What's up with American television?

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Sabra

 
Banned
Just a reflection of the direction of society.

Back in the day, there was 'This Old House'. No b.s., just good, practical info on home repair.

Before the economy crashed in 2008, 'This Old House' was replaced by those 'home-flipping' shows where everyone all of a sudden was a real estate genius and contractor, and was 'flipping houses' in a week or two and getting rich quick. No real renovation knowledge, just people making money in a bubble.

Nowadays there's that terrible 'Extreme Home Makeover' show (wifey loves it), one hour of idiotic drama with some spiky haired ass talking about how amazing some family is, and basically just handing them over an upgraded home. Wonder how long these amazing families last with the bills and upkeep on these upgraded homes before they have to sell.


Who are the hero's in today's action films? Jake 'brokeback' Gyllenhall? Shia Lebouf? Who were they back in the day? Schwarzenegger, Eastwood, McQueen.


Another one: Back in the day we had Jeopardy. 30 minutes of real smart people answering tough questions about the humanities, classics, science, etc. Subjects a well-educated person was expected to know. The smartest and quickest would win around $40,000 a show.

Before the 2008 crash there was 'The Weakest Link', where they dumbed down the questions and players got ahead by screwing each other over.

After 2008, 'Who wants to be a Millionaire" became the most popular game show. Pointless questions on useless trivia - pop music, reality stars and whatnot. But the grand prize is $1,000,000, for completely random, useless knowledge. What's the message - you can get ahead even without putting in real sweat.

So the question isn't 'what's up with American television'. It's 'what's up with American society'?
 
T

Therapsid

Pelican
Roosh - I stopped watching television back in the early 2000's. So, I missed out on the entire current wave of comedy series (for example, when I stopped watching sitcoms pretty much all still had laugh tracks) and reality shows.

Your observations are 100% accurate. I tried watching some of the top sitcoms today. Shows like the Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family. Couldn't believe my eyes, almost every single male character is effeminate and gay-sounding. The odd exceptions are there as anachronisms to be ultimately tamed by the series conclusion.

But then you have shows about young girls. For example: Two Broke Girls. The two female characters of the show take every nasty trait found in your typical 20-something year old American chick and multiply it. The brunette with the big knockers acts like a guy, specifically like a douche-bag frat boy.

It's weird. On American television girls act like guys and guys all act like homosexuals. And then you have the rapid proliferation of gay characters normalizing a culture that values women and queers but not heterosexual men.
 
Aliblahba

Aliblahba

 
Banned
Sabra said:
Just a reflection of the direction of society.

Back in the day, there was 'This Old House'. No b.s., just good, practical info on home repair.

Before the economy crashed in 2008, 'This Old House' was replaced by those 'home-flipping' shows where everyone all of a sudden was a real estate genius and contractor, and was 'flipping houses' in a week or two and getting rich quick. No real renovation knowledge, just people making money in a bubble.

Nowadays there's that terrible 'Extreme Home Makeover' show (wifey loves it), one hour of idiotic drama with some spiky haired ass talking about how amazing some family is, and basically just handing them over an upgraded home. Wonder how long these amazing families last with the bills and upkeep on these upgraded homes before they have to sell.


Who are the hero's in today's action films? Jake 'brokeback' Gyllenhall? Shia Lebouf? Who were they back in the day? Schwarzenegger, Eastwood, McQueen.


Another one: Back in the day we had Jeopardy. 30 minutes of real smart people answering tough questions about the humanities, classics, science, etc. Subjects a well-educated person was expected to know. The smartest and quickest would win around $40,000 a show.

Before the 2008 crash there was 'The Weakest Link', where they dumbed down the questions and players got ahead by screwing each other over.

After 2008, 'Who wants to be a Millionaire" became the most popular game show. Pointless questions on useless trivia - pop music, reality stars and whatnot. But the grand prize is $1,000,000, for completely random, useless knowledge. What's the message - you can get ahead even without putting in real sweat.

