View Full Version : The state of TV and radio.
Too Much Kit To Carry
12-09-2007, 18:17
I'm not really one for TV and as for radio I've been stuck on Radio Four for years. Neither am I one to complain but I felt so angry that this afternoon I complained about a programme on Channel 4 called Come Dine With Me. Here's my complaint that I sent in to www.ofcom.org.uk: -
"I am appalled at the bad language featured this afternoon on Channel 4 during Come Dine With Me between the hours of 17:25 and 18:00 today 12th September 2007.
I had to collect my son, who is 6, from school and whilst eating our tea as a special treat he was allowed to watch some television. I wanted him to watch something that I thought he might find interesting regarding food and the interaction of people. I was dismayed to hear the use of foul language at this time of day. I clearly heard a woman say "sh"£" and earlier in the programme I thought I heard somebody say "s!d". This is totally unacceptable and should not have occurred. I am sure that foul language like this would be edited before broadcasting to an audience that is, at this time of day, going to be family orientated.
I am totally disgusted and feel that Channel 4 have to be held accountable in some respect for this gross act of negligence or misconduct.
I await your advice."
Now I do know that kids hear bad language in the big wide world - but there is no excuse for this getting broadcast in the late afternoon when kids and families are watching :nono:
I think that standards need to go up in a lot of areas of broadcasting and that there is a massive market in actually entertaining the population!!!!! What do you guys think?
Phil.
Channel 4 are famous for it now, no strangers to scrapping the bottom of the barrel, look at big brother, not sure who there trying to get to tune in, no one with a brain cell for sure :rolleyes:
First of all Phil, thank you and all those like you (and me) who stand up for ideals like restraint and loving discipline when it comes to our children.
I too am stuck on Radio 4 (it's all that's played in my house - unless my 12 year old son wants to hit his iPod) and, unfortunately, they're not immune either - I complained about a broadcast, recently, which featured an interview with an American Musician. This went out mid afternoon and the interviewee used f**k twice in conversation.
I frequently pull up youths in the street who loudly use such language in front of my wife and son and I'm starting to feel like an anachronistic dinosaur! It's posts like this that make me feel I'm not alone in the world!
Power to you - and complain away!
Best advice...Get rid of the telly for good. You'll not have to pay the license fee and that'd pay for a nice bushcraft knife every year. There are no standards on TV anymore, I heared a BBC newsreader refer to a British officer as a "lewtenant":aargh4:.
maverick moocher
12-09-2007, 20:00
Telly just seems to be getting worse all round,I tend to watch less as a result,find myself scouring the paper to see what 30 minutes worth I want to watch and then planning my evening around it! saying that I watched Tribe last night and thought it was really good,interesting that the Massai with their cattle look down on the Akie who hunt and gather and are viewed as "primitive". I have to admit that I tend to agree with everything thats said on "grumpy old men":( Anyway enough for now, the footy's on(I know,I know) so I have to go and shout at the telly:soapbox:
Didn't the BBC once have a pronunciation department so that these sorts of things (mostly
names of foreign dignitaries) could be said correctly?
The Queen "of England" is the one that is most likely to make me hurl things at the TV.
mr dazzler
12-09-2007, 22:15
Well now we have the prospect of ads for gamblng dens as well as sheilas wheels insurance :censored: and have you been injured and it wasnt your fault :lmao:
We are terminating sky tv contarct very soon, pay too much for it and its infested with way too many ads and repeat's. BBC tv and radioo is way too smug and middle class (and plain BORING for my taste especially when they encourage poly toynbee to rant at will. At least if you dont want or like sky you arent forced to pay for it. Its ridiculous that we are compelled to support a "impartial" :lmao: left wing biased bbc state broadcasting club, wether we like it or not. They should sell the bbc off, if anyone would want it as a business that is? No taxatin without representation? I object to having to pay for a outdated organisation that has such a supremacist "we alone are right" mentality, especially when basically they are unacounable and make there own rules
And as for celebrity programmes, give us a bag of crisps
i would like to say that my telly has been in the cupboard for six months and it was going to stay there or get chucked out because telly is generally pointless. however, it will get outed and set up tonight in order that i can watch james mcfaddens 35 yard strike for scotland against the french tonight when the footie highlights are on at 10.40. :D
<<loves the sheilas wheels advert>>
can't drive though, so they're not benefitting that much from me :-)
<<also loves the BBC>>
:p
Nomad_Of_Soul
12-09-2007, 22:59
Kill the one eyed God :notworthy , Kill the state's nanny, Kill your television.
