TV - it makes me sick!

[dtaai-maai]

There may not be more violence on TV these days (think Adam West and BAM - KAPOW from the 60s), but it's a tad more graphic than it used to be. I can cope with that. There's a hell of a lot more sex on TV now, and it's mostly pretty boring and irrelevant to the context. Not a major problem though.

But why do they have to be so graphic in showing people in the act of vomiting? My gag reflex may be a tad more sensitive than most, but does anybody really want or need to see details of the act itself?
It's enough to make you sick...


Other irritations:

1. The Guilt Complex. "It's all my fault."
TV characters seem to thrive on feeling guilty. Invariably for no reason whatsoever other than, it seems, a need to feel guilty for something.
"If I hadn't put the cat out, it wouldn't have run in front of my neighbour's car causing her to swerve and knock down the lamppost, which fell against the house and crushed my son's little finger so that now he gets laughed at at school and is turning into a potential sociopath."

2. "Stay with me" - please find another phrase to use when someone is teetering on the brink of unconsciousness.

3. Cop chases bad guy, bad guy gets hit by a car, usually expiring before some crucial piece of information can be extracted from him. Has this ever happened in real life? I know such a comparison is bound to cause disappointment (TV - real life), but honestly, if I've seen the scenario once, I've seen it a hundred times.

4. British bad guys. Again, I don't mind the principle, but I object to the numbers. Seems to me that every other show has a Brit actor playing the villain! (The problem is, they're usually so very good at it...)

5. Good sitcoms. They don't make 'em any more.

[hhfarang]

5. Good sitcoms. They don't make 'em any more.

Have you tried The Rules of Engagement, Modern Family, Mike & Molly, The Big Bang Theory, or It's Always Sunny in Pliladelphia?

I get quite a few laughs from those.

[sateeb]

+ Arrested Development, Veep, Workaholics, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Wilfred..All excellent


Let me know if you need any Brit Com titles

[GLCQuantum]

In some cases it's essential. I mean, how bland would the above scene have been without the green. I believe that is regurgitated shrimp that I can see on her blouse, so the puke also allows us to understand the choice of food she would lean towards, giving us an overall better understanding of the character in question.

[J.J.B.]

4. British bad guys. Again, I don't mind the principle, but I object to the numbers. Seems to me that every other show has a Brit actor playing the villain! (The problem is, they're usually so very good at it...)

Jaguar seem to think so, D-M, and here is the rather clever campaign they're currently running under the tag line "it's good to be bad":



Speaking of DM, D-M, he is set to make a comeback on our screens too so perhaps that will cheer-up your evenings? http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2 ... ale-female

[Siani]

There may not be more violence on TV these days (think Adam West and BAM - KAPOW from the 60s), but it's a tad more graphic than it used to be. I can cope with that. There's a hell of a lot more sex on TV now, and it's mostly pretty boring and irrelevant to the context. Not a major problem though.

But why do they have to be so graphic in showing people in the act of vomiting? My gag reflex may be a tad more sensitive than most, but does anybody really want or need to see details of the act itself?
It's enough to make you sick...


Other irritations:

1. The Guilt Complex. "It's all my fault."
TV characters seem to thrive on feeling guilty. Invariably for no reason whatsoever other than, it seems, a need to feel guilty for something.
"If I hadn't put the cat out, it wouldn't have run in front of my neighbour's car causing her to swerve and knock down the lamppost, which fell against the house and crushed my son's little finger so that now he gets laughed at at school and is turning into a potential sociopath."

2. "Stay with me" - please find another phrase to use when someone is teetering on the brink of unconsciousness.

3. Cop chases bad guy, bad guy gets hit by a car, usually expiring before some crucial piece of information can be extracted from him. Has this ever happened in real life? I know such a comparison is bound to cause disappointment (TV - real life), but honestly, if I've seen the scenario once, I've seen it a hundred times.

4. British bad guys. Again, I don't mind the principle, but I object to the numbers. Seems to me that every other show has a Brit actor playing the villain! (The problem is, they're usually so very good at it...)

5. Good sitcoms. They don't make 'em any more.

I agree DM...we need not to be so graphic! I think also they take some things too far.
I love sitcoms also. I think "Not going out" with Lee Mack is entertaining. A new series is due out at the end of this year.
The link below also shows other programmes available....not a great selection in my mind

http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/tv/not_going_out

[PeteC]

Another aspect is nature shows. I've been watching them since a kid and learned a lot. If you watch now most of it is "this eats that" or, "human prey" or "let's kill something" etc. There's very little education or science any longer unless you're interested in carnivore dietary habits.

Another example are these idiots with shows based upon let's see how close I can get to a dangerous animal and watch it chase me.

Violence sells, and that's really unfortunate for kids growing up these days. It's also reflected in a huge way with society in general, but they can't show humans eating humans...at least not yet. Pete

[Khundon1975]

I miss muffin the mule.

[arcadianagain]

I miss muffin the mule.

When did you last try it?

[Khundon1975]

The last time I was kicked.

[Homer]

Being graphic is part of what one labeled 'Bonkers TV'

... Mary has married the richest man in town and gone full-blown witch. How do we know? Because we watch her use magic to get her husband to cough up a frog, which she then nurses from a nipple on her inner thigh.

Watching this frog-suckling scene, I knew I had entered the realm of “bonkers TV,” a budding genre that operates on the outskirts of our television renaissance. This is programming designed to stun its audience at any cost (even coherence and plausibility) in an effort to restore some kind of order to a chaotic media landscape.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/magaz ... .html?_r=0

Examples of US broadcast Bonkers TV given are: 24, Salem, Hannibal, Sleepy Hollow, Scandal.

Forget that 'restore some kind of order' BS. Most broadcast TV shows now are happy to get ratings that xx years ago would have meant certain cancellation, so they'll program whatever works.