# What are we coming to?



## savarin (Mar 20, 2022)

I've been watching a couple of documentaries on TV over the last few weeks ranging from Archeological  to various sciences and it reminded me of what we all expected TV was going to become. 
The great educator, the uplifting force for humanity.
Instead what did we end up with but endless moronic so called reality shows such as survivor, married at first sight, etc etc. where the most important revalation is who lost an eyelash or a fingernail.
And what must be the icing on the cake of imbecility -- "Goggle box"
Who the h*** came up with this idea?
Lets make a TV program watching asinine mindless dimwitted morons watching TV.
The fact this show is reasonably successful just goes to show how far down the evolutionary ladder we have fallen.
Probably as bad as placing best before dates on salt.


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## 34_40 (Mar 20, 2022)

you can turn a knob or push a button...  I won't watch that crap!!  But I know what you're saying,,  For us here in New England you don't get to select your stations either, it's all a bundle or group package...  and "they" are always pushing movies..  I haven't watched a movie in probably 5 years!  Besides the charges continue to rise and "they" are now at my threshold - about ready to say goodbye and go back to an antenna.


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## markba633csi (Mar 20, 2022)

Follow the money trail....interesting to note the general knowledge level of contestants on game shows of the 50s and 60s- much higher than now


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## Jim F (Mar 20, 2022)

My TV has not been turned on in about 2 years..........


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## vtcnc (Mar 20, 2022)

My current TV habits:

Curse of Oak Island - I'm addicted. Probably staged and scripted but I'm all in on this.
NHL games
Currently somebody suggested "The Wire" on HBO. This is good writing.

We will watch a movie as a family once a weekend. Other than that, I use YouTube to find machining and DIY videos to learn how to do something.


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## FOMOGO (Mar 20, 2022)

I have it available, but don't watch it, with the rare exception. I get DVD's from the library, mostly BBC/PBS series. Mike


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## WobblyHand (Mar 20, 2022)

34_40 said:


> you can turn a knob or push a button...  I won't watch that crap!!  But I know what you're saying,,  For us here in New England you don't get to select your stations either, it's all a bundle or group package...  and "they" are always pushing movies..  I haven't watched a movie in probably 5 years!  Besides the charges continue to rise and "they" are now at my threshold - about ready to say goodbye and go back to an antenna.


I reached that threshold about 20 years ago.  The video quality (visual, not talking about content) was marginal at the time.  You know it's bad when you get better picture quality with a rabbit ear antenna than the cable, so I cut the cord.  20 years ago put up an antenna on the roof.  Still works.  Easily saved thousands of expenses over the years.  I just don't get spending hundreds a month on cable TV.

With streaming now, can't see a reason to ever use cable again.


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## WobblyHand (Mar 20, 2022)

FOMOGO said:


> I have it available, but don't watch it, with the rare exception. I get DVD's from the library, mostly BBC/PBS series. Mike


Libraries are an excellent source of quality material, including DVD's.  If you don't patronize your local library, you are missing out on a good thing!


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## C-Bag (Mar 20, 2022)

I got in the 60’s tv was far more annoying than it was entertaining. Then I discovered documentaries which became my oasis’s in the ever expanding desert that is tv. I was blessed to have roommates who didn’t need tv so didn’t have one for 15yrs after leaving home. We have cable internet with Netflix, HBO and Amazon. Between true crime and random docuseries like the one we just finished Inventing Anna there is a glut of scam artist docuseries on the three services. I used to like the History channel but Oak Island is the perfect example of why I totally avoid anything that has that big H associated with it. The sad thing is the AI controlled content now once we get off on a stupid tangent it’s really hard to steer it back. YouTube now is flooded outside of DIY with disinformation it seems. We are living the movie Wag the Dog it seems.


