Television Shows - Any family Value In Them?

[snakeair]

I'm about to leave in a few minutes but something got me thinking about the current shows we watch on t.v. these day's.

To many reality shows and music type of shows on t.v.

Most of them have the same plot almost.

What ever happened to t.v. shows that had family values?


I'm 31 and grew up watching: Full House, Family Matters, Wonder Years...etc

These days its all about reality shows. Now i know why i don't watch t.v. that much other then sports, history channel and CNN. (Also watch a lot of movies)


Anyone got some rants about the current t.v. shows that are on these days?

[GMF]

Anyone got some rants about the current t.v. shows that are on these days?

Yes: The fact that the popular channels copy everything thats popular in other countries. Most notable are the casting shows. Germany is quite crazy about them, it seems. When there is not one currently airing, there are commercials for the next batch.
Also there are these fake reality shows about people on the lower end of the social class. Children get pregnant, abused at school/home, parents drink, waste money etc. etc..

Well, almost everything that grinds my gears about TV comes from Germany. Austria does not have that many channels, but we get the sh*t from Germany, and the heap is huge.

Family Values is pretty much dead. All there is left is cheap and quick entertainment. If I had children, I would never let them watch TV alone. To much drugs here, abuse there. Not that I don't enjoy such things once a while (Breaking Bad for example) but that is not for children.

[boxfiddler]

I've little to no use for television. When hubs isn't home it doesn't get turned on. I have life to live.

[droideka]

I really miss McGuyver.

But that's okay! The Kardashians are making another Christmas photo shoot and Snooki is doing something that is everyone's business.

Around dinner time, shows like CSI come on. Why are they scheduled to come on during family hour? Is it some kind of dieting conspiracy to disgust the food from ever reaching our mouths? A little gore to go with your meal eh!

You know what's hilarious? A show called Bones had cardboard boxes packed full of bloody, mutilated human, splintered bones and meat on TV, but flash during the superbowl and it's the apocalypse.

It should not be like that, but it is. Gore is okay, but sexy is bad. All kinds of crazy right there.

The New Morality: Gore is okay because humans are violent and thousands of years ago the Romans had gladiators stabbing each other. So it must be okay.

It's a strange state of affairs when living in America, nude bodies are more offensive than cadavers. It like Protestants still exist or something.

They can show pierced MAN nips on TV, just not women's. Female bodies are offensive apparently in America.

Anyways, OP mentioned the History Channel. I would like to mention even that channel is not safe anymore.

ALIENS! They do everything!



Can't watch the History Channel because of... ALIENS!

[Dreamrage]

I think the only reality show I will ever watch is survivor. Watching people living cut off like that in the middle of nowhere, while still trying to get along? I just don't like that a few countries have begun making spin offs that aren't nearly as good as the real thing. (My country tried once as well and it was an epic fail).

We seriously don't watch a lot of TV. I am either online, playing PC games, watching movies from my collection, or just working on art, listening to music. My girls only seem to enjoy watching the pokemon reruns and X-men, along with a few other kiddies programs. Reality TV can sometimes be nothing more than keeping up with the Jones'. I watched family ties (lol on a sunday night when I was supposed to be sleeping), full house, the Cosby show.. If shows like that made a comeback, I might watch a little more TV.

[snakeair]

The survivor shows, i'm thinking when they off the air, the crew is eating at McDonalds or living in a house.

My idea of a survivor show is toss people on a island and come back 1 month later. Whoever is alive win's.

It's a good thing us men have sports to watch.

[Dreamrage]

The crew yea, but not the contestants. It might not be healthy, lol but survivor is one darned good weight loss tool if you're out there long enough.

...... sports. lol

[kju385]

Reality shows can have real educational value and family value. Let's look at some examples...

Survivor, people alone on the desert island. Lesson learned, if you win a game for totems you increase your chances of survival anywhere in the world.

Temptation island, couples separated are joined by hot singles to see who will cheat. Lesson learned, everybody losses when faced with temptation. Bonus family lesson, 5% of people treasure their relationships.

Kourtney & Kim Take New York, the famous sisters do nothing but are good looking. Lesson learned, if you look good you don't have to do anything important in life. Bonus family values, if your family looks good they also don't have to do anything in life.

