What's Happened to TV

With the exception of news and a little sports, I find that there is little on TV that I care to watch anymore. Maybe my taste has changed, but I honestly don't think it's changed that much.

Now, I am probably better off not watching as much, but there are times, rainy days and days when I don't feel well, that I would enjoy watching anything decent, but I just don't see much on. I remember (God, I sound like an old man, but it's true) when I could almost always find some good drama or comedy. When I was growing up, we had programs as varied as Westerns (Gunsmoke, Rawhide, Wagon Train, Maverick), Science Fiction (Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits), Mysteries (Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Ellery Queen, Perry Mason), Comedies (The Honeymooners, Dick Van Dyke, and Lucy) and Dramas (Dr. Kildare, Ben Casey, The Fugitive, Playhouse 90).

In later years, we had the great comedies (All in the Family, Bob Newhart, Mary Hartman) and fine Dramas ( Hill Street Blues, Kung Fu, Masterpiece Theater), and incredible mini-series (Shogun, Lonesome Dove). We even had great live music shows (PBS's Soundstage and Austin City Limits)

Closer to the present, we have had programming as good as House and The Simpsons and the various Star Trek spin offs.

Now, we are stuck with drivel like The Voice and Real Housewives and a host of simple minded comedies that seem to thrive on sexual double entendres that are on a junior high school level. Cable channels that used to have good programming like The Learning Channel (now devoted to dating and wedding shows), Bravo (Real Housewives from various cities), and USA (your choice of Law and Order SVU, NCIS, The Crissleys, or Modern Family), and Discover (oddly devoted to Commercial Fishing programs) are loaded with programs that they show over and over and over again.

Movies? From what I see, unless you want to pay for premium channels or Net Flix, and let's face it, not all of us can afford any extra costs, you are stuck with endless repeatings of drivel like Fast and Furious or a plethora of sophomoric romantic comedies.

I know that a lot of folks watch TV on their computers and that is fine except that staring at a computer screen is a bit hard on the eyes. Oh well, as I said earlier, I suppose I'm better off not watching so much. Still, on days like today, when I have a little virus playing in my intestines and it's going to be cloudy outside, it would be nice to settle back and watch something decent and entertaining.