TV SUCKS - But it's more than that...

Currently, TV SUCKS. Now, before you start to see this as one of those "Television is a vast wasteland" sort of guys, there is a lot I like on TV but it's far and few between. I mean, come on, how many MORE police dramas do we need? How many more "oh so clever" comedies so obviously written by guys who are typing with one hand and applying pimple cream with the other do we need to sandwich in between the few shows with worthwhile ideas?? How stupid do they expect us to be?

Now, let's also take a look at the real problem. Back when I was a kid (yeah yeah yeah, I know, I'm old and TV was just invented back then....blah blah blah) So anyway, bcak when I was a kid, you could depend on a full year of a show. The fall was the BIG FALL PREVIEWS of new shows. New ideas all the time. The shows would go on Hiatus (read: vacation) during the month of December allowing the ever present "Christmas Special" to air. Once the show gave us it's 20-22 episode run for the season, we got the dreaded summer of reruns. But that was ok because you got a chance to catch those episodes you missed the first time around. The point however, is that the same show was on say every Friday at 9, without fail. It was a neat idea when they came up with the "Summer Replacement" show, but again, it was on every week, until the new shows (and returning favorites) came along in the Fall.

These days I find that I am forced to keep both the TIVO guide AND my laptop handy to track what's on and when. Some shows have new episodes at eight and then the same episode again at eleven. Some seasons start in February and there are other shows that don't start until June or even July. You don't really know. You have to spend your time cruising the channels or the internet looking for news on when the show will be back, IF it will be back and WHEN it will be back. Without the internet, I have no idea how I would do it.

AND, if that weren't enough, some of these shows only have 6 - 10 episode seasons. Just when you're getting used to the show at a particular time, they announce the "Season finale!" and you're wondering where the year went. Wait, what year? Its only been 6 weeks! Ok, what about the re-runs. I can see some of what I may have missed the first time around...No No Nannette! Along comes some other new show, loosely based on a premise voiced in another show on another channel about 50 years ago.

Now, let's suppose you actually find a show you like. Uh oh, seems that all the other shows you like are on at the EXACT SAME TIME. It's like they PLANNED it this way. They knew that you want to watch both shows, so they plan it this way to play into your TIVO and VCR (are any of them around any more?) in order to record all the shows you enjoy. Even the Video Recorder Companies are aware of this as most new models will record shows on two different channels (when they can make one that will record on 10 channels at once, call me).

Ok, so I'm about done with my rant on this. After all it's nearly time for...uh...what is on tonight, I can't seem to remember. Time to hit the TV-guide.com and plan for the night.