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## mmcmdl (Mar 20, 2022)

vtcnc said:


> NHL games


You know ? I was watching a NHL Toronto game the other day and called my son ( who now lives in Toronto ) about coming up and possibly watching a game . He says the team plays right next door to him but the tickets are always sold out at $1000s @ piece . I guess corporate sponsors ? I'll have to settle for TV for now .


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## finsruskw (Mar 20, 2022)

PBS "Passport"

We watch a lot of PBS series and doc's but even they are starting to "sneak" in a lot of 'CRAP" in almost every show subject they deal with, most of which have nothing to do with the story line but they sure try to make it so.
Makes me want to just get up and leave the room much of the time.
Sure glad I have my shop to retreat to!!


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## mmcmdl (Mar 20, 2022)

finsruskw said:


> ure glad I have my shop to retreat to!!


And of course .....................the Cubs !   Which reminds me , I have an electrical issue on my 1812 I may get to today .


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## RJSakowski (Mar 20, 2022)

My TV viewing is mostly concerned with public television and shows like Nova.  I watch some of the British crime shows and the Masterpiece  mini series showings.  I laso follow some shows like the Ken Burns documentaries.  I usuallly catch the local news before at 10:00 PM. Aside from that, an occasional old movie

I don't watch the law and order type (L&O, CSI, FBI,  NCIS, etc.) shows and have never watched the reality tv shows.  Game shows hold no interest for me whatsoever.  I don't watch any sitcoms.

We don't have cable service so our viewing is limited to on air shows.  About a year ago, our LG smart TV added around 100 streaming video channels to our optionss.  I haven't bothered watching any of them.  My viewing habits revolve around my computer monitor and instructive You Tube videos and I spend more time on HM than on viewing TV.


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## T Bredehoft (Mar 20, 2022)

Only watch Jeopardy!


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## Just for fun (Mar 20, 2022)

We haven't had network TV in probably 15 years.


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## pontiac428 (Mar 20, 2022)

I quit TV by the time I was 15 years old.  I just can't understand why anyone would pay to have 20 minutes of commercials pumped into their living room for every hour of "programming".  I watch about 2 hours of carefully selected on-demand per week with the wife, but that's it.  I can't really deal with YouTube either, too slow of a content delivery system for technical info.  Drives me nuts.  I prefer to read (and read and read).  Maybe it's my ADHD.  Not always a bad thing, really.


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## Winegrower (Mar 20, 2022)

These “what are we coming to” kinds of thoughts have been going on for a long time.   Here’s what Socrates said:

“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”

Edit:  for the younger audience, Socrates said this a couple thousand years ago.


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## woodchucker (Mar 20, 2022)

vtcnc said:


> My current TV habits:
> 
> Curse of Oak Island - I'm addicted. Probably staged and scripted but I'm all in on this.
> NHL games
> ...


Bryan, I don't get the oak island thing. I watched 2 episodes years ago, and back then I thought WTH.. this is all a losing proposition, they get you hooked, and reel you in... you are a fish on their line.. Other than that, there's nothing going on.  I guarantee, if you watched one episode, you watched them all.

Sport's are good. 

You tube is my TV. 
I watch on TV News, Jeopardy.. Sports (sometimes I listen but don't watch)..
I read a ton of news online.. I try to get a view from multiple sides.. Sometimes I am totally shocked at the difference in reporting.  

Charles @savarin I agree. But there is nothing we can do. I am shocked sometimes when talking with people.. there are very few brain cells in there. Some days at work it felt like no one got any work done, the bachelor, survivor, etc were all they talked about all day. I was working hard, and they were rehashing the nothingness of TV...


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## markba633csi (Mar 20, 2022)

I still have a rooftop antenna and a digital tv converter box.  I set my S-VHS machine to tape favorite old shows like "The Invaders" (with Roy Thinnes)
and Stooges shorts.  
I also like the old "Highway Patrol" series with Broderick Crawford


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## rabler (Mar 20, 2022)

pontiac428 said:


> I quit TV by the time I was 15 years old.  I just can't understand why anyone would pay to have 20 minutes of commercials pumped into their living room for every hour of "programming".  I watch about 2 hours of carefully selected on-demand per week with the wife, but that's it.  I can't really deal with YouTube either, too slow of a content delivery system for technical info.  Drives me nuts.  I prefer to read (and read and read).  Maybe it's my ADHD.  Not always a bad thing, really.