So the question isn't 'what's up with American television'. It's 'what's up with American society'?
Click to expand...

Couldn't have said it better myself.
 
H

HeyPete

Kingfisher
Gold Member
Since I was a kid, I was always a fan of cop shows, but besides Southland there aren't any that I can watch anymore.

One of the biggest things that bugged when I was watching shows like Law & Order SVU or Criminal Minds was the ridiculousness of some of the situations with women detective or agents.

Some even made me laugh at the sillyness. Example: Mariska Hargitay's character on SVU. She's easily mid 40's, perhaps older. Yet in dress shoes she can rundown a sprinting male teenager. Come on, an athletic male cop would have trouble doing that. And certainly as a woman, she was never fast enough in her entire life to do this.

Or the revenge factor. Where a female FBI agent on CM would rush into the house -- of course after SWAT and other male agents cleared the area and rough up a male suspect and basically act like a tough guy badass.

Maybe that's why there is a trend in society I hear lately. Whenever a situation is described where some man supposedly wrongs a woman - all these women commentators are saying, "I would have kicked his ass" or "I hate men like that. I would have beat him senseless."

I always think: "Uh, no you wouldn't. The average man, no matter what you cupcakes see on TV, would get pummeled. And a tough, mean chick, is in no way a turn on. It's an embarassment."
 
brianmark

brianmark

Kingfisher
I spent most of two years overseas and when I came back, I couldn't watch TV. Real news in the USA doesn't even exist anymore. You get better news about USA while living overseas. God help us in USA, because this is a reflection of what we are interested in: Nothing but trash Reality Shows!
 
P

Pappy

Robin
I haven't had a TV for about 10 years... everytime I open the TV at someone else place, it ends up making me angry. It's either bad news, commercials, or stupid shows.
 
H

HiFlo

 
Banned
It's OK in moderation.

Network TV's The Mentalist is OK in moderation.

Otherwise, you're gonna be going to HBO/Showtime/History for the good stuff.
 
bacon

bacon

Ostrich
Gold Member
this shit is in music videos too.

in katy perrys part of me she finds out her man is cheating then joins the military to become a BADASS. she literally transforms into a guy in this video. this is outright propoganda highlighting how STRONG women are and that men are decietful cheaters

 
scorpion

scorpion

Hummingbird
Gold Member
Honestly, television is a wasteland with almost zero redeeming features.

One of its most insidious effects is its ability to subconsciously re-program the viewer's idea of what constitutes social norms.

Television is called programming for a reason. It is literally a mass-brainwashing device. It pumps images and sounds directly in to your brain, and those images and sounds are created and distributed mostly by large corporations.

This is most evident and blatant when watching commercials, but the damage is done through the content of the programs themselves as well.

People subconsciously mimic the behaviors they see people engaging in on television. What do you think happens when a girl watches 20 hours of trashy reality television a week? She turns into the average American female.

This book totally changed the way I think about television, I recommend it to all RVFers and think it would make a good candidate for a Roosh book review: http://www.amazon.com/Arguments-Elimination-Television-Jerry-Mander/dp/0688082742/
 
S

storm

Pelican
Gold Member
Sabra said:
Back in the day we had Jeopardy. 30 minutes of real smart people answering tough questions about the humanities, classics, science, etc. Subjects a well-educated person was expected to know. The smartest and quickest would win around $40,000 a show.

Before the 2008 crash there was 'The Weakest Link', where they dumbed down the questions and players got ahead by screwing each other over.

After 2008, 'Who wants to be a Millionaire" became the most popular game show. Pointless questions on useless trivia - pop music, reality stars and whatnot. But the grand prize is $1,000,000, for completely random, useless knowledge. What's the message - you can get ahead even without putting in real sweat.

So the question isn't 'what's up with American television'. It's 'what's up with American society'?
Click to expand...

