Poll of the Day > Is it my imagination or is TV getting worse?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Can't find anything to watch these days.

TV has been shit for a long time now.
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Sort of. It's less to do with the shows themselves being worse, though, and more to do with the channels getting worse with programming shows. Anyone remember the days when marathons were only for special occasions, instead of most channels having marathons 24/7?
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TV has always sucked, honestly. There are a handful of great shows, but most of it is garbage for idiots.
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Golden Road posted...

Sort of. It's less to do with the shows themselves being worse, though, and more to do with the channels getting worse with programming shows. Anyone remember the days when marathons were only for special occasions, instead of most channels having marathons 24/7?

toonami marathons are the worst...they'll do a holiday marathon several days in advance of the day
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It's kind of leveled off the last few years because it couldn't get much worse, but prior to these last few years, it was on a steady decline for 2 decades.

By far the biggest culprit is the rise of "reality" tv. Even on the History Channel of all places, now it's almost non-stop Ice Road Truckers, Pawn Stars, Axemen, etc... Yeah, when it was "the WW2 channel" it was bad too, but at least that was actual history, and they did sometimes deign to broadcast other topics.

24 hour news also rose to massive prominence to the detriment of us all.

And the third worst thing to happen to tv is the latest bout of prudishness, particularly when it comes to sexual topics but other areas as well. This seems to have started around the time of the 9/11 attacks, and I've read pretty interesting articles linking the two events. It started w/ the religious right, and the sex-negative left is taking up the fight with gusto now.
Just sad when you watch a sitcom from the '90's and amidst the joy, you repeatedly find yourself thinking, "damn, they'd NEVER be able to say/show/do that on a tv series that came out today!"

Someone hasn't seen American Gods.
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Um, no?

TV is freaking incredible nowadays. Watch Altered Carbon.
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Mead posted...

Um, no?

TV is freaking incredible nowadays. Watch Altered Carbon.

Yeah dude. I barely even watch movies anymore because it seems there's always one good show after another coming out nowadays. I haven't got around to watching Altered Carbon yet.
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Its the first time in 10 years of watching TV in the way that I do that there is not one single TV show I watch on a week-to-week basis. Only shows I have seen recently have been on streaming platforms (Star Trek Discovery, Stargate: Origins).

Then again Ash vs The Evil Dead and The X-Files comes back on this week I think.
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Streaming services offer a lot of what TV offers, so Id say TV is simply moving to other platforms. Due to the increasing number of options though, we probably wont get many more of the shows that everyone watches and talks about the next day.
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Youre just being dumb. TV is way better nowadays. Youre just an adult and notice the bad ones that air now.
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Smithers, I'm home!

(Laugh track.)
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WarGreymon77 posted...

TV has been shit for a long time now.

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PK_Spam posted...

Youre just being dumb. TV is way better nowadays. Youre just an adult and notice the bad ones that air now.

It's from the same people who said the paperless office is coming
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streamofthesky posted...

It's kind of leveled off the last few years because it couldn't get much worse, but prior to these last few years, it was on a steady decline for 2 decades.

By far the biggest culprit is the rise of "reality" tv. Even on the History Channel of all places, now it's almost non-stop Ice Road Truckers, Pawn Stars, Axemen, etc... Yeah, when it was "the WW2 channel" it was bad too, but at least that was actual history, and they did sometimes deign to broadcast other topics.

24 hour news also rose to massive prominence to the detriment of us all.

And the third worst thing to happen to tv is the latest bout of prudishness, particularly when it comes to sexual topics but other areas as well. This seems to have started around the time of the 9/11 attacks, and I've read pretty interesting articles linking the two events. It started w/ the religious right, and the sex-negative left is taking up the fight with gusto now.
Just sad when you watch a sitcom from the '90's and amidst the joy, you repeatedly find yourself thinking, "damn, they'd NEVER be able to say/show/do that on a tv series that came out today!"

I do wish this country's media didn't freak out from nipples but had a bizarre gun culture
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I find that each network finds one main show and marathons another long running filler show endlessly in between new episodes.

If you cut out all of the filler stuff like that you could probably distill all of cable down to like 3 channels of content.