I have to agree witht his.   We had dish network and didn't use it more than a few hours a month for the two years we had it, and that mostly for an occasional news program, which I can better read via an online newspaper.  And yes, a 30 minute YouTube for demonstrating a one paragraph concept is tough to sit through.  It does work as a 3am insomnia cure.

I tend to use a bluetooth headset while I'm working to listen to audio books, news, etc.  That way I'm mowing or cleaning or doing something else other than butt planted in chair.


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## woodchucker (Mar 20, 2022)

rabler said:


> other than butt planted in chair.


yes but you don't understand how good it is to plant your butt in a chair and watch it grow


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## benmychree (Mar 20, 2022)

I like PBS, in the evening, it's news first then PBS, and if it's offering does not interest me, it's cop shows ---


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## Gnpenning (Mar 20, 2022)

Never understood paying for TV, when I've been around it, just more channels of things I don't want to watch. Reality Tv is a completely different reality than what I live,  drama is something I try to avoid in life, so why would I watch it on TV??  Strictly OTA and have no problem changing channels or shutting it off. Even when watching I'll be doing something else at the same time. 

i do like PBS and think Ken Burns puts out some good stuff, even if it's not perfect it's way better than many of the options.


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## erikmannie (Mar 20, 2022)

I haven’t had cable TV since 1993. 

I only regret this decision when local sports teams are in the playoffs, & I would like to watch the games live, not that I would have the time to do that.

I like YouTube just fine! YouTube meets all of my needs.


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## wachuko (Mar 20, 2022)

Well… we love HULU, Amazon Prime videos, Netflix, Disney+, YouTube, etc.

All our TVs are capable of streaming…

I do not watch real-tv shows…can’t stand those.  All we watch are movies, some series like Supernatural, Jack Ryan, Reacher, The Mandalorian, The Expanse, Lucifer, Blacklist, Once Upon a Time, Grimm, Sherlock, etc.

Only one that watches live tv is my wife when having her morning coffee…she likes to watch the morning news, then TV is off until we get out of work.


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## tjb (Mar 20, 2022)

I hate TV.

Came home from work one day and literally stepped over my four sons who were lying on the floor watching TV.  Changed clothes and talked to my wife in the kitchen for a few minutes; then she calls the boys to get to the table for dinner.  ALL FOUR asked, "We're not gonna wait for Dad?"

I threw the TV out that night and haven't had one since.  That was about forty years ago.  Haven't missed it one bit.

And, oh, by the way - except for an occasional ball game or some other sports show, none my sons watch TV anymore either.


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## woodchucker (Mar 20, 2022)

well, for those that remember the better days of TV..
have a laugh..  As this Farmer (no not the I'm a farmer of Woodstock) at 97 years old is hilarious.





  I will listen to this kind of stuff in the background while working.  That and music.


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## C-Bag (Mar 20, 2022)

rabler said:


> yes, a 30 minute YouTube for demonstrating a one paragraph concept is tough to sit through.


I agree with you both. Life for me got way better for those slow deliveries when I found out you can speed them up. At the top corner when watching a vid there are three dots, if you click on them a menu comes down and one is speed. Click on it and you can speed up or slow down. For quite a few things on u2oob I run at 1.5x. Drives me wife crazy as it’s going at quite clip.  

I also have my Bluetooth headphones going a lot. Books, music, some podcasts(Lex Friedman). It’s about the only thing my cell is good for as I almost never talk on it, text every once in a while.


