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TV's Awful Decline


DirtyHarry

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I don't know how much this article has merit and how much of it is political slant, but there is no question that network TV is losing viewership. There's very little I find on that's interesting and unlike the TV shows of the olden days, it's just too much effort to follow anything anymore.

 

I liked the way old TV shows were better. It was down and dirty and entertaining at the same time. Plus, you knew who all the actors were, even the character actors who would step out of Hollywood on occasion to be guest stars on the shows.

 

Anyway, just thought I'd pass this along.

 

https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2023/01/tvs-awful-year.html

 

Screenshot_2023-01-03-18-34-11-442.png

Edited by DirtyHarry
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As the article suggests, cord cutting isn't the sole issue. Cable networks seem to be clueless that they've abandoned their niches in favor of saturated content: reality shows and sitcom reruns. MTV & VH 1 don't play music videos anymore, TLC lacks educational content in favor of Honey Boo-Boo, and umpteen channels show Friends. Not to mention the original content channels produce seems watered down compared to their old offerings: examples BET, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon network. Audiences aren't that dumb. Add to that, the heavy handed political messaging in shows. Viewers can tell when something is poorly written or cookie cutter and will turn away.

 

Broadcast tv is stale, it's current lineup of shows lack imagination compared to scripted streaming offerings.

 

Finally, we all know the problem with cable news. Sensationalism, hyper partisanship and toxic journalism that seeks to get eyeballs and reactions from viewers, rather than educating and informing them. With these poor choices, it's no wonder audiences are turning away from television. 

Edited by MediaZone4K
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15 minutes ago, iron_lion said:

As the article suggests, cord cutting isn't the sole issue. Cable networks seem to be clueless that they're abandoned their niches in favor of saturated content: reality shows and sitcom reruns. MTV & VH 1 don't play music videos anymore, TLC lacks educational content in favor of Honey Boo-Boo, yet umpteen channels show Friends. Not to mention the original content channels produce seems watered down compared to their old offerings: examples BET, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon network. Audiences aren't that dumb. Add to that, the heavy handed political messaging in shows. They can tell when something is poorly written or cookie cutter and will turn away.

 

Broadcast tv is stale, it's current lineup of shows lack imagination compared to scripted streaming offerings.

 

Finally, we all know the problem with cable news. Sensationalism, hyper partisanship and toxic journalism that seeks to get a eyeballs and reactions from viewers, rather than educating and informing them.  With thse poor choices, it's no wonder audiences are turning away from television. 

 

So much of TV news is just political propaganda. It comes from either party operatives or their deep state sources. Maybe it was always this way, but it has never been more obvious that most of it is propaganda. I've completely tuned it out, which I probably shouldn't be doing, but what's the point of watching right-wing, deep state or left-wing Pravda on the tube anymore? It's just talking points repeated over and over again doing the whole Joseph Goebbels thing of repeating lies over and over again.

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4 minutes ago, iron_lion said:

Rabbit ears analog was way better. I preferred the static over scratching and glitching from digital.

But that's analog, unless they're digital. I just like dignets affiliation agreements seems cheaper with groups. Also they could use cable, yes but streaming makes it more profitable. That's the good but the only downside is that they require a certain cord/or feed to be available on local cable provider to be seen as a .2 channel of a station.

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I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm one of the majority of folks that stream an awful lot. I watch very little broadcast TV. I stream my favorite CBS shows on Paramount Plus. I stream some ABC shows on Hulu too. 

 

However, I do long for the days of old-school TV news. Where I'm educated and informed without a lot of sensationalism, partisan politics and negativity. 

I wonder how many local stations are adapting to the idea of streaming local newscasts, where everybody can watch the news at their own convenience. 

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You know it's bad when networks (like NBC & ABC) are moving shows to their online service (DOOL to Peacock, DWTS to Disney+) and moving digital content to replace it like NBC News Daily and Top Story with Tom Llamas.

