how dumb is tv getting?

[gregorthebigmac]

is it just me, or does it seem that tv is getting more and more repetitive, and completely devoid of anything even remotely intellectually stimulating? i'm sitting at my friend's house, where his gf has been in control of the tv for the last few hours, and so far, we've watched 3 reality shows, one involving a tattoo shop with ditsy, shallow women talking about one of them actually WANTING to be a single mom, and ultimately going on a blind date with some rock star who doesn't want kids, another reality show where two dipsh*t rappers whose names i don't know have their own "gangsta" version of "the bachelor" (where, mind you, out of the nearly 20 chicks in this crowd, only 2 or 3 were actually black... go figure), and another reality show about how people have spent their money after winning either the lottery, or somehow otherwise came into money that they did not work to earn, then we watched 3 (yes... 3 in a row) episodes of "the nanny" (need i say more? i already feel like my brain is mush just from trying to block it out as i type this), and as i see commercials for more reality shows about people f*cking with wild animals ('cause we haven't seen THAT enough, and seen the dire consequences *cough* steve irwin *cough*) and i wonder... is there any intelligent tv left that isn't on the history channel, or the discovery channel? actually, on second thought, i half-way rescind my claim on the discovery channel. even they've sold out to the reality show bullsh*t and have their own versions of this plague. does anyone else share this concern? or am i just being cynical?

[BustedS13]

we canceled our cable months ago. don't have an antenna either. download shows we like or watch Hulu.

But that's not to say i watch anything good anyway. I'm on season 5 of the Drew Carey Show right now.

[gregorthebigmac]

yeah, i hear you. i haven't had cable, or any form of normal tv for over 3 years, now. just like you, i watch the shows i care to see on hulu, or i buy the dvd's if i feel the show was really good, and deserves to make some money for their efforts. and to be honest, i don't miss having cable. there's never really anything i want to watch. y'know, i really hate the government getting involved in people's personal affairs, but sometimes i think i'd be willing to forgo my freedom to choose my entertainment, if it meant getting rid of this crap, and preventing other people from absorbing it

[fliprayzin240sx]

#1 Reason why MTV need to cease to exist:

Paris Hilton's New BFF...nuff said.

[illvialuver]

tv rots the brain. my grandpa was right. lol, yeah those vh1 reality shows are retarded.

[meteorite_flo]

The stuff on TV is retarded nowadays,MTV doesn't even have anything to do with MUSIC. You would have to get MTV2 or some shit, it wasn't like this back in the days; FUCK THEM. It's all teeny bopper shit that you would see brainwashing kids to do/or get things that's out of their wallet.

[BustedS13]

Watching the first season of Taxi. lol.

[HyperTek]

its all because of women.. women will watch the stupidest shit, and dudes will do and accept anything for the vag... also why rap is to shit, because women love the current club-rap songs..

Im all for educational shows, myth busters, tlc, even the military channel. My mom loves Forensic Files.
My fta sat is out though so no junk tv for me anymore, i just miss f1 racing thats all id watch on there.

But sadly, you continue to show these reality tv shows with single moms gettin preggo, people sleeping around with everybody, etc, is actually showing people that its ok and actually good to do this stuff.. I guess im old fashion lol

[Homer_Simpson]

we canceled our cable months ago. don't have an antenna either. download shows we like or watch Hulu.

But that's not to say i watch anything good anyway. I'm on season 5 of the Drew Carey Show right now.
My wife and I have been without a TV for the last 3 years and it has been great. It's kind of liberating to be without the box. Apparently we're not missing out on much.

[HyperTek]

u guys must be borring lmao jk jk

[randomxzero]

i agree that most of the shows on TV are crap..
i just usually watch the speed channel or adult swim because it somewhat decent..
but MTV and VH1 really need to kill their reality shows they just got too stupid and turning ppl my age into such retards...
if ia girl i like wants me to sit down and watch that shit with her, screw that i'd slap her for watching it and leave... :nono:

[325irollin]

I just watch TruTV and a select few other shows.

[Dirty Habit]

Cancelled my cable a year or two ago.

Only thing I watched was Lost or history/discovery channels. Maybe speed channel here and there.

Now I just read or catch something on the net if I really want to watch it.

[tougekid]

I haven't had cable in 3 yrs. I'm not home enuf to justify it. When I'm at the shop for more then a couple hrs on sat I'll go up front to see what other ppl find interesting.
WOW. ppl are getting dumber, or there level of acceptable entertainment is getting lower.
If I'm home I'll play games or watch a movie. Read a book. But for the most part I just cook and go to sleep.