Take it outside and put a brick through it, burn it, take a bat to it better still film it as your doing so then send the dvd to channel 4 and all those other waste of air space channels along with your letter of complaint stating that is the effect of how their idea of entertainment entertains you.
:aargh4:
TV=:togo:
Let's agree to disagree :)
I'm all for watching less television and getting out more but there's plenty of good
stuff available. Worth it for the West Wing alone I'd say ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TkzLnUNeVo (Opening trailer for 'Galileo')
British Red
12-09-2007, 23:30
Phil,
you are too young to join the GOBs young man, however good on yah.
Forget religion, television is now the opiate of the masses
Red
Kill the one eyed God :notworthy , Kill the state's nanny, Kill your television.
Take it outside and put a brick through it, burn it, take a bat to it better still film it as your doing so then send the dvd to channel 4 and all those other waste of air space channels along with your letter of complaint stating that is the effect of how their idea of entertainment entertains you.
:aargh4:
TV=:togo:
unless, of course, scotland beat france. then we can watch. then destroy the telly.
John Fenna
13-09-2007, 08:15
Now now Grumpies!
Some of the comedy is well worth watching.
The Wales vs Australia match at the w/e should be worth a few laughs, never mind any England "team" matches.....
Oh and the Simpsons, Mochhh the week, Have I got news etc
Most of the rest (bar documentories) is rancid Wombat vomit.
How can folk spend more money on more channels when all you get is more crud?
I am glad that I am out 5 nights per week doing stuff!
Silverback
13-09-2007, 08:26
Anybody that knows me can testify that I do not have the sweetest vocabulary in the world and I have been reliably informed by colleaugues at work that I could 'swear for England' however I am the Dad of two young boys and do not and will not tolerate the use of bad language in front of them. I would prefer my children first learn the proper terminology for certain parts of the human anatomy before they get to hear the slang versions however this did backfire recently when my three year old son screamed PENIS at the top of his voice in a very crowded restaurant :o
Too Much Kit To Carry
13-09-2007, 08:28
Phil,
you are too young to join the GOBs young man, however good on yah.
Forget religion, television is now the opiate of the masses
Red
Damn right Mr. Red - also whoever called it the idiot lantern (no offence to those of you with square eyes) was not too far off the mark :eek:
Sat down last night at about 22:00 with a beer and spent 10 minutes switching channels trying to find half an hour of entertainment - surprise, surprise the cupbourd was bare :rolleyes:
I found much more entertainment reading Camping and Woodcraft by Horace Kephart not only can I read this on the sofa,in bed etc. but also in the bath, which is a demonstration of a man being able to multitask - or so I tell Mrs. TMKTC :lmao:
Phil.
Too Much Kit To Carry
13-09-2007, 08:30
my three year old son screamed PENIS at the top of his voice in a very crowded restaurant :o
He really ought to start calling you Dad mate :lmao:
Phil.
Silverback
13-09-2007, 08:35
:yelrotflm :notworthy
I am also too young to be considered a grumpy old anything, or as my younger friends describe me “a curmudgeon, crusty cantankerous old git, stubbornly clinging to old tired out of date ideas.”
My out of date ideas..
Nothing more than manners and English, something I feel is especially important to maintain on television. I grind my teeth when I hear some jaunty school aged presenter claiming that they have “loads of ideas” or open their pointless flashy television programme with “watch’yer”.
However, my greatest rants are saved for teatime programmes, such as Richard and Judy, the foul language, the delighted mocking of the average person in the street, the racist, demeaning content of their sofa chats. Most if not all of their guests this season have been restricted to London based minor celebrities, who just do not seem to grasp that not everyone in Britain gives a stuff about their petty lives. One particular guest spent most of her time bleating about people with dirty houses, and her parting comments was along the lines of “who doesn’t have a cleaner nowadays” I feel that such people, people who get paid to sit on their widest parts, should take a month long trip to ‘reality street’ where no one knows their name. See what life is like for 99.99999% of the population.
