Watching the TV

Almost thirty years has past since the most historic event occurred on American television that captivated the entire continent; the final episode of M*A*S*H. Almost half of the continent watched Hawkeye and the rest of the gang at the 4077th say goodbye. It was an epic and touching event that will never be eclipsed in terms of magnitude and viewership again. The sole reason for that is because television is dead.

The concept that television is dead or at least on life support is no longer an extreme idea. Studio execs are fully aware that television in it’s current form is a dying medium. People are not watching anymore. In Canada, only five shows regularly obtain a viewership of over 5% of the population; Criminal Minds, House, Grey’s Anatomy, C.S.I. (Las Vegas), and American Idol. This is Canada in which the option to go outside in most parts of the country can lead to frostbite in the winter months. Most everyone has a TV but nobody’s watching. In the States, it’s not much better. They have the same issue in which only seven shows consistently gain 5% viewership of the entire population; House, The Mentalist, American Idol, The Office, NCIS, and CSI (Las Vegas), and Grey’s Anatomy.

Many blame the Internet for this problem. According to some, people download their favourite TV shows which takes away from the ratings. While downloading is an issue, I would think that it’s a small fraction of the problem. Generally, people who download any type of large media on the Internet tend to be people who are into gadgetry and technologically-savvy. This eliminates about 85% of the entire population. The Internet may make it seem like the entire world is connected to each other but more often than not, the Kansas housewife is using the computer only to play Peggle and the senior in the retirement home in Winnipeg is only using the computer to send angry e-mails to their ingrate children for sticking them in a home. Downloading shows are done only by two people essentially: people who are too cool for school and snobs who get off on telling people that they’re too good to watch TV because they can download the shows now.

Others say that video sites like Youtube and Hulu offer similar content that draws viewers away from the TV. This is more plausible in one sense because it offers quick and easy access to a bunch of videos that either are in violation of copyright laws or are provided by the legal rights holder. The problem when many of these services is that they only offer low-resolution videos that look good in tiny boxes on the computer desktop but become heavily pixelated when blown up to the full screen. Many people own TVs that are 24 inches or bigger. Why would they want to sit at their computer monitor that might be 17-19 inches big to watch something blurry? There’s only incentive for people to watch TV shows on their computer is that they aren’t confined to a certain timeframe to watch the show. But that’s why VCRs became mainstream 25 years ago and recorded shows on VCR and DVD recorders are part of the TV ratings.

Another argument is that TV is not as good as it used to be. Many look at the large amount of reality TV shows that are on the air as evidence of this fact. However, reality TV shows garner high ratings in short spurts. As well, most TV shows have a much larger budget than they used to. There is no way that a TV show as elaborate as 24 could be produced for the same amount of money that shows were budgeted for several decades ago. Even though shows like Magnum P.I. and The A-Team had high production values (for the time period), those shows would not able to compete in terms of production value. Using a relative dollar value, each new Star Trek show became more expensive to produce with every new instalment. The effort is made and the money is spent to produce quality programming until the well dries up and the show is cancelled.

It’s not that TV is any better or worse now than it was 20 years ago because it’s irrelevant. The 500 channel universe is here and it doesn’t mean anything anymore. There is more channels and variety than ever which may water down the product and split the audience but it’s not like C.S.I. is losing it’s audience to all the 47 different shows about Texas Hold ‘Em poker. Even the argument that the old shows are better is a bunch of fluff because there are channels that are several channels dedicated to the rebroadcast of old television shows. These networks don’t have much of an audience but survive because their costs are incredibly low. If TV was so much better back then than it is now, ratings would be enormous on networks like TV Land and Dejaview.

Television’s main problem is not itself but that there is too much to do nowadays that doesn’t involve actually having to converse with another human being. Video games are a big part of the television drain as the games industry has developed into a billion-dollar industry. The Internet (read the rest of this sentence, it’s not a contradiction of what I said earlier) has become a portal for different types of activities such as games but also writing and other forms of escape. I would have probably never wrote this article or anything else on this site if the Internet wasn’t accessible to regular citizens and you wouldn’t have spent the time reading it. Then for the majority of the world, there is an increasing amount of social activities that are available to people. Stores and restaurants are open later which cuts into a major chunk of the primetime period.

TV will always be around in some shape or form but the tradition of a designated family-viewing time is over. Television is no longer must-see because chances are at the water cooler, people are not talking about television as much as they used to. People no longer need television anymore to keep them occupied and on top of things. It’s will still be a staple in a person’s home as long as Geico keeps making those funny ads.

Canadian News

Once considered one of the most respected newsmen reporting about Parliament Hill, Sen. Mike Duffy is now criticizing the media for criticizing him about an insensitive comment that he made. Because as we all know, it’s not the media’s job to scrutinize a politician for doing something stupid. There’s a reason why he was considered one of the best; because he wouldn’t accept a moron response as a reason for doing something idiotic unless the person admitted that they were an idiot.

Science News

According to a new study, if part of a massive ice sheet in Antarctica breaks off and melts into the ocean, it won’t be as bad as people believed in places like Argentina and Chile because it is now believed that the sea levels will rise unevenly throughout the world. Originally it was believed that sea levels would rise evenly around the world. For those of you wondering, Canada and the U.S.A. are still doomed centuries from now.