Has TV lost attraction

Australian TV is full of sport, building programs, cookery programs and cookery competitions, talent competitions such as 'Australia's got talent - most with rude judges, and all running over time so you have to watch the horrible ending where competitors suffer nastiness, as you wait for your own program to come on.

But, there IS the ABC, our BBC equivalent, with one or two good programs. Other than that, I watch wildlife or science, and old repeats of Foyle's Law, or New Tricks etc - all recorded to avoid the mind-numbing adverts.

But much of the time we watch DVDs. I got all three seasons of 'The Borgias' for my birthday. so we're currently wading through that particular batch of blood and gore. Jeremy Irons is worth it!!

I agree with you POGS; there's much to enjoy and plenty of choice in Freeview. Yes, there are lots of repeats, but a lot of the repeated stuff is good quality: Morse, Lewis, QI, even Poirot.

I don't watch the BBC news Channel, but when I'm abroad I am occasionally reduced to watching the BBC world channel. Now that really is dire.

Jack

Thanks for your kind response to my post!

From a couch potato suffering from overdosing on the opiate of the masses.

Your list of memorable programmes is pretty much the same as mine Tegan although I would add I Claudius; Poldark and The Ascent of Man. I was horrified to read yesterday that the BBC is to remake Civilisation - "For the digital age" the aim is to make it attractive to today's audience so perhaps thy intend to employ the team behind The Tudors!

Been pondering this subject all day. Thinking back over the years the programmes that have stuck in my mind have always been series; Forsyte Saga; Roots; Dallas; Civilisation; Centennial;the Great War; Alan Bleasdale stuff;Poliakoff [sp]; Dickens adaptations; Life on Earth etc Now, that might be because they were on for weeks at a time therefore permeated my brain but, speaking to my daughter today I've realised that young people tend to watch either films or series such as Breaking Bad or The Wire. I think a lot of young people still tend to watch Eastenders [why??].

Do not watch live TV at all. DH and I record plays and documentaries to watch at a time convenient to us. Soap operas are dire and most story lines have been used before.

About 2 years ago I decided to stop watching Coronation Street as there was no longer the humour I used to enjoy. What a relief and I haven't missed it once.

I saw last week 'Turks and Caicos' with Bill Nighy in it, it was just great. You can still watch that for a couple of days I think on Iplayer.

Don't have satellite so I don't have the pleasure of watching all the tennis I would like. Will get that eventually.

Saturdays on the TV I agree are dire and I usually record something for that evening, or read one of the many books that are stacking up in my bedroom.

I was interested to read the comments about TV in Care Homes because for some time I have come to believe that TV is the opiate of the masses giving solace to the couch potato. So if a resistance moment has taken place in Care Homes maybe there is hope for the rest of us. TV is much like the Curates egg good in parts; it is just finding the good parts that suit your taste. despite the continuing dumbing down. Mind you I can remember sitting in front of the screen many years ago entranced by the Potters Wheel Interlude, but that was when TV was still a novelity

Jack

I watch far too much t.v really but I do enjoy it.

I have a diverse taste when it comes to what I like to watch and I often find I enjoy progs. I wouldn't have given much of a chance just by reading the t.v mag.

To me t.v is educational, company, light hearted, interesting, a brilliant source of escapism and can make me laugh. I think free view has opened up such a wider choice of progs. I find I have to tape so many shows.

The one thing I do have a bee in my bonnet about is the BBC news, or the lack of it. Often I have mentioned that the BBC has lost it's mojo and suffers from lazy reporting, often behind other news channels with breaking news, very weak interviewers and presenters, has become boring and repetitive and does not give enough international coverage. Obviously I am talking about free view 80 as opposed to the main BBC news which could not cover the wider reporting due to time allocation.

I am mind you a fan of many American shows such as The Good Wife, The Americans, West wing, Greys Anatomy etc etc. etc. Hence the need to tape so much. W e do have some very good British progs though don't we! Actually I think we are very lucky to have so much choice.

So, one happy viewer here.

I like tv but am selective, and as we have Sky+ there are some good programmes to watch. We also watch dvds. However, because we record a lot and then watch later, we can whizz through the ads in seconds, which is great.

That's very true FlicketyB when I used to visit care homes for the elderly [40 years ago] the tv was always blaring on in the main lounge, I used to feel so sorry for the residents.I am glad that is not the case now.

Having been visiting elderly friends and family in care homes for nearly 40 years I have noticed that it is now unusual for care home residents to have televisions in their rooms and to have them on, they are frequently not on in the day room either. When I started visiting friends in care the television was ubiquitous and on, in both residents rooms and in the day rooms

It's like the girl with the curl – when it's good, it's very very good but … Unfortunately, for a long time before I left the UK, most of it seemed if not horrid, certainly banal or boring. I tended to find my relaxation in other ways, notably reading.

People can only watch programmes on iplayer cause other people pay for television licences ....

I don't have a TV. I got rid of it a couple of years ago, saving myself a few pounds a month, plus a lot of exasperation at the awful programme choice. If there's anything I really want to watch now - well, there's always I-Player, which doesn't cost anything.

What will happen to a lot of the channels that show old programmes eg Yesterday, Drama etc if the main stations cut back their new productions as they won't have any repeat programmes to show? Last nights programme about the Plantagenets was brilliant and I'll be quite happy to watch that again when it is most likely shown on BBC4 eventually. I won't rant on about the wonderfulness of BBC4 as I know I sound like a record that's stuck . As for films, there's often something good on Film4 and The Quiet Man [one of my favourites] was on telly yesterday; unfortunately it coincided with Ch4 Racing. Have throughly enjoyed the programme I've just seen about collectors.

Have only just got around to watching No Country for Old Men. It was very good!

I seem to be getting in more dvds of films these days, either from charity shops, or Amazon or Play.com. especially for Saturday evenings.

I never seem to have time to watch television, it is really has lowest priority on my list. It is generally associated with being ill, exhausted with tiredness or doing the ironing. Even as a child I had very little interest in watching television, or going to films for that matter. I am just not good at sitting still and just watching.

It has been interesting to note that DGD's interest in watching a screen is also limited. She likes specific programmes or DVDs, but even then will wander away half way through it. If a programme comes on she isn't interested in she just turns the television off. It causes intense irritation to her younger brother who has to have his screen watching rationed as he can sit in front of a screen for hours at a time

If I had to stick with just the main channels I'd be bored by now but satellite offers an interesting range of options. It's interesting this has been raised - apparently more and more Hollywood actors are opting for TV parts rather than simply doing film work and there is a debate as to whether this heralds the death of film...

I was thinking that last night Jack. The choice was abysmal and most of what was on was being regurgitated for the umptytumpth time. Saturday night viewing has always been bad.....
However, during the week there is some amazing viewing on offer, so I shouldn't grumble too much and of course, I now have the wonderful Humax Freesat to use (courtesy GN)

No real complaints here either - we find it difficult to catch up with stuff we have recorded.

Certainly the recent programmes about WW1 have been exceptionally good, from the Three Cousins to 37 Days - I would not have missed one of them. And, before that, Simon Schama on the history of the Jews was very interesting.

I think one just has to be selective. With ITV programmes, I find the best thing to do is to record them, the whizz through the advertisements!

So, no real complaints here.