Television's Great Weakness

There is a was a really interesting post on Legion of Decency on Friday about some of the failings of Canadian Television, and for my money television in general.

"Our Canadian nets have ignored the overwhelming creative drift toward changing the paradigms and trotted out a selection of knock-offs of shows everybody's seen and done before -- in some cases, long before -- and like those eager kids who put on a show in somebody's barn over the summer, they seem quite proud of themselves for doing little more than not forgetting their lines or bumping into the furniture."

Without getting into specific shows, where the author and I have some points of disagreement, television has always seemed to me, out of everything that falls within the broad criteria of 'arts and media' the medium the least likely to take chances and stretch boundaries. The methodology of television programming often seems similar to that attributed to pit bulls: "Reports of pit bull type dogs refusing to release a bite grip is more likely a function of the breed's gameness—a willingness to engage in a task despite pain and discomfort." Television seems to grab onto a concept like 'reality TV' or 'medical drama' and absolutely refuse to let go until well after the victim has released it's last breath and last drop of blood.

Personally, if I look at the number of shows that I will expend any effort to watch the number of programs (from any country) has fallen by more than half in the last two years alone. That is to say, the shows that I'm dedicated to not the ones I'll 'watch if there's nothing better on' or the ones that are 'fine' in the sense that I won't leave the room because they are on. Again, without getting into the merits of specific programs, I can say that there are only two American programs I still watch regularly and the newest of those just finished season 3.

Television is, for me, being replaced by online content - and generally not content produced by large media companies. Independent producers, web radio and campus and community groups are frequently filling the time that TV used to. Which makes it unnerving for me that the companies that produce bad television are frequently the ones that are at the forefront of trying to regulate the internet, or "make the internet suck".