 

Fox O&Os and affiliates are virtually all-local during the day aside from 1-4 pm and overnights depending on the station and timezone.  KVVU in Las Vegas has virtually achieved this and several other stations aren't far behind them.

 

The other networks (their affiliates) want a piece of this and that's why we had the rumor of the 10pm hour going away.  I'm surprised the networks didn't do this years earlier when they cancelled most of their soap operas, instead, replacing them with talk, news and game shows.

 

Even the game shows have taken over ABC.  Even the ones that may precede the primetime lineup that have been syndicated since the beginning of time (even going back 40-ish years).

News and Sports have little repeat value to them, that's why they're all over the networks.  Cable TV may as well be dead in the water since it's the "bundle" that's holding it all together, even if all of the content could live on it's own streaming service.  If this had happened back in the 40s like the movie industry, it's vertical integration all over again.

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Broadcast primetime TV is a mix of stale sitcoms, tons of stale and stupid reality shows, the same washed-out crime dramas (i.e., CBS's THREE FBI: "Insert Here" shows, multiple NCIS shows, multiple CSIs) and the same washed-out medical dramas. Then they jump the shark, add relationships to the shows instead of focusing on the premise of the program. The Good Doctor used to be about an autistic savant doctor. Now, it's about his relationships with women and the relationships between other doctors/nurses at the hospital. Grey's Anatomy - same thing.

The Goldbergs keeps going even though the 'kids' are now in their early-to-late 20s. I don't know how they do, the show has jumped the shark since the loss of George Segal and Jeff Garlin's departure. Abbott Elementary isn't that bad, on the other hand, and nor is Ghosts on CBS, but sitcoms for the most part have no life to them anymore. And yes, political messaging has destroyed many of these primetime shows. They just can't seem to have an unbiased plot on a drama or sitcom anymore - it has to show activism in some way.

 

Game shows - you can't seem to find any contestant on any primetime or daytime show (except maybe Jeopardy!/Wheel) that isn't on five energy drinks' worth of caffeine. The Price is Right is one of the biggest examples, but even the last few primetime shows (The Wheel, Beat Shazam, Press Your Luck) are like this too...

 

Late night TV shows have also declined to new lows. Same jokes about former President Trump EVERY NIGHT on every single show. We get it, I can't stand him either, but he's no longer POTUS. Surely is there anything else to make fun about? Segments are mundane and cookie-cutter compared to previous hosts (Leno's Headlines, Craig Ferguson, Geoff and Secretariat, Carnac on Johnny Carson). They have little to no creative value to viewers. I love Bill Maher, but I don't watch any other late night show. That ship sailed when Letterman, Ferguson, and Leno retired.

 

Even the soap opera fans are noticing extremely poor writing and the lack of nuance on Y&R, B&B and General Hospital, compared to 20-30 years ago. Days already went to Peacock (to die, probably). It looks as though the rest of the soaps are also on life support.

 

Do NOT get me started on cable TV. What was entertaining (Cubs games and Bozo on WGN, great movies and Night Tracks on TBS, Cartoon Express on USA etc.) has become a wasteland of binge-watching repeats, zillions of commercials (of which Limu Emu gets at least 1/3 of the airtime), and reality shows that keep getting worse by the year. TruTV aired 'Jurassic World' last night. The channel for live, rolling court coverage and analysis is now running not just hours of Impractical Jokers, but also MOVIES. What gives! Nickelodeon = zillions of SpongeBob repeats with oodles of commercials. Food Network = tons of food competitions, very few how-to cooking shows. Where art thou, Essence of Emeril, Barefoot Contessa, etc.? TWC spends all night running Highway Through Hell repeats (and all day on weekends) and once in a while, they will shove those away if there's major tornadoes. The ghosts of Dr. John Hope and Dave Schwartz haunt the studios, I bet. What was Chuck Roberts and Gordon Graham on Headline News 24 hours a day has turned into WEST WING repeats. Oh, and a zillion Forensic Files showings. Might as well call it TNT2 at this point. TLC's constant reality garbage, same with Bravo, USA, MTV, Discovery Channel. GSN's constant Harvey Feud repeats, too! Isn't he on a few other cable channels...TVLand maybe?

