My childhood days revolved around
television, both local and global channels. Sundays were never sleep-in days; I
woke up promptly at 8am to catch Doraemon, Crayon Sinchan and what not. When I
developed interest in the English language, I moved on to Powerpuff Girls,
Dexter’s Lab and occasionally, Spongebob Squarepants! My teenage years pushed
me to watch Lizzie McGuire, Even Stevens and That’s So Raven (which I still
catch on Youtube; they were and still are amazing entertainment!). I also used
to enjoy documentaries on historical buildings as I love good old spooky
stories and some Animal Planet documentaries.
Looking back on those days, I think its
pretty peculiar how I don’t even bother switching on the telly today. Whenever I
feel the need for some entertainment, I either select a movie I already have or
watch a video off Youtube, mostly interviews to improve my English diction and
even some Hindi interviews; I am dying to speak fluent Hindi.
I decided to conduct a little experiment to
learn more about why I stopped watching television; whether it was simply about
me being too busy lately, or has TV stopped entertaining? So, I dedicated some
time in a day to surf TV channels and see what’s been happening in the box. The
following concludes my experience:
First of all, there is a lack of quality
shows. I am not talking about production quality, which seems to be at its
highest ever. I am talking about the quality of their content. As much as I
hate trash-talking, our local channels are the subject of my disapproval. There
are certain reality shows (have you seen Dahsyat? My goodness!) in which the
hosts show no sense in hosting, speak in derogatory manner, scream in decibels
only dogs can understand, dress like they come from outer space or possess minuscule
clothing materials. Also, no morality ever comes up in some shows I’ve watched.
The good old shows taught us so much (Lizzie McGuire taught us how its okay to
have insecurities growing up and that our family and friends will be there to
catch us when we fall, That’s So Raven taught us not to take our talent for
granted as they may put us in sticky situations, Even Stevens taught us how
annoying siblings can be but when push comes to shove, they’ll be right where
we need them to be). I don’t see any more shows like these, that we can relate to while watching.
Secondly, there is way too much
commercialization. Product sponsorship seems to be the only thing keeping the TV
shows going. A little less than half the time, there are advertisements all
over shows. They are bombarded to us mid segments and even within segments in
the form of advertisements banners, text ticker and pop-up bubbles. They are so
distracting and prohibit us from doing what we came there to do; which is
watching some good old TV.
Third; the sensationalization of news. News
make things bigger than they seem to be, which ends up looking hyperbolic. Scenes
of people crying, bickering and explicit behavior are hyped up which generates
unnecessary attention. Not just that,
news channels seem to lose its focus nowadays. I am not here to diminish faith
in our local news channels but upon comparison, take a look at their topics
I’ve compiled over the past month. Indonesian news: LGBT is not acceptable in any
society (hold on, I will dedicate a special blog for these bigots who claim
this), Ahok’s Chinese descent, what Jokowi is NOT doing, Jakarta floods, rape
everywhere and more. Global news: threat of world war 3 from Syria, economic
meltdown, lost of oil and others. See what I mean? How easily we get depressed
by watching news. Sure, news channels are meant to report facts but sadly, they
focus on things that cause negative alert in the society. How is that there are
very less news channels that report what celebrities are doing to reduce famine
in Africa? How exo-skeletons are being developed to help the elderly people
have better lives? We are so lost in negativity because news channels bring so
much of them.
Fourth, how TV channels bring behavioral
changes by the westernization of eastern countries. This is not always a bad
thing as I have noticed some positives as well. The positives, for instance,
more people are being more open-minded about different people’s sexuality.