Who wants to marry a multi-millionaire? 50 women compete over unknown supposedly rich guy. Lesson learned, if you're rich women will fight over you. Bonus family lesson, you can always find a new wife.

These are but a few off the top of my head

[Inspired Ink]

Wow, just your description of those shows makes me sad. People WANT to watch stuff like that? Reminds me of a 5-minute segment of "Cheaters" I accidentally caught once.

Truth is, I *DO* get antennae TV reception. I just NEVER turn it on. Well, OK, Cosby used to come on from 10-11am, and I watched that. And ONCE I got really bored at night (that's how I flipped past "Cheaters" and never found anything worth watching).

I've been off cable for let's see ... almost 3 years now? at just over $110 a month (well, that included my internet ... so I guess I have to calculate closer to $75 a month) I've saved around $3K by now. And NOT had a bunch of trash parade across the screen.

Well, I guess I can't address the OP's question, and comment on current shows. I can get TV via Netflix, and I've watched Survivors (the ones where they were in a warehouse for 1 season, not the island thing) and Biggest Loser. Survivors was interesting enough, and Biggest Loser (I'm in the early seasons still) is somewhat inspiring, but WAY too much manufactured drama. I'm not even tempted to watch all the other stuff that comes across (well, except I was curious about "Undercover Boss" but I never got to see it, they pulled it before I watched).

I can always get old DVDs by mail. I liked Dr. Quinn, Northern Exposure. And I can watch Cosby, Family Ties, Wonder Years, Andy Griffith, and every Star Trek series on instant play.

Temptation Island? For real? That is just waaayyyyy sad. Who would even want to compete? Sounds like a terrible idea.

[GMF]

Originally Posted by kju385

Reality shows can have real educational value and family value. Let's look at some examples...

Survivor

Temptation island

Kourtney & Kim Take New York

Who wants to marry a multi-millionaire?

These are but a few off the top of my head

My face when this sh*t comes to Germany/Austria




Has everyone lost their imagination? This cheap education is NOT good for anyone.

The day MTV got removed from cable was one of the best days. But sadly a good channel also got removed, one that aired many interesting shows (history etc.)

[kju385]

Originally Posted by Inspired Ink

Wow, just your description of those shows makes me sad. People WANT to watch stuff like that?

Guess they do want to watch, the troubling aspect is what snakeair determined in the introduction. Younger generations take those reality show stars as rolemodels. Imagine thousands of Donald Trump look alike going in the world after his "The Apprentice", with main thought one mistake - you're fired

Originally Posted by Inspired Ink

Temptation Island? For real? That is just waaayyyyy sad. Who would even want to compete? Sounds like a terrible idea.

Young people confident in fidelity of partners. In the defense of the show the temptations were really great (good looking). I'm not a big fan of such shows, but I do consider them funny phenomena. Did once a short essay on the similar subject

[kju385]

Originally Posted by GMF

My face when this sh*t comes to Germany/Austria

Has everyone lost their imagination? This cheap education is NOT good for anyone.

The day MTV got removed from cable was one of the best days. But sadly a good channel also got removed, one that aired many interesting shows (history etc.)

You must look like Bruce Lee by now, Big Brother, a reality in which a dozen people sit, sleep, drink, party and manipulate one another in order to get the big prize. And this is a mild description

I personally like MTV, regardless of the content. Music is a separate category, I guess the reality shows proved more profitable. It isn't really question of cheap education, it is a matter of entertainment shows reaching the status of relevant educational materials

[Inspired Ink]

Looks like what started with Jerry Springer has spiraled into madness.

If they are so popular, then surely there is money to be made in such things. And just think of how cheap many of them must be to produce. No stars, no scripts, no sets ...

Sigh ...

I'm glad I don't bother surfing what's out there right now. I DO in fact worry for anyone who grows up watching trash like this and thinking that's how life should be.

[TheDipster]

TV these days does my absolute nut in. Most are keen on these soaps and reality shows about singing and people who think they have talent.

I don't watch much at all these days, if I hear of a good comedy I will buy it and for the children will get some dvd's out. There is not much on for the whole family these days.