 

Honestly, I'd be fine only getting ESPN, ESPN2, and a few other sports networks a la carte. The rest of cable TV is garbage. Yes, that includes CNN/FOX News/MSNBC. 

 

Honestly, I stopped watching TV for the most part after the start of the pandemic. And for the most part, except for some sports, and maybe the local news, I haven't come back. I would rather watch a classic movie or Seinfeld repeat than 95% of what's on TV nowadays.

 

RANT OVER.

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18 minutes ago, VHSgoodiesWA said:

Broadcast primetime TV is a mix of stale sitcoms, tons of stale and stupid reality shows, the same washed-out crime dramas (i.e., CBS's THREE FBI: "Insert Here" shows, multiple NCIS shows, multiple CSIs) and the same washed-out medical dramas. Then they jump the shark, add relationships to the shows instead of focusing on the premise of the program. The Good Doctor used to be about an autistic savant doctor. Now, it's about his relationships with women and the relationships between other doctors/nurses at the hospital. Grey's Anatomy - same thing.

The Goldbergs keeps going even though the 'kids' are now in their early-to-late 20s. I don't know how they do, the show has jumped the shark since the loss of George Segal and Jeff Garlin's departure. Abbott Elementary isn't that bad, on the other hand, and nor is Ghosts on CBS, but sitcoms for the most part have no life to them anymore. And yes, political messaging has destroyed many of these primetime shows. They just can't seem to have an unbiased plot on a drama or sitcom anymore - it has to show activism in some way.

 

Game shows - you can't seem to find any contestant on any primetime or daytime show (except maybe Jeopardy!/Wheel) that isn't on five energy drinks' worth of caffeine. The Price is Right is one of the biggest examples, but even the last few primetime shows (The Wheel, Beat Shazam, Press Your Luck) are like this too...

 

Late night TV shows have also declined to new lows. Same jokes about former President Trump EVERY NIGHT on every single show. We get it, I can't stand him either, but he's no longer POTUS. Surely is there anything else to make fun about? Segments are mundane and cookie-cutter compared to previous hosts (Leno's Headlines, Craig Ferguson, Geoff and Secretariat, Carnac on Johnny Carson). They have little to no creative value to viewers. I love Bill Maher, but I don't watch any other late night show. That ship sailed when Letterman, Ferguson, and Leno retired.

 

Even the soap opera fans are noticing extremely poor writing and the lack of nuance on Y&R, B&B and General Hospital, compared to 20-30 years ago. Days already went to Peacock (to die, probably). It looks as though the rest of the soaps are also on life support.

 

Do NOT get me started on cable TV. What was entertaining (Cubs games and Bozo on WGN, great movies and Night Tracks on TBS, Cartoon Express on USA etc.) has become a wasteland of binge-watching repeats, zillions of commercials (of which Limu Emu gets at least 1/3 of the airtime), and reality shows that keep getting worse by the year. TruTV aired 'Jurassic World' last night. The channel for live, rolling court coverage and analysis is now running not just hours of Impractical Jokers, but also MOVIES. What gives! Nickelodeon = zillions of SpongeBob repeats with oodles of commercials. Food Network = tons of food competitions, very few how-to cooking shows. Where art thou, Essence of Emeril, Barefoot Contessa, etc.? TWC spends all night running Highway Through Hell repeats (and all day on weekends) and once in a while, they will shove those away if there's major tornadoes. The ghosts of Dr. John Hope and Dave Schwartz haunt the studios, I bet. What was Chuck Roberts and Gordon Graham on Headline News 24 hours a day has turned into WEST WING repeats. Oh, and a zillion Forensic Files showings. Might as well call it TNT2 at this point. TLC's constant reality garbage, same with Bravo, USA, MTV, Discovery Channel. GSN's constant Harvey Feud repeats, too! Isn't he on a few other cable channels...TVLand maybe?