TV has always sucked with a few nuggets of gold scattered throughout the turds. Shows are made with the lowest common denominators in mind and thats always gonna ruin shit.
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To be quite honest, my tastes are... not quite the same as everyone else's. I grew up in the 90s, and you know all those popular live-action 90s shows? Seinfeld, Friends, Full House? I just don't get the appeal. Fresh Prince is ok. I like the piano part of the Family Matters theme song... I like Frasier, though. In fact, it has affected the way I talk and type. The whole "sophisticated intellectual" thing rubbed off on me, I guess. But in the 90s, I was always a cartoon kid. HATED live action shows.
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PaddysPub posted...

TV has always sucked with a few nuggets of gold scattered throughout the turds. Shows are made with the lowest common denominators in mind and thats always gonna ruin shit.

What? Just because you personally dont like a show doesnt mean it appeals to the lowest common denominator?

Why do people have to be such elitists when it comes to television? People dont want to be told that theyre stupid for liking a show you dont.
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@PK_Spam

Big Bang theory, the bachelor, modern family is made for double digit IQ losers
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Dont you think youre being unfair here?

I dont think BBT is good either, but Im not gonna say that anyone isnt stupid just because they like it. And The Bachelor just hits all the right romance notes for its demographic. Its like a giant harem anime, and lots of people like those.

And Modern Family is okay. Its not like the best thing ever, and I dont find myself going out of my way to watch it, but it has a pretty sizable fan base for a reason.
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The rise of streaming has cut deeply into the market share TV used to dominate. It's dying a slow death.
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I actually think TV is a bit better these days, but I still hardly watch any of it.
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Just the amount of commercials makes it worse today.
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funkyfritter posted...

The rise of streaming has cut deeply into the market share TV used to dominate. It's dying a slow death.

i think if streaming ever takes over completely then online discussions for tv shows will be less lively and extremely limited

because once you binge through the whole season it's a long wait until the next one...and it'll devalue into stupid theory bullcrap faster

you gotta avoid message boards because of people who do binge the whole season and spoil it
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At least the last year I think, couple of decent things that I've enjoyed (Ozark, AP Bio, the majority of Black Mirror) but mostly it's given me a chance to really get into my backlog (Damages, In Treatment) or rewatch some classics (Breaking Bad, Burn Notice-don't judge, we all have some guilty pleasures lol).
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You're just getting old.
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gguirao posted...

Smithers, I'm home!

(Laugh track.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdX5UDgQ8x0
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There's a ton of great shows today, so no.
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it hasn't changed much. it's always been this bad.
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Black Mirror's pretty good on Netflix
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jsb0714 posted...

Just the amount of commercials makes it worse today.

I find the type of commercials ruins it for me-an actual ad break doesn't bother me but those bottom third ads are really off-putting and are often far too bright so it washes out the darker scene behind it so you can;t see what's going on-they almost always make me swear to never buy that product lol
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Didnt read topic

Tv is literally by far 10000000% better than it has ever been. There are shows on so many networks that are better than movie quality.

Ah, yes. Commercials today are so much worse. First of all, most commercials are either for car insurance or prescription drugs. Secondly, instead of using cool musical jingles, everybody wants to use comedy now. Most importantly, there are way too many commercials compared to actual TV time.
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Feels like a NMB topic >_>

And no, TV is actually pretty damn good these days. Some of the popular stuff still sucks and there's way too much reality tv, but we live in an age when Game of Thrones is one of the hottest things on tv. When you have shows about zombies getting massive hype (although supposedly that's taken a downturn). Hell, we've had tv shows based on older films (Lethal Weapon) and they're surprisingly good. And even the cartoons are a lot better than they used to be (well, nothing *quite* on par with JLU from a comic standpoint, but we've seen stuff like Avatar). We're in the midst of a golden age for scripted television. The only thing we're missing is a kickass anthology tv show.
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Network decay has ruined many a cable channel. If you want educational programing/documentaries there really isn't anywhere to go outside of PBS these days. But I suppose if you like network sitcoms, dramas its still same shit as always.
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I don't even watch TV anymore. The only thing I use my TV for is for videogames and occasionally watching DVDs/Blurays.
YouTube and Netflix has essentially replaced TV for me.
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Yes but because quality television is going to HBO, Showtime, Amazon, or other subscription based services.
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Miroku_of_Nite1 posted...

Network decay has ruined many a cable channel. If you want educational programing/documentaries there really isn't anywhere to go outside of PBS these days. But I suppose if you like network sitcoms, dramas its still same shit as always.

This. TV channels used to all have their own niche, but then they decided it wasn't profitable, so they've all been genericized. I think there was some pushback on Cartoon Network about that. Other channels, like History, weren't so lucky.
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Production companies are afraid of straying from the norm or trying something original.