They're pandering for market share. People love it when they can answer questions on a trivia show, it makes them feel so smart. By dumbing down the questions (and making them multiple choice) they can naively expect to get more viewers. And this may be working:

Jeopardy: 9 million viewers (average)
WWTBAM: 19.2 million viewers (march 1999)


And as to the blatant pandering to women in television: Women are 85% of consumer purchasing power, and producers of consumer goods only stand to benefit as that number goes up.

Besides, young men, who are more likely to be depressed are more likely to watch television. Self-loathing goes hand in hand with depression. I would think they aren't hurting their ratings too much by taking this side.

After all, it's all about money. There's no secret feminist media conspiracy to create a generation of wimpy men. All of this - everything - is there because it is making somebody a profit to be there.
 
H

HeyPete

Kingfisher
Gold Member
I just saw where the History Channel is running a series starting Oct. 16 called .. "The Men Who Built America!"

I wonder what the feminazis will have to say about that?
 
Kona

Kona

Crow
Gold Member
Roosh said:
2. A Citibank commercial where a guy gets dumped. To "get his ex back" he uses his awesome credit card to go backstage at an Alicia Keys concert and gets a backstage photo with her while she stares longingly into his eyes. The commercial says not to worry about having a relationship as long as you can pay for a fleeting experience.
Click to expand...

I just saw that commercial on tv. That guy is using a Mac book at the beginning which means he is gay.

You can buy a macbook or an iphone or ipad with yur credit card and continue to watch America go down the shitter. Fuck Steve Jobs.

Aloha!
 
Spike

Spike

Hummingbird
Gold Member
Aliblahba said:
Sabra said:
Just a reflection of the direction of society.

Back in the day, there was 'This Old House'. No b.s., just good, practical info on home repair.

Before the economy crashed in 2008, 'This Old House' was replaced by those 'home-flipping' shows where everyone all of a sudden was a real estate genius and contractor, and was 'flipping houses' in a week or two and getting rich quick. No real renovation knowledge, just people making money in a bubble.

Nowadays there's that terrible 'Extreme Home Makeover' show (wifey loves it), one hour of idiotic drama with some spiky haired ass talking about how amazing some family is, and basically just handing them over an upgraded home. Wonder how long these amazing families last with the bills and upkeep on these upgraded homes before they have to sell.


Who are the hero's in today's action films? Jake 'brokeback' Gyllenhall? Shia Lebouf? Who were they back in the day? Schwarzenegger, Eastwood, McQueen.


Another one: Back in the day we had Jeopardy. 30 minutes of real smart people answering tough questions about the humanities, classics, science, etc. Subjects a well-educated person was expected to know. The smartest and quickest would win around $40,000 a show.

Before the 2008 crash there was 'The Weakest Link', where they dumbed down the questions and players got ahead by screwing each other over.

After 2008, 'Who wants to be a Millionaire" became the most popular game show. Pointless questions on useless trivia - pop music, reality stars and whatnot. But the grand prize is $1,000,000, for completely random, useless knowledge. What's the message - you can get ahead even without putting in real sweat.

So the question isn't 'what's up with American television'. It's 'what's up with American society'?
Click to expand...

Couldn't have said it better myself.
Click to expand...

Same here,
But he does forget to mention Stallone and Van Damme and maybe Norris.

I think the only action hero of today is Jason Statham
 
C

chochemonger1

 
Banned
Two and a half men used to be good. Showed the contrast between an alpha (Charlie Sheen) and his omega brother. And on most levels it showed how American women actually choose who they bang. Though it seems no lessons were learnt by most American men watching the show.
 
N

NYJ

Kingfisher
There has definitely been an increase in the amount of male bashing commercials over the years. Especially during of all things, The Super Bowl. While the masses are ok with that anything with a slight towards women is frowned upon. Only example off the top of my head for that is the Diet Dr Pepper 10 commercials proclaiming it was only for men.
 
sucio44

sucio44

 
Banned
houston said:
I only watch PBS and reruns of good shows. I even get annoyed when a good movie has to have a love story thrown in.
Click to expand...

No more PBS if Romney becomes President. Sorry Big Bird.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top