 

Honestly, I'd be fine only getting ESPN, ESPN2, and a few other sports networks a la carte. The rest of cable TV is garbage. Yes, that includes CNN/FOX News/MSNBC. 

 

Honestly, I stopped watching TV for the most part after the start of the pandemic. And for the most part, except for some sports, and maybe the local news, I haven't come back. I would rather watch a classic movie or Seinfeld repeat than 95% of what's on TV nowadays.

 

RANT OVER.

I would create a show dedicated to Social Media Influencers and Pranksters. That'll definitely draw an audience. 

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31 minutes ago, VHSgoodiesWA said:

Even the soap opera fans are noticing extremely poor writing and the lack of nuance on Y&R, B&B and General Hospital, compared to 20-30 years ago. Days already went to Peacock (to die, probably). It looks as though the rest of the soaps are also on life support.

 

As an aside, you know it's gotten bad when you're actually excited for the fact that over on B&B, Brooke and Taylor finally both kicked Ridge to the curb. The writers must've finally taken notice that we're sick of watching these two now-grandmothers battling each other over that man. 30+ years of it was more than enough.

Edited by TresGriffin
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Here's another thing: producers, even those co-owned with the linear networks, have been moving their best/most experimental/biggest budgeted shows to streaming-only, mostly leaving the broadcast and cable channels with their scraps. Even then, the vast majority of those scraps are put on streaming services the next day, disincentivizing viewers from watching it live. It's pretty telling that Yellowstone, which doesn't stream, free or otherwise, until a few months later outside of an authenticated TV app, is one of the only scripted shows to get any significant live ratings in recent years

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There used to be fun to TV in the afternoons, where people did live shows and there wasn't a news story to be found. Now the fun is limited to the last part of the newscast and met/sports anchor interplay, and with even Jerry and Steve in reruns now, it's either bad court shows, news, or repeats of sitcoms only palatable to older audiences, and the newer tolerable sitcoms are absurdly easy to access in full and commercial-free (or with saner commercials) on streaming services.

 

Only three game shows (and one, Family Feud, doesn't even get near a 1/10 of an entendre and makes me embarrassed to watch) are left, and it seems except for PBS, broadcast, cable and streaming have unilaterally decided that all kids watch is Fortnite and play Roblox and refuse to put money into any children's content (the Saturday morning E/I Hearst 'for kids...but really old people' racket doesn't count), and David Zazlav showed his true hand by culling every bit of kid's content from HBO Max and ready to cut Cartoon Network to the bone.

 

Don't get me started on the refuse that is the Discovery networks, or alleged movie channels Sundance and IFC carrying not one independent film. I'm sure cable providers actually want to cut useless filler like MTV2, TruTV and 4 of the Discovery networks, but the big companies are like 'oh, you don't want Yellowstone or the NCAA tournament? Or SpongeBob? Welp, then you don't get CBS or Nick because you don't want to carry a diminished TV Land!' Big events get held hostage because of small networks which started as 'special interest', but now carry nothing but reruns.

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3 hours ago, newsteam13 said:

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm one of the majority of folks that stream an awful lot. I watch very little broadcast TV. I stream my favorite CBS shows on Paramount Plus. I stream some ABC shows on Hulu too. 

 

However, I do long for the days of old-school TV news. Where I'm educated and informed without a lot of sensationalism, partisan politics and negativity. 

I wonder how many local stations are adapting to the idea of streaming local newscasts, where everybody can watch the news at their own convenience. 

 

I stream, cast or airdrop everything these days.  Very rarely do I watch TV (in the traditional way) or listen to the radio even. There's just too much content spread across too many platforms.

 

I too long for the days on old-school local TV news were stations would truly compete with each other. Hard-hitting investigative stories are pretty much non-existent and even big events like election night lack the excitement it once did.

