We don't watch much TV. We got the TV back last year for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics. Prior to that we'd not had a TV in the house for 7 years.
There are many reasons for this: the decline in the quality of the programmes, the targeting of children by the commerical channels, the mindless inconsequential violent content of children's 'entertainment', and the fact that without the box in the corner of the room you can do so much more with your time....
I don't watch films on the commercial channels - I can't stand them being interrupted by the advertising, losing the flow, spoiling the moment, and elongating the viewing time unnecessarily in my opinion... We have a stack of DVD's, which, much like our bookcases are things we'd like to watch(read) when we have the time.
So we're back to time. And the value I place on my time is something that I really don't want wasted by unintelligent wallpaper. I'm willing to invest my time in TV carefully. Yes, I will watch 'entertainment' if the quality is there, and there's nothing wrong with that. So you will catch me watching 'Grand Designs', 'Top Gear', 'Graham Norton' and 'QI'. I've channel surfed through the multitude of other channels, and generally come back to the good old reliable BBC. But my viewing experience this week shows that even they can get it wrong.
Of the two BBC programmes I chose to watch this week, one when broadcast, one on iPlayer to catchup, one had me shouting at the screen. Both documentaries, both ancient civilisations, both presented by women. So far, so good.
Ancient Egypt: Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings - presented by Dr Joann Fletcher. (BBC2)
I'd heard the presenter interviewed on Women's Hour on Radio 4, and mentally made a note to watch because she'd devoted her life to the subject since she was aged 6. I'm fascinated by people who have that sort of vocation, mainly because it's something lacking in me.
Dr Fletcher was dressed all in black, with a black umbrella to shield her from the sun, her abundant red hair and pale skin the reason for the umbrella. She spoke directly to camera, interviewed local experts, took us around the ruined village and explored tombs and temples and museum exhibits with equal simple direct passion, and enthusiasm. She had an enquiring approach which drew you in, and her knowledge was evident and used well to illuminate the subject. The re-enactments of life in Egyptian times were few and well placed.
By contrast, the progamme which had me shouting at the screen, was:
Pompeii: The Mystery of the People Frozen in Time - presented by Dr Margaret Mountford. (BBC1)
This was packed with special effects (volcanic eruptions), re-enacted scenes of people living in and fleeing from Pompeii, and the presenter, Dr Mountford, who kept telling us that they were going to reveal what really happened, and then went back over what she'd already told us. They cut and chopped and edited 30 minutes worth of content to elongate it into a one hour programme, packed with repetititive scenes of the volcano, people hiding or running, a dog getting covered in ash, and the presenter telling us the same narrative again and again.
On the positive side there were a couple of facial re-constructions, with an expert, building up virtual skulls on screen with his portable x-ray machine, and then building a 3-D lifelike representation of a presumed wealthy young woman and a male worker. That was the best bit.
The rest of it, in my opinion, was TV for the generation with no attention span. TV for the channel hoppers, TV for the dumbed down majority who need the message spoon fed over and over because they don't understand anything unless they've heard it 20 times. This was marketing TV which over sensationalised the subject, and it made me mad!
'You've already said that', 'Not again!', 'You said that before', I cried at the screen. The programme title had promised so much and then delivered so little. It wasted my time and insulted my intelligence. I wish I'd not bothered.
There, I feel better for that. Anyone want a TV critic out there?!!!
Have a good day y'all. :) Kat
There are many reasons for this: the decline in the quality of the programmes, the targeting of children by the commerical channels, the mindless inconsequential violent content of children's 'entertainment', and the fact that without the box in the corner of the room you can do so much more with your time....
I don't watch films on the commercial channels - I can't stand them being interrupted by the advertising, losing the flow, spoiling the moment, and elongating the viewing time unnecessarily in my opinion... We have a stack of DVD's, which, much like our bookcases are things we'd like to watch(read) when we have the time.
So we're back to time. And the value I place on my time is something that I really don't want wasted by unintelligent wallpaper. I'm willing to invest my time in TV carefully. Yes, I will watch 'entertainment' if the quality is there, and there's nothing wrong with that. So you will catch me watching 'Grand Designs', 'Top Gear', 'Graham Norton' and 'QI'. I've channel surfed through the multitude of other channels, and generally come back to the good old reliable BBC. But my viewing experience this week shows that even they can get it wrong.
Of the two BBC programmes I chose to watch this week, one when broadcast, one on iPlayer to catchup, one had me shouting at the screen. Both documentaries, both ancient civilisations, both presented by women. So far, so good.
Ancient Egypt: Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings - presented by Dr Joann Fletcher. (BBC2)
I'd heard the presenter interviewed on Women's Hour on Radio 4, and mentally made a note to watch because she'd devoted her life to the subject since she was aged 6. I'm fascinated by people who have that sort of vocation, mainly because it's something lacking in me.
Dr Fletcher was dressed all in black, with a black umbrella to shield her from the sun, her abundant red hair and pale skin the reason for the umbrella. She spoke directly to camera, interviewed local experts, took us around the ruined village and explored tombs and temples and museum exhibits with equal simple direct passion, and enthusiasm. She had an enquiring approach which drew you in, and her knowledge was evident and used well to illuminate the subject. The re-enactments of life in Egyptian times were few and well placed.
By contrast, the progamme which had me shouting at the screen, was:
Pompeii: The Mystery of the People Frozen in Time - presented by Dr Margaret Mountford. (BBC1)
This was packed with special effects (volcanic eruptions), re-enacted scenes of people living in and fleeing from Pompeii, and the presenter, Dr Mountford, who kept telling us that they were going to reveal what really happened, and then went back over what she'd already told us. They cut and chopped and edited 30 minutes worth of content to elongate it into a one hour programme, packed with repetititive scenes of the volcano, people hiding or running, a dog getting covered in ash, and the presenter telling us the same narrative again and again.
On the positive side there were a couple of facial re-constructions, with an expert, building up virtual skulls on screen with his portable x-ray machine, and then building a 3-D lifelike representation of a presumed wealthy young woman and a male worker. That was the best bit.
The rest of it, in my opinion, was TV for the generation with no attention span. TV for the channel hoppers, TV for the dumbed down majority who need the message spoon fed over and over because they don't understand anything unless they've heard it 20 times. This was marketing TV which over sensationalised the subject, and it made me mad!
'You've already said that', 'Not again!', 'You said that before', I cried at the screen. The programme title had promised so much and then delivered so little. It wasted my time and insulted my intelligence. I wish I'd not bothered.
There, I feel better for that. Anyone want a TV critic out there?!!!
Have a good day y'all. :) Kat
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