Also, racism is slightly reduced (in very certain cases) because of less
stereotyping. What I mean is, people now know not all Indians work in 7-Eleven,
drive taxis or work in Asian countries as blue-collar laborers. At the same
time, people now respect dark-skinned people more and don’t associate them with
crime. But, we cannot avoid the negativity it brings to behavioral changes. I
can only speak for my own community and not for others. There is a whole new
generation that speaks crudely to their parents, change spouses like changing
their bed sheets, think that secret extra-marital affairs are okay, tell the world
that your bag is designer made (“Hey I love your purse!” comes with a reply of
“Thanks sweety, its Chanel and my husband bought it for me from Paris for
whatever dollars”) and what not. Sweetheart, there is a reason why they are
called “shows” because they are scripted. Not all Westerners behave that way
and you are going out of your limbs to prove how modern you are. Odd.
Fifth, its lack of purpose. Channels are
named something and then display something else. Remember the time when MTV
actually showed real music? I used to love watching shows that had a countdown
of the best music videos and highly anticipated for the #1. Now, music channels
play shows that have no relation whatsoever to their promised offering such as
“16 and Pregnant”. Okay, I’m not sure if they’re still airing that but apart
from it being completely irrelevant to music, they glorify early, unmarried
pregnancy. How is this show even on air? Speaking of lack of purpose, have you
noticed how news channels would re-play the same 10 seconds recording over and
over and over and over again due to lack of content ownership? How is this
called “news” if there is nothing new at all?
Sixth, and this is my pet hate. The
glorification of celebrities. To be honest and at the risk of sounding
superficial, I love celebrities. I love how they dress, bring themselves on the
red carpet and answer interviews so wittily. But, this comes to a point only where
these people are appreciated for the kind of work that they do. The moment they
get exposed only for their physical appearance, daily life irrelevancies and
scandals, it gets so annoying. For example, why do I need to care if Jennifer
Lawrence eats 10 times a day? And why should we make a flurry if Bruce/Caitlyn
Jenner demands a sex change? And how many days did Kim Kardashian’s marriage last?
I understand and agree that these are the little things that continue shaping our
interests towards celebrities, but when these tiny facts get overhyped, it gets
crappy. Really crappy.
I believe this post would be incomplete if
I didn’t include Indian serials. Simply because, Indian serials are a big chunk
of our lives. Our grandmas and moms watch it and we irrevocably end up
consuming its content. Which is sad as they’re annoying as hell. I relate to
Indian serials because I am exposed to it, now there could be Spanish, African,
Puerto Rican shows that are the same way. A plot line spans for more than weeks.
A woman delivering a baby can form the plot line for 2 weeks. They show
unrealistically evil mother- and sister-in-laws, place women as belonging in
the kitchen and I’m sure you all notice this, the obsession with zoomed-in
close-ups of everyone n the frame with overly-dramatized facial expressions. This
really needs to stop.
Not that there are no good shows. Of course
there are brilliant shows, with encouraging hosts, covering real aspects of
life and unravels things we otherwise turn a blind eye to. My favorite is The
Ellen DeGeneres Show (she’s openly gay and has carved roads for people of her
kind - salute! Besides, she’s hilarious and so warm, she’s my idol) and Koffee
with Karan (although he does ask some superficial questions, he reveals
in-depth facts about celebrities and talks about what makes them real human beings, no
different than we are). Some are also inspirational although I don’t catch
them often such as The Oprah Winfrey Show (we all know Oprah, yes?) and Kick Andy
(local TV show that exposes people of lower social class, what they do for a
living and what we can do to help).
By this time, you’re probably judging me as the know-it-all brag who watches TV only for its intellectual content. Not at all, I actually
like watching some shows for the heck of entertainment. Currently, I am waiting
for Devious Maids and Mistresses to come out with a new season. Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory is my current addiction. My point here
would be, watch whatever shows you want as long as it remains to be a show you
like and not your way of life. If we ALL followed those shows, we’d be plotting
to kill our husbands, run away with the underage cutie next door, wear stilettos
at home and get a new plastic surgery every year. See what I mean?
It saddens to me know that our future
generation might never have what we had growing up; reliable entertainment
which doesn’t give heart attacks to parents. I hope we can all show deeper intelligence
in choosing shows that do not affect our moral values, because I’m not sure TV
producers are going to do that for a long time to come.
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