 

Edited by jase
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4 hours ago, VHSgoodiesWA said:

Broadcast primetime TV is a mix of stale sitcoms, tons of stale and stupid reality shows, the same washed-out crime dramas (i.e., CBS's THREE FBI: "Insert Here" shows, multiple NCIS shows, multiple CSIs) and the same washed-out medical dramas. Then they jump the shark, add relationships to the shows instead of focusing on the premise of the program. The Good Doctor used to be about an autistic savant doctor. Now, it's about his relationships with women and the relationships between other doctors/nurses at the hospital. Grey's Anatomy - same thing.

The Goldbergs keeps going even though the 'kids' are now in their early-to-late 20s. I don't know how they do, the show has jumped the shark since the loss of George Segal and Jeff Garlin's departure. Abbott Elementary isn't that bad, on the other hand, and nor is Ghosts on CBS, but sitcoms for the most part have no life to them anymore. And yes, political messaging has destroyed many of these primetime shows. They just can't seem to have an unbiased plot on a drama or sitcom anymore - it has to show activism in some way.

 

Game shows - you can't seem to find any contestant on any primetime or daytime show (except maybe Jeopardy!/Wheel) that isn't on five energy drinks' worth of caffeine. The Price is Right is one of the biggest examples, but even the last few primetime shows (The Wheel, Beat Shazam, Press Your Luck) are like this too...

 

Late night TV shows have also declined to new lows. Same jokes about former President Trump EVERY NIGHT on every single show. We get it, I can't stand him either, but he's no longer POTUS. Surely is there anything else to make fun about? Segments are mundane and cookie-cutter compared to previous hosts (Leno's Headlines, Craig Ferguson, Geoff and Secretariat, Carnac on Johnny Carson). They have little to no creative value to viewers. I love Bill Maher, but I don't watch any other late night show. That ship sailed when Letterman, Ferguson, and Leno retired.

 

Even the soap opera fans are noticing extremely poor writing and the lack of nuance on Y&R, B&B and General Hospital, compared to 20-30 years ago. Days already went to Peacock (to die, probably). It looks as though the rest of the soaps are also on life support.

 

Do NOT get me started on cable TV. What was entertaining (Cubs games and Bozo on WGN, great movies and Night Tracks on TBS, Cartoon Express on USA etc.) has become a wasteland of binge-watching repeats, zillions of commercials (of which Limu Emu gets at least 1/3 of the airtime), and reality shows that keep getting worse by the year. TruTV aired 'Jurassic World' last night. The channel for live, rolling court coverage and analysis is now running not just hours of Impractical Jokers, but also MOVIES. What gives! Nickelodeon = zillions of SpongeBob repeats with oodles of commercials. Food Network = tons of food competitions, very few how-to cooking shows. Where art thou, Essence of Emeril, Barefoot Contessa, etc.? TWC spends all night running Highway Through Hell repeats (and all day on weekends) and once in a while, they will shove those away if there's major tornadoes. The ghosts of Dr. John Hope and Dave Schwartz haunt the studios, I bet. What was Chuck Roberts and Gordon Graham on Headline News 24 hours a day has turned into WEST WING repeats. Oh, and a zillion Forensic Files showings. Might as well call it TNT2 at this point. TLC's constant reality garbage, same with Bravo, USA, MTV, Discovery Channel. GSN's constant Harvey Feud repeats, too! Isn't he on a few other cable channels...TVLand maybe?

 

Honestly, I'd be fine only getting ESPN, ESPN2, and a few other sports networks a la carte. The rest of cable TV is garbage. Yes, that includes CNN/FOX News/MSNBC. 

 

Honestly, I stopped watching TV for the most part after the start of the pandemic. And for the most part, except for some sports, and maybe the local news, I haven't come back. I would rather watch a classic movie or Seinfeld repeat than 95% of what's on TV nowadays.