So you get a lot of playing it safe,and rehashes of the same thing.

Watch Pop Team Epic instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqkmI3ZdJ8c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7RZMD3GUPQ
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WarGreymon77 posted...

Ah, yes. Commercials today are so much worse. First of all, most commercials are either for car insurance or prescription drugs. Secondly, instead of using cool musical jingles, everybody wants to use comedy now. Most importantly, there are way too many commercials compared to actual TV time.

I almost forgot about that, but yes, this too. There actually used to be a limit to how much advertising TV stations were allowed to show. The only immediate effect to that limit being abolished was the birth of infomercials, but over time, more and more commercials have crept into all programming.

Most people, when asked if TV is worse today, tend to only look at the shows, which is largely subjective, but there are some notable objective ways TV is worse that often get overlooked in these sorts of topics. The only real objective advantage to TV today is more channels to choose from, but the negatives outweigh that.
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If you're not watching The Good Place you're not paying attention. Network TV is better now than it was a few years ago

Also TV has cycles of good and bad, and last 2 times I visited my parents, I saw nothing of value on cable. Comedy Central was reruns of the office and that 70s show until South Park came on, and adult swim was largely reruns of shows I don't care about

Miroku_of_Nite1 posted...

Network decay has ruined many a cable channel. If you want educational programing/documentaries there really isn't anywhere to go outside of PBS these days. But I suppose if you like network sitcoms, dramas its still same shit as always.

Well, *that's* kind of an issue. It's really killed the History Channel, which now spends a lot of its time covering ancient aliens and doing reality tv. However, it's not like that many people watched the History Channel in the first place so... =p
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Legion, Fargo, Stranger Things, Game of Thrones, etc. Golden Age of TV dude
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ImmortalityV posted...

Legion, Fargo, Stranger Things, Game of Thrones, etc. Golden Age of TV dude

FX alone has better shows than all of tvs past

MICHALECOLE posted...

ImmortalityV posted...

Legion, Fargo, Stranger Things, Game of Thrones, etc. Golden Age of TV dude

FX alone has better shows than all of tvs past

Can't wait for Legion season 2 right?
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Zeus posted...

The only thing we're missing is a kickass anthology tv show.

Black Mirror and Philip K Dicks Electric Dreams arent your cup of tea?
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Zeus posted...

Miroku_of_Nite1 posted...

Network decay has ruined many a cable channel. If you want educational programing/documentaries there really isn't anywhere to go outside of PBS these days. But I suppose if you like network sitcoms, dramas its still same shit as always.

Well, *that's* kind of an issue. It's really killed the History Channel, which now spends a lot of its time covering ancient aliens and doing reality tv. However, it's not like that many people watched the History Channel in the first place so... =p

Back before the network decay took hold, I always used to say that 24/365, I could put it on The History Channel and be entertained.
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Mead posted...

Zeus posted...

The only thing we're missing is a kickass anthology tv show.

Black Mirror and Philip K Dicks Electric Dreams arent your cup of tea?

Black Mirror is still on my queue, but its seasons are super short (kind of a trend with the BBC, which has had some shows with 2-episode seasons (most notably Luther)). Hadn't heard of Electric Dreams (which I'll need to check out), but it looks like it might just be a one-season thing from the wikipedia page. At any rate, I'm more talking about something on par with the first two runs of the Twilight Zone or the Outer Limits where you also have longer seasons.

As it is, we're not even getting that Tales from the Crypt reboot. (Although, with M. Night Shymalan at the helm, maybe it's for the best.)

WarGreymon77 posted...

Zeus posted...

Miroku_of_Nite1 posted...

Network decay has ruined many a cable channel. If you want educational programing/documentaries there really isn't anywhere to go outside of PBS these days. But I suppose if you like network sitcoms, dramas its still same shit as always.

Well, *that's* kind of an issue. It's really killed the History Channel, which now spends a lot of its time covering ancient aliens and doing reality tv. However, it's not like that many people watched the History Channel in the first place so... =p

Back before the network decay took hold, I always used to say that 24/365, I could put it on The History Channel and be entertained.

Prior to the decay, I wasn't terribly impressed either since it seemed to devote a tremendous amount of time to the world wars which are a subject already covered heavily in schools, etc. Granted, to some extent, with the rise of the internet these dedicated channels are somewhat obsolete. If I want to learn about a particular period of history, I could always find a free lecture series on Youtube.
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