CommenTerry

It’s Time for Pat and Vanna to Go

Pat Sajak admitted last week that he and Wheel of Fortune co-host Vanna White used to drink to nearly a drunken state during breaks in the taping of that show. He said he could sometimes barely read the letters on the board after returning for the taping of the next show. While Sajak said they no longer engage in that kind of behavior, he offered no apologies, nor did he seem to think there was anything wrong with what they did.

On almost any other job, showing up to work while nearly drunk would be grounds for dismissal. I don’t think two popular game show hosts should get any special treatment. Besides, the loyal viewers of Wheel deserve better. Therefore, I say it is time for both of them to go. They should be replaced with people who have more respect for themselves, their careers, and their fans.

Pay TV Providers Getting What They Deserve

Well, well, well, we are now learning that most of major providers of pay television, including cable, satellite, and phone companies, have been losing subscribers lately. And “losing” probably puts it a bit too mildly. “Hemorrhaging” would be a better word. As far as I’m concerned, it hasn’t come a minute too soon. I hope this just the tip of the iceberg.

These people have been hitting us up for price increases at least once every year, even in years in which they promised they wouldn’t. To top that off, they are always trying to trick us with temporary specials today that will surreptitiously lock us into outrageous subscription fees a few months down the road if we fail to read the fine print. In addition, they’ve never allowed us to select only the channels we want. No, to get five or six channels that I actually watch, I must pay for 60 crappy channels that I never watch. Oddly enough, they see nothing wrong with requiring people to pay for stuff they don’t want.

Their loss of subscribers is probably due to two main issues. First, with bad economy, people are having to give up luxury items such TV subscription in order to pay their mortgages and buy food and medicine. Second, people are turning to the Internet, where they see what they actually want to see – no more, no less – either for free or at reasonable price. At any rate, there will be few tears shed for big pay TV moguls.

Teen Pregnancy Shows Should Be Banned

I am appalled by the fact that there shows on TV nowadays that glorify underage teen pregnancy. In my opinion, that kind of stuff borders on child pornography. At a minimum, it rewards illegal activity. That’s right, I said illegal activity. It is illegal for underage children to have sex. Unless these girls utilized artificial insemination, they become pregnant illegally. Why should producers of TV show reward them for it? Instead, they should be punished. How about replaced those shows with programs that honor law-abiding citizens.

You Couldn't Pay Me to Watch These TV Shows

I would not watch any of the following TV shows, even if someone offered to pay me:

American Idol

Sex and the City

Will and Grace

Medium

Ellen

Dr. Phil

The Oprah Winfrey Show

The Simpsons

The Family Guy

Dancing with the Stars

The Apprentice

When Will They Start Making Smart TVs?

We now have smart phones. We now have DVRs that that can record programs based on its owner’s likes and dislikes. When are they going to start making smart TV’s? Such devices would make my TV viewing experience a lot more pleasurable. Right now, much of what I end up sitting thorough is either boring or outright annoying. Fundamentally, I want a TV that would cater to me in every way possible.

I want a TV that can sense my viewing habits and automatically suggest programs that I would like. I want a TV that can sense which commercials I find annoying and automatically block them or replace them with some soothing music. I want a TV that pre-empts regular news programs and replaces them with a line-up of news stories that I would find interesting.

I want a TV that could change the outcome of a TV program to suit the way the way I would desire for it to turn out. I want a TV that would automatically remove violence, profanity, and offense sexual references from TV programs. Of course, I would determine what is offensive and what is not. I want a TV that would put the kibosh on political extremism and automatically remove liberal or conservative bias from reporting.

Finally, I want a TV that would be free of all things ridiculous. And that would mean (among other things) no reality programs, jackleg preachers, get-rich-quick infomercials, snake oil salesmen, ghost hunters, paternity testing, psychics, audience-participation talk shows, or celebrity worship allowed.

Nighttime TV Shows Don’t Work in the Daytime

During the daytime, have you ever tried watching reruns of a TV show that originally ran during primetime? It isn’t easy, is it? Those shows just don’t seem as good as they were when you watched them at night. That’s because, for most people, it’s harder to concentrate during the daytime. Shows that are produced for nighttime viewing generally require more concentration to enjoy than do their daytime counterparts.

During the day, people tend to be more restless and distracted than they are at night. That’s why many popular TV shows go on hiatus during the summer, when daylight extends into primetime. Then these shows come back, along with a multitude of new shows, when the new TV season begins. And when does this new TV season always begin? In the fall, when days start getting shorter again. That’s no coincidence.

Stewart and Colbert Are Unfunny

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are two of today’s most popular comedians. However, I think they both are completely unfunny. Perhaps their brand of comedy is just way over my head. I haven’t really understood most comedians and comedies that have come along since the early 1980’s. For my comic relief, I tend to stick with older comedians like Jerry Lewis and Bill Cosby and classic TV comedies like Leave it to Beaver, The Andy Griffith Show, and Sanford and Son. Now that was comedy!

How Did the Digital Transition Work Out for You?

The following is a blog post I wrote last year prior to the digital TV transition deadline:

Don't feel pressured to go out and buy a digital television set just because the broadcast switchover from analog to digital might be imminent. If you have cable or satellite service and don't care about high definition TV (HDTV), you can keep your analog TV set, as is, as long as you would like. Cable and satellite providers will automatically convert (non HDTV) digital signals into a format that your analog TV set can process.

Now, if you receive your TV signals over-the-air, then you'll have to get a digital TV or a converter for your analog set when the switchover occurs. Also, even if you have cable or satellite, you need a digital HD television or a converter for your analog TV to receive HDTV programming. Try tuning to an HDTV channel with an analog TV and all you'll see is a lot of jumbled pixilation.

I bet the digital transtion, which occurred less than a year and half ago, is nothing more than distant memory to most people. So, how did it work out for you?

Game Show Contestants I Root Against

Unlike many people, I refuse to root for every single game show contestant to win money and/or prizes. There are certain types of contestants that I just refuse to root for. These kinds of contestants are described below:

1) Those who seem overly street smart.

2) Those who seem aggressive or extremely assertive.

3) Those who appear presumptuous (they start celebrating too early and/or seem to presume they are going to win).

4) Those who seem to have sense of personal entitlement (they feel that they deserve to win).

5) Those who seem to be poor money managers (obviously, these people don’t deserve to be handed large sums of money).

6) Those who seem too secular-minded (having little time for God or religion).

7) Those who like to party a little too much (sorry, but I have a built-in bias against such people). 

8) Those who appear to be muckety-mucks or other highly credentialed, venerated, or decorated individuals.

9) Those who appear to have been born into a life of privilege.

10) Elitists.

Is Satellite TV a Dying Technology?

The satellite TV industry must change its strategy or die. Satellite's current model of settling for the role of "cable on a stick" is not going to work too much longer into the future. Cable has everything satellite is currently offering plus even more innovative things like video-on-demand and IPTV that the satellite providers will never be able to match.

Satellite operators seem bent on wasting their bandwidth on making all local channels available in HDTV. But that's like putting lipstick on a pig. Besides, cable can always provide stuff like that much easier and much better. Instead, the satellite TV should be using all that bandwidth to provide content that cable will never provide, i.e., lots of niche and international channels with programming not available anywhere else. Will they ever do this? Probably not until desperation sets in.