[DALAZ_68]

i miss the original TGIF line up...

[exitspeed]

i miss the original TGIF line up...

Me too.

The only thing we watch on TV is Ultimate Fighter, Food Network (because I love cooking), and shit on Discovery and History. I hardly get to even watch TV really.

[enkei2k]

honestly it depends what channel you watch. all those VH1, MTV, etc channels of course you'll find shit. I've been glued to the Food Network for about a month now and I'm liking it. Learning about culinary is the shit. Iron Chef America, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, Chopped, etc...just to name a few. You'll be surprised how good the food looks.

[exitspeed]

honestly it depends what channel you watch. all those VH1, MTV, etc channels of course you'll find shit. I've been glued to the Food Network for about a month now and I'm liking it. Learning about culinary is the shit. Iron Chef America, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, Chopped, etc...just to name a few. You'll be surprised how good the food looks.

I've been watching Food Network for like 10 years now. I would definitely say it's one of the reasons I'm as good of a cook as I am.

[Daniel.]

You guys are watching the wrong shit if you can't find anything good on TV.

Basic cable has plenty of good stations.

The major networks have highly entertaining dramas, there's USA, and HBO has a ton of good shit.

True Blood, Hung, Entourage etc etc.

[gunmetalr32]

i miss the original TGIF line up...that was the best.... a few hours of good classic tv

[fliprayzin240sx]

Sad part is that I spend more time surfing the net to entertain me than actually watching TV. I think I gave up on it. Only time I would flop down to watch TV now is when there's a basketball game on or football.

GOD I CANT WAIT TILL FOOTBALL SEASON STARTS!!!

[gregorthebigmac]

i know nothing personally of the shows you just mentioned, but i wiki-ed them, and they're all on HBO. i dunno about your cable company, but everywhere i've lived, HBO is not basic cable. you have to pay extra for just that channel. and of course you'll find better shows on a channel you have to pay extra for. if people never watch your channel, they won't pay for it anymore. so HBO really HAVE to keep good shows on their network, otherwise, there's no reason for people to pay for it. and yes, exitspeed, i forgot about the food network. they at least give you useful information, and keep the idiotic reality shows to a minimum

[cxlo8331]

honestly it depends what channel you watch. All those vh1, mtv, etc channels of course you'll find shit. I've been glued to the food network for about a month now and i'm liking it. Learning about culinary is the shit. Iron chef america, throwdown with bobby flay, chopped, etc...just to name a few. You'll be surprised how good the food looks.

food network is awesome!

i've been watching food network for like 10 years now. I would definitely say it's one of the reasons i'm as good of a cook as i am.

word!

you guys are watching the wrong shit if you can't find anything good on tv.

Basic cable has plenty of good stations.

The major networks have highly entertaining dramas, there's usa, and hbo has a ton of good shit.

True blood, hung, entourage etc etc.

a&e, discovery channel, nat geo, history channel, ect...

sad part is that i spend more time surfing the net to entertain me than actually watching tv. I think i gave up on it. Only time i would flop down to watch tv now is when there's a basketball game on or football.

God i cant wait till football season starts!!!

hell yeah, nfl network on mondays. highlights galore!

[XperienceM5G]

I refuse to watch anything under the title of Reality TV anymore. It's brain rot mind control stuff. Sucks anyone in with a short enough attention span, and makes you think you want to care about who the fuck Paris Hiltons new BFF is. Lies!

I died a bit inside when I saw the commercial for that show, died a bit more when I thought of how many people are going to watch it and help keep it on the air..

[LoanShark]

I like how since they're running out of ideas, they make american versions of shows from other countries. and they tend to suck at it. I miss japanese tv ... Shit was always fresh. Like the ones where they playfully torture girls and degrade them. Shit wouldnt fly over here. Too many uptight people.

[LoanShark]

fml dblpst

[VROOOM]

I only watch the History channel, National Geographic channel, Military channel, Biography channel and all the other versions of those. most regular TV does suck now.

[BustedS13]

its all because of women.. women will watch the stupidest shit, and dudes will do and accept anything for the vag... also why rap is to shit, because women love the current club-rap songs..

god dammit. women ruin media.

[zenki.life]

yea actually the HBO and showtime have some great shows on. showtime actually had all three seasons of dexter. i love that show now!

[Brian]

TV commercials are REALLY getting dumb. I think those bug me more than anything.