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## jwmay (Mar 20, 2022)

My speculation is that the reason these shows are so popular is that it helps people who don't feel so great about their lives to feel a little bit better. It shows them people worse off than themselves.


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## westerner (Mar 20, 2022)

jwmay said:


> My speculation is that the reason these shows are so popular is that it helps people who don't feel so great about their lives to feel a little bit better. It shows them people worse off than themselves.


I agree completely. I have not spent one hour watching TV in the last two years. I don't see the ratio changing soon, and my kids can see the reason why.


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## rabler (Mar 20, 2022)

woodchucker said:


> yes but you don't understand how good it is to plant your butt in a chair and watch it grow


My hind end doesn’t need any help in that department.


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## pontiac428 (Mar 20, 2022)

C-Bag said:


> I also have my Bluetooth headphones going a lot. Books, music, some podcasts(Lex Friedman). It’s about the only thing my cell is good for as I almost never talk on it, text every once in a while.


You and @rabler struck something here!  I'm all about the bluetooth headphones.  Sometimes I listen to subject-matter podcasts (if they're well-organized, not just useless dudes jaw-jacking), but I really love the audio books.  I listen to them when I get ready in the morning and on my walk to and from work.  I listen in the shop if i'm not doing work that requires concentration (machining, math).  It's fine for say, degreasing a transmission or blasting parts.  And of course tidying and cleaning.  There is a lot of available audio book time to be had.


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## 7milesup (Mar 21, 2022)

I usually watch the Bachelor, Bachelorette,  Big Brother, My 600lb life, reruns of Beavis and Butthead, Dr. Pimple Popper, Swamp People, and any other highly educational show I can find.  

In all honesty, I do watch some prime-time shows for, well, the fun of it.  It's entertainment after all.  The Good Doctor, New Amsterdam, and Bull (although that one is being canceled) are a few that I watch.  I have my laptop on my lap and during commercials, I read this forum or research other things that I might be working on, so the commercials are a non-issue to me (we mute them anyhow).

There are a lot of movies that are really, really good that have been made in the last 15 years, so occasionally I will watch one with the wife.  We mostly stream them and rarely go to a theatre.  
We really can't reliably get TV over an antenna due to the distance from the towers, coupled with the wooded area we live in.   Can't get cable here so we are limited to the internet and services like YouTube TV.  Unfortunately, my wife is tied to the TV.  Maybe if I got rid of the TV she would leave me 

I listen to audiobooks and have gone through a lot of them since I started doing that.  Anything written by Bill Bryson along with WWII history of mostly the Pacific side of things.  Currently listening to Blind Man's Bluff by Sherry Sontag.  It is fascinating.


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## woodchucker (Mar 21, 2022)

When my son still lived here he used to watch comedy central, and that was quite good depending on the comedian.  We don't watch that anymore, maybe we should.  I forgot we do watch America's Funniest Videos... not last night, we watched the Duke game.  My Wife went to St. Peter's so she is really stoked about this year..


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## 7milesup (Mar 21, 2022)

^^^ Yeah, that was a pretty good game.  I had it on in my shop (I have a 50" flat screen in my shop) and was watching that while I putzed around.


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## mmcmdl (Mar 21, 2022)

woodchucker said:


> My Wife went to St. Peter's so she is really stoked about this year..


Very Kewl ! They busted more than one bracket for sure !


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## C-Bag (Mar 21, 2022)

pontiac428 said:


> You and @rabler struck something here!  I'm all about the bluetooth headphones.  Sometimes I listen to subject-matter podcasts (if they're well-organized, not just useless dudes jaw-jacking), but I really love the audio books.  I listen to them when I get ready in the morning and on my walk to and from work.  I listen in the shop if i'm not doing work that requires concentration (machining, math).  It's fine for say, degreasing a transmission or blasting parts.  And of course tidying and cleaning.  There is a lot of available audio book time to be had.