I give thanks to the absolutely awfull TV content that has helped me free my self from the flashy box. Due to the fact there is pretty much nothing i would want to watch day to day, i know i only have council TV but theres still million digital channels full of junk. I say thanks for the bloody awfull TV standards such as Big brother etc that have freed me from the chains of the TV !
I don't really think it makes sense to deride TV because there's some rubbish on it.
Let's deride the rubbish, not the medium. I'll accept that, as the TV is pretty passive
for the end user (you just sit and watch it) rather than a book (which you mostly have
to hold and turn pages, except audio books!), there's a bigger temptation to consume
without consideration - but there really is some good stuff on there; some of it has
even got me out of the house :D
After all I'm sure there are some fairly poor books out there too. I don't think I'm
saying anything new or earth shattering here? :confused:
I'd wholeheartedly agree that daytime telly is more noise than signal though.
British Red
13-09-2007, 10:10
As I said Jodie - the opiate of the masses.
Opiates are very useful used with discretion and intelligence for their intended purpose. Used repeatedly and indiscriminately though they lead to a desparate craving and people tend to consume their fix without worrying that someone has removed the content and added a useless and even dangerous filler.
Big Brother
The case for the prosecution rests m'lud
The fact that I occasionally, and under supervision, take an episode of "The Tribe" or indulge in some Jack Hargreaves after dinner is different
I can give it up any time I want....................
Red
it's mostly about the USA, but what they have now give it 10 years and we'll be doing the same
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgOWTM5R2DA
T.V., is it the reflector or the director?
Does it imitate us
or do we imitate it
because a child watches 1500 murders before he's
twelve years old and we wonder why we've created
a Jason generation that learns to laugh
rather than to abhor the horror
T.V. is the place where
armchair generals and quarterbacks can
experience first hand
the excitement of warfare
as the theme song is sung in the background
Sugar sweet sitcoms
that leave us with a bad actor taste while
pop stars metamorphosize into soda pop stars
You saw the video
You heard the soundtrack
Well now go buy the soft drink
Well, the onla cola that I support
would be a union C.O.L.A.(Cost Of Living Allowance)
On television
Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
suburban bushwacker
13-09-2007, 11:18
Re the TV
It’s called the idiots lantern for two reasons
1. They are drawn to it like moths to a flame
2. They use it to light their way through the darkness.
Twoflower
13-09-2007, 11:40
I've not owned a telly for over a year now and I can't imagine that I'm missing anything. Every few months I'll get a chance to watch Sky for a night where there are some good documentaries shown .. but one night every few months is all that is needed to watch the entire programming of Sky telly. What I find sad is that there are people that happily pay good money for 500 channels of nothing every night and, my biggest hate on telly, commercials at the exactly the same time on every channel so you can't flick around between programmes :(
Upgrade to Sky Plus so you can record sh*t we play over and over again anyway!
Something else I've noticed .. no matter where you are, if there is a telly on then most people's gaze are drawn to it! I know it happens to me and it's damn annoying.
Nicely put Red :-)
Probably my favourite passive activity is going and hearing talks, with slides or
without, from people who can tell me something interesting. But I do love my
telly, YouTube and TV Links.
I thought the advert for Big Yellow's storage facilities was really quite lovely - it's
on YouTube (the advert is called Waves). A visual treat among the dross.
Jo
Grooveski
13-09-2007, 12:23
Six months since mine blinked out and don't miss it one bit.
(Except for the bike racing:( )
I am gross and perverted
I'm obsessed 'n deranged
I have existed for years
But very little has changed
I'm the tool of the Government
And industry too
For I am destined to rule
And regulate you
I may be vile and pernicious
But you can't look away
I make you think I'm delicious
With the stuff that I say
I'm the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I'm the slime oozin' out
From your TV set
You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don't need you
Don't go for help . . . no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold
F Zappa
Silverback
13-09-2007, 12:37
I am afraid I am going to have to go widely against the grain and say I love my telly. I spend three nights a week in the gym, one night a week out shooting and go stalking and shrafting as often as I can with two little boys and a long suffering wife to boot. I could not live without any of the aforementioned for sure but given my active lifestyle I sit down in front of the old goggle box guilt free and enjoy. That said I don't tend to watch the dross (anything on saturdays or before 6pm weekdays) but like nothing more than a dodgy horror flick, a bit of Hell's kitchen (the particular bit being Adele Silva at the moment ;) ) and a generous helping of the discovery channel. I also love my Playtstation 3 and ipod but they are all enjoyed in moderation (with the exception of my wife and kids - I can't get enough of them :) ) , I think that is the key :)
http://www.tvbgone.com/cfe_tvbg_main.php
Im am fortunate in that Im almost never in a situation when I need to use mine.