It seems like sex doesn't sell anymore, but rather, stupidity sells.

[LongGrain]

i just watch the history channel or comedy central all the time

[Matej]

HDTV-DIVX.COM (http://www.hdtv-divx.com)

Just finished Gossip Girl. Plan to watch The Tudors next.

[axiomatik]

yeah, most television sucks, but in my opinion, that's always been the case. I don't hardly watch TV, don't have the time, but even if I did, not a whole lot I'd watch. Still, there's some gems out there:

Daily Show
Colbert Report
Adult Swim
Nip/Tuck (though I've lost interest, always happens to me and dramas, I can only watch 2-3 seasons)
Monk
Psych
My Classic Car
Nova
Nature
This Old House
Law & Order
some stuff on History/Discovery/Nat Geo
FX's dramas seem to be better than most.
Battlestar Galactica was good

Saw some show about a Pawn Shop in LV last night that was kind of interesting. Interesting to see the random stuff people bring in. One of those shows like Orange County Choppers, family business, tv crew follows what goes on.

[VROOOM]

the pawn shop show is called Pawn Stars. its pretty cool. some guy brought a Civil War cannon in to pawn. they told him they would give him 30k if it shot. they then took it out to the desert and shot it. pretty damn cool, they even hit the target.

they also took a Trapdoor rifle from the late 1800's that someone pawned and shot it at the range. it seems they get some pretty cool stuff

[ESmorz]

http://www.dyfuse.com/files/images/real-chance-of-love-2theboys.jpg

[zenki.life]

http://www.dyfuse.com/files/images/real-chance-of-love-2theboys.jpg

ugh, fuckin shoot me i hate that show

[Bubbles]

god dammit. women ruin everything.


Straight facts.

[Vision Garage]

List of channels i watched when I had cable.

Discovery
National GEO
History
Food Network
SPIKE (Deadliest Warrior + MANSWERS!)

HGTV! WTF am i the only guy who watches that shit?

LAME!

[adam s]

its all because of women.. women will watch the stupidest shit, and dudes will do and accept anything for the vag... also why rap is to shit, because women love the current club-rap songs..

That pretty much sums up every single hit song on the radio these days.:lfault:

Adult Swim
USA (Burn Notice)
TBS from time to time

[gregorthebigmac]

http://www.dyfuse.com/files/images/real-chance-of-love-2theboys.jpg

that's the show i was talking about before. the thugged out version of the bachelor... fuck those guys and everything they stand for

[Prelude Guy]

I boycotted several channels. They mainly include E!, MTV, VH-1, anything NBC (mainly MSNBC), and anything that has to deal with celebrities/"reality" tv. I'm proud to say I have never watched an episode of American Idol and I didn't know who Jon and Kate Plus 8 were up until they were talked about on the news.

The channels I mainly watch are Tru TV (mainly Forensic files and Body of Evidence when it used to come on) Spike TV, and Speed Channel...when they actually have races, and news programs.

[gregorthebigmac]

I boycotted several channels. They mainly include E!, MTV, VH-1, anything NBC (mainly MSNBC), and anything that has to deal with celebrities/"reality" tv. I'm proud to say I have never watched an episode of American Idol and I didn't know who Jon and Kate Plus 8 were up until they were talked about on the news.

The channels I mainly watch are Tru TV (mainly Forensic files and Body of Evidence when it used to come on) Spike TV, and Speed Channel...when they actually have races, and news programs.

That's good to hear. I'm the same way. My gf had to explain to me who jon & kate were when I saw them on the news

[duffman1278]

There's still some good shows, mostly on Discovery like How it's Made and How Stuff Works. Besides that everything else pretty much annoys me.

[Mi Beardo es Loco]

To make things worst, Octamom got her own show!

What ever happened to shows where someone funny acts in and writes the show? Not teenage funny, but real funny, like comedian funny. Not these black guys who are told what to do and what to say every second of their show, or sluts that were born rich and want to talk about their "problems", like they have REAL problems. It's the same women that watch these shows that listen and watch the same things since they were preteens. They never grow up and never will.

As for Paris' BFF thing. Benjy Bronk from the Howard Stern show actually DOMINATED the votes and won the job from the Paris website but they told him that he was not going to be on the show. Instead, they changed the rules and brought in people that MTV thought should be on the show. So what was the point of voting?

