Category Archives: Media, Magazines, Television, Entertainment, Publishing
Television
Horrible. Getting worse. Predictable. Who are these actors? When is it on? So many commercials? Why so loud? Was that the news? Another repeat? This is television . Like Twitter and other social media it has been commercialized and bastardized way past the point of everyone’s comfort zone. It is downright annoying. It has seriously jumped the shark.
There are few alternatives. It’s not as though you can sit down with a “good” magazine – they are equally as annoying. Less intelligent content and pages filled with anorexic men and girls in ridiculous fashions designed for the wealthy to wear on other planets. Most content is pointless and tweet-like. The “articles” amateurishly written about fluff mostly by journalist wanna-bees. The art of editing seems to have died. Just like television.
I couldn’t care less what the large audience for prime time talent shows featuring celebrity judges in spinning chairs is. I ignore the ridiculous claims of the networks that EVERY one of their shows is hit, obviously far from it. The pronouncement that Joe Schmo from some blockbuster movie is executive producing a new television series is meaningless to me. And, despite the supposed law just passed that commercials must be the same volume as the programs they’re advertising on, they’re definitely not. One of the worst commercials of the season was by Target. A strange nerd-like “man” – a “weirdo” – was screaming into a red telephone announcing a sale. Creativity has been replaced by college fraternity antics and shouting. Pathetic.
Whether it’s produced by the broadcast networks or cable – reality, drama, comedy or something else – what is being fed to us is garbage. This trash comes and goes split up unevenly and unexpectedly though the year in fake “seasons” with ridiculous mindless cliff hangers in the form of airplane and car crashes, terminal illnesses or gun or bomb violence. How many times did a show end and you asked yourself if one or more of the characters managed to negotiate a new contract for another season on the program? Will he recover from the heart attack on the beach? Give us a break. Don’t forget many of these actors are pulling down $125K+ per episode. I watched a movie made last year for Hallmark or Lifetime and had no idea who the actors were.
Have you tried to watch a movie on AMC or Oprah’s Oxygen not-for-prime-time network? Did you think you would ever see fifteen or more commercials in a row? The originally movie was a hour and forty-five minutes long but due to the insertion of incessant commercials it has been stretched out to three hours. I tried watching a movie onBravo and saw the same Stouffer’s meatloaf commercial over and over and over. You wonder if these people have lost their minds. By the way, is there anyone who can figure out when The Actor’s Studio is on?
I’m not going to dwell on reality programming. None of it is worth our time or attention. There is absolutely no value in it. The news is just about in the same ballpark. Without a doubt, the best thing to happen to television is the DVR. When my ability to fast forward through commercials is thwarted in any way, I avoid that program. In the case of The Good Wifeon CBS, during the football season, nobody has a clue as to when the show begins. It could be 9, fifteen minutes past the hour or later or not on at all. Screw that. The next morning, you can watch the latest episode online with limited or no commercial interruptions.
That is how television should be, no, let me correct myself, it’s how it must be. Same with movies. Forget new releases, pseudo seasons, cliffhangers, premiers. There is no way I’m going to drive to a movie theatre to purchase a Tom Cruisemovie or worse – garbage like Django Unchainedor The Guilt Trip. We all agree those are guaranteed a quick trip to DVD city. But, I just might watch such “products” on demand for 1/2 the price vs. going out to the movies. With a late night show likeCraig Ferguson’s, I go to YouTube, select the segment I prefer and watch that – never the entire program. It’s all about what “I” want to see, how “I” want to see it and when.
Television is dying. The craft of good advertising had faded away. “TV” is a mature industry nearly in dinosaur land. It is slow to adapt. Lack of innovation and acceptance of their fate has lead to loss of audience and disinterest. It’s the same ‘ole – same ‘ole rehashed. It’s as if Congress is managing the television AND movie business. There is a next great revolution waiting in the wings and what are now multi-platforms of how television and movies are viewed will be different AND better. That change sadly should have occurred 5-10 years ago. We wait with open arms.
Photo credits - econsultancy.com and mattsko
Magazines…
Way too expensive, overpriced, ridiculous is just some of what I say when I pick up a magazine. I hardly see anyone standing around the magazine stand in supermarkets anymore or at the checkout, the racks filled with gossip rags with yesterday’s irrelevant news. There is guy named Mike Holmes that has a popular home remodeling cable show in Canada – it is broadcast here in the States as well. His magazine costs $14.99. That’s way more than the typical paperback. Now I just love Holmes, but would never pay that for his or any other magazine.
From what I see, the average cost of a magazine is about $7.99. My price comfort level is about $3.99. Then you have Holmes and others, like a few gun magazines I picked up, that are at the high end approaching $15. I just can’t financially justify that or half that for a magazine. I see a magazine called The Gentlewoman, printed in Holland that sells for $10.95 US. Adele is smoking a cigarette on the cover. I didn’t buy this magazine, but “borrowed” it from my automobile mechanic. It’s very good, but I never would have bought it. The price of a gallon of gas right now is $3.92! Besides, much of the “content” is available on line for free.
Have you heard of a magazine called the “Tatler”? It’s British. That’ll set you back $8.99 for “dreamy prints, heavenly styling and lots of sunshine”. One of the articles is “How The Rich Buy Life – Heaven Can Wait”. It’s kind of a Town and Country (T&C) magazine for the folks flying first class or sitting around the Beverly Hills Hotel. T&C went from a monthly to bi-monthly, which was extremely unfair because I relied on their horoscopes for years to make many important life and career decisions. How can I now do that bi-monthly? It’s just not right. Oh well. I never actually bought T&C either, just waited until I saw it hidden in the upper row of the magazine stand at my local Publix. I went right to the back page to see the advise for the sign of Taurus and put it right back.