But the times I do....
Heh Tengu that's brilliant :-)
I've switched televisions off at the mains (if the plug is visible) but your method is
much subtler, sneakier and works even when the plug is hidden.
Too Much Kit To Carry
13-09-2007, 18:02
I don't really think it makes sense to deride TV because there's some rubbish on it.
Yes I agree Jodie - but there are standards........perhaps we could all remember them and live by them :rolleyes:
Phil.
Jedadiah
14-09-2007, 08:58
I feel the need, the need to contribute!
TV, i feel, provides a service. A service that the consumer can choose. They can choose to watch any channel and any programme they like. There is so much choice that they even provide an off button. I choose to watch whatever i like and i have watched some marvelous programmes. Items that educate and items that amuse. I choose not to watch programmes that exploit the vain need's of happless and feckless individuals, and i sometimes wonder what type of world we live in that requires a programme to be made that features Jeremy Kyle. I like programmes that inform, but i don't like programmes that patronise. Then i exercise my right to turn off.
However, if you do turn on at 17:30 and language like that is used, are they surprised that the younger generation talk like that? How can they make programmes about the degeneration of todays youth when they are in fact, perpetuating the downward spiral of respect and common courtesy. I was always brought up to 'treat people as you would like to be tret yourself'. I still believe it. Respect cannot be genuinely earnt by force, aggression or intimidation. I think that TMKTC has done the right thing and i fully support his actions. .
More people should complain. I know it's not a 'British' thing to do, but now we are 'European' we should learn to be European. That means, we should be as efficent as the Germans, sleep all afternoon like the Spanish, be as likeable and chilled out as the Dutch, ride scooters and pinch ladies bottoms like the Italians and strike and complain like the French. I'd like to apologise if i have offended anyone, but, like Channel 4, i dont care!:)
Yes I agree Jodie - but there are standards........perhaps we could all remember them and lived by them :rolleyes:
Phil.
I agree, But as parent who feels she very liberal minded, I have banned certain children products/promotions from the house because they are tantamount to grooming. I actually prefer my daughter to witness swearing than watch bratz or some of the over sexualized drivel that is pumped at her generation. She is ten, and the intellectually vacant cartoon characters which is on the the TV espeicially on cable, filling childrens heads with ultra passive feminine role models. The vast the majority of cartoons aimed at girls of her age pump the barely clothed, passive, stupid, you want boyz to like you, stereotype.
I can counteract most of the brainwashing that my children are exposed to by pointing out the motivation of the media, but I find it very difficult to discuss why there is section of the media that wishes to sexualize her age group to sell dolls that are dressed like whores. Because frankly the motivation of the production companies involved in marketing these products is very worrying.
On jedadiah piont of respect I try and teach my children to respect there bodies as well others, I do not need a media that teaches them to disrespect women, or teaches them they are sex objects. They should not be exposed to swearing either.
Matt Weir
14-09-2007, 15:47
Listening to todays afternoon play (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/afternoon_play.shtml) on Radio4 there were 2 'sh!ts' at 14:30! :eek:
Porcupine
14-09-2007, 17:09
hmm, i tend to think the current state of tv and radio is a mirror of the wants and needs of the average person out there.
if it pulls a public they program more of it, conclusion for me is that the average joe or jill wants to see swearing, racism, fighting and plenty of other things im not enjoying.
it is not so much the radio or tv thats in a sorry state but the general population i am afraid
You should try Anime, Xylaria.
I was watching one of the latest series on my Saamitop (it must be, mustnt it? they all have them) `Ergo Proxy` and it sent me off to the bookshelves to look up various philosphers I had long forgotten about.