Absolutely ditto. It’s funny it depends on the book and what’s going on whether I have to pause it. I used to think audio books were for illiterate but the only time I have to read was before bed and in the last decade or so I can’t even read a paragraph before shutdown. Drives my wife crazy as my head doesn’t even bounce twice before I’m out and I’ve never been like this. So audio books are a boon for me because so much of my day of twice daily dog walks and mindless automatic shop time can now be filled with books. My only gripe is there are some old books that I would love to read but haven’t been done audio. I’ve not tried the kindle robo read, anybody use that?


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## woodchucker (Mar 21, 2022)

C-Bag said:


> Absolutely ditto. It’s funny it depends on the book and what’s going on whether I have to pause it. I used to think audio books were for illiterate but the only time I have to read was before bed and in the last decade or so I can’t even read a paragraph before shutdown. Drives my wife crazy as my head doesn’t even bounce twice before I’m out and I’ve never been like this. So audio books are a boon for me because so much of my day of twice daily dog walks and mindless automatic shop time can now be filled with books. My only gripe is there are some old books that I would love to read but haven’t been done audio. I’ve not tried the kindle robo read, anybody use that?


Back in the day, I was traveling to Vermont every weekend to ski. 5 hours each way. I would take a bunch of audio books out from the library near where I worked (ours had none).. It made the trip so much nicer.  I often wondered how did I get here.  It helped avoid the bored sleepy condition... If I got in traffic or whatever I could rewind if I missed something.   Those were the cassette days..


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## pontiac428 (Mar 21, 2022)

C-Bag said:


> Drives my wife crazy as my head doesn’t even bounce twice before I’m out and I’ve never been like this.


When can I look forward to this happening?  I squirm for an hour trying to get to sleep.  I just got my first pair of bifocals, does that mean I'm getting close?


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## C-Bag (Mar 21, 2022)

pontiac428 said:


> When can I look forward to this happening?  I squirm for an hour trying to get to sleep.  I just got my first pair of bifocals, does that mean I'm getting close?


Be careful what you wish for there John. If this was tv the disclaimer to this ad would be a mile long with the bad side effects of gettin’ old. Like my dad used to say getting old ain’t for faint o’ heart.


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## Janderso (Mar 21, 2022)

savarin said:


> I've been watching a couple of documentaries on TV over the last few weeks ranging from Archeological  to various sciences and it reminded me of what we all expected TV was going to become.
> The great educator, the uplifting force for humanity.
> Instead what did we end up with but endless moronic so called reality shows such as survivor, married at first sight, etc etc. where the most important revalation is who lost an eyelash or a fingernail.
> And what must be the icing on the cake of imbecility -- "Goggle box"
> ...


Savarin,
Your thread went viral.
The only TV i watch is one or two nights a week of Yellowstone (she loves Kevin) or the Annie show.
Dropout is the latest gig.
Maybe 3 hours a week for me. I’m retired, who has time for mindless television?


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## savarin (Mar 21, 2022)

I guess its time to fess up and plummet down the ladder.
I do watch comedy, particularly standup, quiz/game shows such as 8 out of 10 cats does countdown and taskmaster. (search on youtube)
Virtually no American stuff, they seem to come up with an idea and then flog it to death in endless series.
Not too keen on American docos with their endless repetition of the same facts. Nat Geo appears to have gone down this road. Just like oak island.
Commercial Australian stations are unwatchable with their ad breaks every ten seconds (OK, so I exaggerate a tad) 
British cop shows are still watchable but not American.
Some Aussie shows but not many.
Swedish thrillers
What we have become addicted to are Korean romantic comedy thrillers (all three in a single genre), subtitled but that doesnt bother me. The stupid part is I dont speak or understand Korean but have to have the volume up to understand the subtitles. (netflix)


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## woodchucker (Mar 21, 2022)

savarin said:


> The stupid part is I dont speak or understand Korean but have to have the volume up to understand the subtitles. (netflix)


wow, maybe yelling at a foreigner when they don't understand does work


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