 

RANT OVER.

Nailed it. I’d love it if we could get stuff a la carte too, even though that’s never going to happen. Outside of live sports, I barely watch TV. I get my fix from streaming, a little bit of social media, and YouTube (which costs absolutely nothing). Local news too, but even that doesn’t require traditional TV anymore (unless your station owner acts like they’re in the 1990s.)

Edited by nycnewsjunkie
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Old-school local TV news is just about gone. Small markets have dropped news departments like flies, and those that remain are surviving on spit, chewing gum, and advertising. In my over-100 market, It's a wonder that my CBS station (KIMA) still has two locally-based newscasts and Sinclair hasn't taken a wrecking ball to the 1950s studios in Yakima. KNDU/NBC has gone 'NonStop Local' eliminating any type of local flavor to the name of the newscast and to its personalities. They are one step into the grave and one step closer to moving towards a permanent semi-satellite of KHQ. It's a ticking time bomb for small markets and for any mid-market over #50, I'm afraid.

 

mrschimpf - At least the Weekend Adventure shows are relatively high-quality. They claim to target ages 12-16, but in reality my 60+ year old mother is watching them. Too bad Rock the Park was canceled, as I enjoyed that program. It's filler that could easily become infomercials (i.e., Weekend Marketplace), so I am happy about that.

Yes, for the most part, that's the life of a typical middle-class American child. Fortnite, Roblox, and lots and lots of sports practices/games. The days of kids getting up to watch Ninja Turtles and Bugs Bunny has long past. If anything, they are playing soccer or little league games and/or getting on Fortnite early on a Sat AM.

Even 20 years ago, there were Saturday cartoons on broadcast TV albeit most for E/I credit. Select Nick and Nick Jr. programs were on CBS, Kenny the Shark and Tutenstein were on NBC, and Disney Channel programs aired on ABC. Not to mention Fox Box/4 Kids TV. Why bother when a 7-year-old can find his favorite 'Plankton tries to steal the secret Krabby Patty formula' episode of SpongeBob on Netflix! That plot has been repeated ad nauseum for the last 20+ years on the show.

 

Lastly, I would like to know how NCIS has any relation to the Sundance Film Festival (Sundance Channel) or how Two and a Half Men is related to independent filmmaking (IFC). Anybody? Anyyyyyy-body?

 

(crickets)

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7 hours ago, newsteam13 said:

However, I do long for the days of old-school TV news. Where I'm educated and informed without a lot of sensationalism, partisan politics and negativity.

 

And here is a shining example of that, IMO: this WATE TV-6 Live Eyewitness News evening edition from 1986 (from that ABC station in Knoxville, TN), for Monday, March 31, 1986.

 

 

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7 hours ago, VHSgoodiesWA said:

I would rather watch a classic movie

 

I always wondered why one of the local stations didn't format itself as an all movies Channel. Do it like they used to do with a local host, somebody entertaining or witty, maybe have viewrs call in to rag on the movie or have a sidebar where people can make comments like a lot of the YouTube podcast type shows.

 

I know there are movies only diginets, but that live factor is missing.

 

Watching movies with a local host has to be better than what's on most independent stations these days which seems mostly to be Court shows and Oprah clones.

4 hours ago, mrschimpf said:

There used to be fun to TV in the afternoons

 

I think that's kind of what I'm getting at. The entire broadcast industry used to have plenty of fun. Now that it's all corporate, I don't know if they even have it in them to be able to give us fun. That seems more like something that would come naturally to the local owner, but not to some corporate suit.

Edited by DirtyHarry
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19 minutes ago, bmasters1 said:

 

And here is a shining example of that, IMO: this WATE TV-6 Live Eyewitness News evening edition from 1986 (from that ABC station in Knoxville, TN), for Monday, March 31, 1986.