It's a sad sad world we live in where people's dreams are to get rich by doing nothing and immulate a rich whore who has done nothing with her life but be a rich whore on a stupid tv show. And the sad thing is these shows are aimed at the young. Is that what we want our kids learning? That if they don't work they could eventually get a show if their uninteresting enough, or get rich by being on a show by simply dancing or starving yourself and walking a tight rope?

[Tom25666]

i want to kill everyone on vh1 and mtv

[flip3d]

Reality shows? You need to leave your girl, man. You're 24 lol.

Anyways, America is the land of distraction. That's how the government has the upper hand on us. They keep us down and occupied with The Hills and American Idol.

[majuljo]

i watch the soup on E! that show is basically doing what we are doing here and making fun of all the stupid stuff on tv.


this is them making fun of that stupid show TMZ. i had to watch it once while i was getting new tires.

YouTube - The Soup: TMZ Testimonial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-NNmsp554Q)

[majuljo]

oh yeah but i love the history and discovery channel i learn something every time i watch.

[ixfxi]

we canceled our cable months ago. don't have an antenna either. download shows we like or watch Hulu.

I haven't had cable in 3 yrs. I'm not home enuf to justify it. When I'm at the shop for more then a couple hrs on sat I'll go up front to see what other ppl find interesting.
WOW. ppl are getting dumber, or there level of acceptable entertainment is getting lower. If I'm home I'll play games or watch a movie. Read a book. But for the most part I just cook and go to sleep.

wow, i thought i was alone in that. i've never had cable and antenna has been disconnected for near 3-4 years too... its a nice feeling coming home knowing that the wife has NO FUCKING CHANCE to have her mind melded by these nonstop commercials and constant barrage of useless news.... fuck that shit


since then, ive got a HTPC hooked up and we watch random shit on the net, dvds, etc...

its a shame but programming has really hit rock bottom

[EDacIouSX]

yea dude, all the GOOD shows worth a damn get cancelled...... theres literalyl a handful of shows worth while out of the hundreds of shows they ahve on the hundreds of channels



you guys should look into this:

http://www.pacificfans.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pacific_(miniseries)

produced by steven spielberg starring tom hanks. can't wait for this one

[Mi Beardo es Loco]

Really, the only good things worth watching are as followed:
Family Guy
Simpson
Everything on Food Network
Discovery and History channels
The Ultimate Fighter
Every UFC PPV
Football
Gordon Ramsey's shows
Top Gear
Adult Swim
South Park
Skinamax
Charles In Charge
The Munsters
Heroes

Ok, I think I covered my TiVo.

[ronmcdon]

TV's okay if you're selective about it.
You figure they have to make $$$,
and by doing so they have to market different shows to different ppl.
I really doubt anyone is putting a gun to anyone's head to watch VH-1.

If you're not watching something you like, you only have yourself to blame.
There's so much variety and so many resources with the internet.

You guys have it easy.
The 80's and 90's were kinda tough.
I had 4 channels back when I was a kid in the 80's in Asia.
2 of the channels were British, 2 were in Chinese.
Now that was horrible.

[SlideWell]

tv had gone to shit a long time ago. i worked at Nieslen Media Research, the tv ratings company, and know of many reasons why tv has taken a shit. 1, consider how many people watch a lot of tv around the country, and in what area (lots of middle america). 2, factor in the age group, even though its supposed to be equal, i never believed it to be so. and if anyone was really truthful about what they watched, it was seniors that took the time out to fill out the booklet of what they had viewed that day in 15 minute increments. aside from that, the people that actually allow "the box" in their home to monitor what they watch, yeah, good luck gettin that in a REAL urban household. any time i had calls hooked into metro areas, or anywhere up north, i got hung up on repeatedly. in a nutshell, in my opinion, tv sucks cuz middle america is still just that. a high population of voting individuals with nothing better else to do, and those that are intelligent enough to progress through life tend to reside in metro and urban areas, however, dont want to be bothered with surveys and such which will later reflect what that have and will watch on tv. so when you want something quick to watch or are loking for a new deal, dont ignore the person wanting to take a survey on you, its often for the better. R&D. thats al i can say for people that complain about tv.

[DALAZ_68]

Me too.

Food Network (because I love cooking),

its the only thing i watch this weekend...i had no internet so no surfing the net, no gaming, no netflix, horrid...

that was the best.... a few hours of good classic tv
classic clean T.V. that when i was little i could watch with my folks...

[ManoNegra]

when I had satellite
I'd mostly watched it for F1 and movies
now I just download the shows I watch - HBO stuff for the most part

but imo, tv reflects what the people want to watch so...