TV was mainly shit in the late 90s, but it's got better in the last couple of years. I approve strongly of the Beeb's digital channels - they work very well as a way of trying out unusual, risky or just plain obscure programming, which can then transfer to terrestrial if it grabs an audience.
I don't watch films very much, hardly ever go to the cinema, but I fucking love telly. Don't know quite why, but I think it has something to do with it being immediately part of a shared culture, rather than a self-contained object. Or something like that.
One of the most hopeful signs for TV nowadays is the performance of Dr Who in the ratings. It's not just that it gets a mass audience for intelligent, entertaining stories and engaging performances, or that it's been top-rated in its time-slot every week. It's that the ratings did not primarily come at the expense of existing programming: rather, millions of people who don't normally watch telly on a Saturday night now tune in, because at last their needs are being catered for.
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2005-04-28 04:30 pm (UTC)I don't watch films very much, hardly ever go to the cinema, but I fucking love telly. Don't know quite why, but I think it has something to do with it being immediately part of a shared culture, rather than a self-contained object. Or something like that.
One of the most hopeful signs for TV nowadays is the performance of Dr Who in the ratings. It's not just that it gets a mass audience for intelligent, entertaining stories and engaging performances, or that it's been top-rated in its time-slot every week. It's that the ratings did not primarily come at the expense of existing programming: rather, millions of people who don't normally watch telly on a Saturday night now tune in, because at last their needs are being catered for.
And it's fucking Daleks next week. Life is good.