TV Technology & Good Programmes Didn’t Quite Meet!

For years TVs were monstrosities with dubious sound and picture quality. But in the last few years the price of great-quality LCD or even plasma TVs has plummeted, so that now we can get sound and pictures of a quality we’ve just not had before.

Watching films is now a truly exciting experience at home. But what of TV programmes themselves?

Unfortunately, since the number of TV channels expanded some years back in the UK, supposedly to ‘increase choice’, I can look through all my Freeview channels and, most times, find virtually nothing I want to watch. Yes, for those families whose daily tube ritual means that they automatically turn on the TV and - as their ritual has gone for most of the days of their lives, they will watch something - the process is then to choose from the fairly poor choice of programmes.

There was a time when we complained bitterly about having endless repeats of TV. Now there are entire channels set up for it! And if you are one of us hardy souls who find the soaps, well, soapy, and prefer our own, far more interesting daily realities to the so-called reality shows - with their tedious, contrived content about god-knows-which virtually unknown ‘celebrity’ - the choice is negligible. Then, if vampires or emergency services hold little appeal, you have a real problem! You’ve worked hard to earn enough to afford great technology to watch TV on but there’s now nothing on you want to watch. TV technology and programme making have somehow walked right past each other and have failed to meet!

We subscribed briefly to Sky and before that to the old On-Digital service. We stopped it because once again there was just too much content that we didn’t want to watch. And as we clearly already get unwatchable programmes on Freeview, why on earth would I want to pay to get even more programmes I don’t want to watch?

If I’ve painted a very bleak picture, there is at least a tiny light shining in the distance. Dramas like Heroes were truly absorbing, (though much too long). While I enjoyed the ones I saw, I wasn’t prepared to give that much of my life to it! Spooks was also very nicely done and every so often we’ve had the odd gems from superb story-tellers and programme makers like Stephen Poliakoff or Mike Leigh, which are mercifully short but always compelling.

So, programme makers, what’s it to be? Are you going to continue to fob people off with ersatz entertainment in the UK, as you’ve been doing increasingly for more than 10 years? If so, I for one will be spending even less time watching. However, if you choose to make some more intelligent, well-crafted programmes, I will be your greatest advocate.

The problem you’ve created with poor content is that the nightly TV-viewing rituals which almost every family now has, are beginning to break down, as your falling viewing figures and advertising revenues reveal. Your choice: will you let it continue its decline or will you find a way to rebuild the art of quality programme-making that we know we can do in the UK and let it occupy more than a tiny per cent of the viewing schedule?

Truthfully I will be happy with or without a TV because I have lots of other things I am happy to do instead when I’m not working. If I choose to leave my TV off or even sell it, only the TV stations and programme makers will lose out.

Now I’ve increased your choice!

This entry was posted on 30/09/2009 at 08:35 am and is filed under Life, Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.