 

Two comments a little off topic. 1) Surprised I didn't hear the "Nationwide is on Your Side" tones at the beginning or end of the newscast. It was part of the WNCI top of the hour ID for many years. 2) That news set looks very similar to the one WTVN/WSYX had. WSYX had a more streamlined version, though.

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And may I say also, that sports wasn't always all the hype and extreme graphics (and gobs of them) and loud music all the time; when I was a boy, for instance, a young man by the name of Jim Nantz was in Studio 43 in New York at the CBS Broadcast Center for CBS Sports doing a halftime show called The Prudential College Football Report-- this was, IMO, a studio show in its purest form (just scores, highlights, and many a time a short feature story/interview on a headline story in college football as of that Saturday).

 

The title of it was an original too-- now, it can't have that originality (it has to be the generic Halftime Report, with one of many sponsors).

 

 

Edited by bmasters1
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On 1/3/2023 at 9:10 PM, VHSgoodiesWA said:

Late night TV shows have also declined to new lows. Same jokes about former President Trump EVERY NIGHT on every single show. We get it, I can't stand him either, but he's no longer POTUS. Surely is there anything else to make fun about? Segments are mundane and cookie-cutter compared to previous hosts (Leno's Headlines, Craig Ferguson, Geoff and Secretariat, Carnac on Johnny Carson). They have little to no creative value to viewers. I love Bill Maher, but I don't watch any other late night show. That ship sailed when Letterman, Ferguson, and Leno retired.

 

Even the soap opera fans are noticing extremely poor writing and the lack of nuance on Y&R, B&B and General Hospital, compared to 20-30 years ago. Days already went to Peacock (to die, probably). It looks as though the rest of the soaps are also on life support.

You hit every individual nail on the head. It's like sometime in the 2010s, exectives just forgot how to produce good tv.

 

Jimmy Kimmel is the cheif suspect.  I thought the nonstop Trump coverage would've died after the election, but Kimmel continues to go on and on. Find material outside of "orange man and red party bad" EVERY night.

On 1/3/2023 at 9:41 PM, TresGriffin said:

you know it's gotten bad when you're actually excited for the fact that over on B&B, Brooke and Taylor finally both kicked Ridge to the curb. The writers must've finally taken notice that we're sick of watching these two now-grandmothers battling each other over that man. 30+ years of it was more than enough.

Saw that too!! Soap writers seem to be ignorant that repetitive poor writing and not just changes in viewing habits have lead to the genre's collapse. The only reason those shows retain an audience is viewer loyalty. 

On 1/3/2023 at 11:47 PM, mrschimpf said:

Only three game shows (and one, Family Feud, doesn't even get near a 1/10 of an entendre and makes me embarrassed to watch) are left, and it seems except for PBS, broadcast, cable and streaming have unilaterally decided that all kids watch is Fortnite and play Roblox and refuse to put money into any children's content (the Saturday morning E/I Hearst 'for kids...but really old people' racket doesn't count), and David Zazlav showed his true hand by culling every bit of kid's content from HBO Max and ready to cut Cartoon Network to the bone.

It's sad what's become of kids tv. Back in the day even my adult family members could sit watch and enjoy because the writing was smarter and didn't dumb things down for children. All kids in my family look at now are Co Co Melon, and watch other children play with toys and video games on YouTube. Don't get me started on just how and low bar some of the kids YouTube content is ex: Dobby ASMR😐. Gone are the days of Cartoon Network Fridays, saturday morning Disney and Nick Jr reruns on ABC and CBS, good shows on Nickelodeon, or actual new Sesame Street episodes on PBS. Big events like Fairly Odd Parents tv movies or deep shows like Avatar the Last Airbender would be hard to find today. 

 

Children's television seemed to fall off somewhere around 2012-13. That was around the time Victorious ended on Nick and Good Luck Charlie ended on Disney. Since then, both networks have failed to produce a consistent class of hit shows. What sucks is that despite the lack of programming, they won't rerun the old stuff (and not in a decent time slot if they do).

Edited by MediaZone4K
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