Silverback
17-09-2007, 11:30
It is unfortunate the way that some abbreviations have been adopted over time as particularly offensive swear words because the actual origins are quite interesting and relatively tame
Bird droppings were once prized as fertiliser and were transported on board ship low down in the holds which regularly flooded. The abbreviation for Store High In Transit was daubed on the crates to prevent them from becoming waterlogged and thus useless
Couples used to have to gain royal permission if they wished to have a child and once granted would display the abbreviation for Fornication Under Consent of the King on their front doors
As I said before I in no way endorse the use of bad language in front of children but I found this interesting so thought I would share :)
It is unfortunate the way that some abbreviations have been adopted over time as particularly offensive swear words because the actual origins are quite interesting and relatively tame
Bird droppings were once prized as fertiliser and were transported on board ship low down in the holds which regularly flooded. The abbreviation for Store High In Transit was daubed on the crates to prevent them from becoming waterlogged and thus useless:)
Remorsefully, but this is just a modern myth started on the internet some time in February 2002
Couples used to have to gain royal permission if they wished to have a child and once granted would display the abbreviation for Fornication Under Consent of the King on their front doors
As I said before I in no way endorse the use of bad language in front of children but I found this interesting so thought I would share :)
Fornication was something married people could not do, only unmarried people fornicate. so it's an old old myth.
the word comes, either from an Indo-European root 'peuk' "to prick" via Norwegian dialect fukka meaning "to copulate"; and Swedish dialect focka meaning "to strike, push, copulate" or from a pseudo-latin word 'fuccant' first used in 1278, by John le Fuc.ker
Non sunt in celi quia fuccant uuiuys of heli.
Silverback
17-09-2007, 14:09
:11doh: Well there you go just goes to show how much I know :lmao:
thingswelike
17-09-2007, 14:57
I wasn't allowed to watch Grange Hill when I was a child, and I hated the fact that everyone would talk about it at school and I didn't see it.
But now I'm a parent I can see exactly why I wasn't allowed to see it - it's mostly just people being mean to each other. But then how many adults watch the same thing on Eastenders!
Before Niall was born, we decided to get a home cinema projector instead of a TV. It's the best thing we ever did. First, the screen is in the ceiling most of the time so it isn't just a grey box begging to be switched on. We have proper family get-togethers around things like Planet Earth, occasional films, etc. The system is also too complicated for Niall to understand how to switch it on, which helps.
Now he's started school, it will be interesting to see if he comes home asking to watch stuff. There are countries where series like Pokemon/Bratz/etc are seen as advertorials and are banned. I've always been amazed that adverts aimed at children are allowed at all tbh. Is it Sweden where it's not?
<hurredly hides her action figures>
I have a projector too.
falling rain
01-10-2007, 06:48
<<loves the sheilas wheels advert>>
can't drive though, so they're not benefitting that much from me :-)
<<also loves the BBC>>
:p
<<loves the Queen of England>> :)
argh the worst is morning tv in particular "gmtv". I get up in the morning and id like to sit down to some peace and quiet with my muesli but no the mother turns on the box and all i can hear throughout the house is trivial conversation and adverts.
Adverts in the morning :censored:
An sensory offence i tell you - ear crime!
TV gone.
Good news; I am receipt of 'a cheque for £32.87, in respect of a refund against payment for a television licence', courtesy of TV Licencing;
Bad news; I've got lots more time to clutter up the Bushcraft UK forum.
Let's see if I can manage without the TV.........
Matt Weir
09-10-2007, 07:34
TV gone.
Good news; I am receipt of 'a cheque for £32.87, in respect of a refund against payment for a television licence', courtesy of TV Licencing;
Bad news; I've got lots more time to clutter up the Bushcraft UK forum.
Let's see if I can manage without the TV.........
Good luck Basha, I take it you use the PC to listen to music, watch films and anything that particularly interests you etc?
I got rid of all the TV stuff nearly a month ago; initially I would still think 'I'll go and veg in front of the box'...' then realise it wasn't there ! I now find I'm actually doing a lot more productive stuff than before (no surprise really).
Like most people, I used to veg in front of the 'idiot lantern' in the evening.
I have 'rediscovered' radio; there are plenty of interesting broadcasts on that, apart from the usual music channels. I personally find the PC also provides more information than the TV. I've still got my CD player etc.
It will interesting to see how long I can carry on without it. It's almost worth it just to see peoples reaction when you tell them you haven't got a TV; the poor creatures are hooked on it.
However my neighbour has announced he's getting a 36" flat screen, and gleefully tells me he's been watching RM etc....doh!