Flamingsteel.com

     If you think about it tv really does suck. Why?, because it is so far behind the times it is unreal. It seems to me that not one station notices that people don't want to screw around waiting any more. These days it is instant gratification or nothing, youtube is proof! I can go there click on the latest disaster video posted, drag it to the gory part and watch with pleasure!!! My choice where and when I want to watch.

     Another absolutely irritating thing that TV does is use cheap tricks to keep you on their station as if you are an idiot. Their oldest and most popular is switching to commercials just as you are about to see the victim being hacked to death by the killer… now you have to stay tuned to see what happens. Plus in order to not miss any of the "un-rewindable" scenes you have to stay in your chair and slog through all those tedious commercials. It is like taking five minute breaks every fifteen minutes during sex to work on your taxes… It was a cheap carnival trick to keep you glued to your station that worked well years ago but is just irritating these days. Thankfully people are catching onto this crap and switching over to internet or videos for a refreshing change, at least anyone with half a brain. If you look at tv ratings it appears there are a lot of people out there with half a brain!

     Then of course there is another tiring thing they do with the news that is getting real old. They need to fire all the drama queens that put it together. The news never lies after all that would be illegal. They just present the truth in such a manner that it looks ten fold more dramatic than it is. I guess they think their viewers are really stupid... and maybe some are. Just the same "drama news" is wearing out.

     I remember a prime example of this years ago while living up in Invermere. There was a forest fire south of town. No one in town was really all that concerned it was life as usual trying to figure out how to stay on pogi and stretch out the beer supply. Well the news showed the situation which of course every one watched with interest and amazment. First they talked about this devastating fire that was going on. They salted in a few very close up clips of the blaze. Then in the middle of those close up clips they tossed in footage of different people running down the street frantically and then back to the front lines of the fire. It gave you the feeling that the towns people were running for their lives! The truth was the liquor store was closing and that was why the people were running in a state of panic. Our phone was ringing non stop after that with calls from our relatives from out in Saskatchewan. They had watched the news and were worried that we were not going to get out alive! That was forty years ago and they are still using that same old trick!! Wasn't it last winter that mankind was going to go into a tailspin because of some flue?

     Someone should tell those tv guys that they need to evolve if they want to keep up with the viewers. Especially these days of modern, no advertising, videos. After all you can only make tv's so big and so thin before people start to get bored or run out of room. Plus if they are not watching as much they get less advertising exposure that is designed to sell them that crap in the first place. It can turn into a vicious downward cycle for them and in fact already is as they clutch for survival. 

     I would like to see someone start a "TV Survivor" reality show on the internet showing different tv stations struggle for survival. Could be quite fascinating. On top of that you would only be one click away from youtube at any point in case you got bored. To me tv's rate up there with 8 track stereos… those old stereos worked as long as you had a pack of paper matches to wedge into them to stop the tape from dragging. You might not remember eight tracks and if so lucky you! There is a time and place for everything and the land fill is where the TV needs to be put to rest. Right next to the eight track so that they can rest together in peace.