What I can't stand is when out and about and people go "did you see the pop factor last night?" Too many lives revolve around what is on the tv and that's got to be a bad thing. The worst part I find about tv when I do switch it on is adverts every 15 minutes being pumped into your brain.

[Inspired Ink]

I actually thought there were WAY more adverts than there used to be? When I did watch Cosby in the am, it seemed there were 15 minutes of advert during every 30 minute block. I got truly sick of hearing about cooking school and nursing school.

[kju385]

Originally Posted by Inspired Ink

If they are so popular, then surely there is money to be made in such things. And just think of how cheap many of them must be to produce. No stars, no scripts, no sets ...

I believe they do have production scripts, also a variety of sets, but the topics they revolve around are quite different from let's say The Fresh Prince back in the days. The real gain is found in creation of a star, exploiting the people who want their 5 minutes of fame. The cost of hiring noname people vs recognized stars is immense. On top, when you create a "star" the media can manipulate the person more easily.

Originally Posted by TheDipster

TV these days does my absolute nut in. Most are keen on these soaps and reality shows about singing and people who think they have talent.

Talent shows are win-win situation, they give people who believe in their talent a chance to go national (regardless if they actually have talent), which they would probably under the normal circumstances never get. Media on the other hand gets loads of attractive program for relatively small amount of money. After all, there have been some great talents discovered, like Susan Boyle or Paul Potts

[Inspired Ink]

OK, point retracted, you're surely right on the scripts and sets. I've admittedly watched VERY LITTLE of what passes for TV these days, but even on Biggest Loser I can see that someone is pulling the strings and manipulating the game, just for the sake of drama. So there's a writer somewhere. Not to mention the hosts or whoever is constant on the show has something to say.

And there are sets but ... well, I don't know much about it. I would GUESS them to be cheaper than when they had to produce a number of indoor/outdoor rooms for drama/comedy/etc type shows.

Biggest Loser also has TONS of obvious promotion within it and providing for a lot of the costs. And I'm only on season 5 or so.

I can see what you mean about creating stars though, that would surely be the biggest cost savings. Hehe good point they can obviously be more easily manipulated.

Glad I'm not in the business, or watching it. I guess that's all I can say.

I still can't do anything but shake my head when I think about who would want to watch most of it. You couldn't PAY me to stand up there and make that kind of fool of myself as most of the shows seem to do. (I'm still having Jerry Springer flashbacks for that part.)

[kju385]

Originally Posted by Inspired Ink

Glad I'm not in the business, or watching it. I guess that's all I can say.

I still can't do anything but shake my head when I think about who would want to watch most of it. You couldn't PAY me to stand up there and make that kind of fool of myself as most of the shows seem to do. (I'm still having Jerry Springer flashbacks for that part.)

I actually agree with you on most of the viewpoints. It is an interesting topic, also quite important one. Everybody is naturally free to watch what they want and modern generations seems keen on shallow things. Personally, I like to watch some of the shows to unwind, relax. If you give them no other meaning except entertainment, they can be quite funny

[Inspired Ink]

Originally Posted by kju385

I like to watch some of the shows to unwind, relax. If you give them no other meaning except entertainment, they can be quite funny

Well ... I haven't had much practice at that. The little bit I time I have watched, I just can't help getting a little mad at how STUPID some of the people appear to be (I'm thinking again of Jerry Springer). It upsets me to watch it. I'm not sure if I can turn that off enough to just laugh at them, but I can certainly see your point. I can see how they could be hilariously funny if you could get to that place emotionally. I'm just not sure I can. Guess I'll probably never know for sure ... I can count on one hand the number of those shows I've even seen a few minutes of, so I'm not likely to get enough practice to reach that point.

[abrams1111]

I think the value of television nowadays is the opportunity to show our kids how not act and why. I love to take the opportunity to watch my teenage daughters' favorite shows with them...Kardashian's, Jersey Shore...and point out why it is not always ideal to be like these people...i.e. you end up looking stupid, you have to deal with people in your business 24 hours a day, you can't ever have a bad hair day, you can't just be yourself because you have tabloids to worry about....etc..
And...they do it for one silly reason - attention and money to get more attention.
I don't waste a beat trying to teach my kids this valuable life lesson.