the ends for commercials, etc. I've never watched a movie on that network again, (I basically can't watch butchered movies drawn out to torturous run times on commercial TV.)

That wasn't the only letter I wrote. Just making the point that I have made efforts, urged others to do so, and done more than just griped about these things online.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
True enough.

Years ago I wrote to AMC because they went commercial. Before that they were the same as TCM (Turner Classic Movies) and showed movies, unedited & in their entirety. Not only did AMC add commercials - they started editing the movies, cutting off the ends for commercials, etc. I've never watched a movie on that network again, (I basically can't watch butchered movies drawn out to torturous run times on commercial TV.)

That wasn't the only letter I wrote. Just making the point that I have made efforts, urged others to do so, and done more than just griped about these things online.

It doesn't always pay to complain, but sometimes it's worth doing it just because it makes you feel better to know that you didn't just sit back and take it. You tried to make a change.

My father used to tell me "The more you complain, the longer God lets you live.". If that's true, I might live forever.