What Vast Wasteland?

"When television is good, nothing--not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers--nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you--and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.

You will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience-participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western badmen, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials--many screaming, cajoling and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you will see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, try it."

This is an excerpt from Newton Minow's speech to the National Association of Broadcasters on May 9, 1961.

I think Newton Minow, the then 35-year-old chairman of the FCC, had a point when he called TV a vast wasteland back in 1961. His speech upset a lot of people in the TV industry.  Sherwood Schwartz, the producer of Gilligan's Island, even retaliated by naming the sinking boat in the show "The U.S.S. Minnow" (you know, the boat that was supposed to take the characters on what was supposed to be a "three hour tour"?). Minow's "vast wasteland" remark stuck and it's what he's best known for to this day. Sadly, his observations about TV still ring true (to some extent) and probably always will.

I definitely can relate to Bruce Springsteen's song 57 Channels (And Nothin' On). How about you? Have you, like me, experienced sitting in front of the TV, zoning out after a long day's work (in or out of the home), wanting nothing more than to be entertained (is that too much to ask?) and ... despite the fact that TV has grown into what college professor/writer Matthew Lasar calls "a crazy, weed-filled, wonderful, out-of-control garden", and despite having cable or satellite TV, and a DVR, maybe even Netflix or HBO or AppleTV ... you still can't find anything you really want to watch.

Like it or not, TV has become a part of the fabric of our lives. Although new technologies may threaten its existence, TV adapts and continues to matter. Reality TV was not its downfall as some had predicted. DVRs allow us to be more selective. Cable and satellite have expanded to make TV truly vast. You can find a show (or sometimes an entire channel) devoted to almost anything that interests you. My blog will attempt to help you find your way through the wilderness (or laugh at the weeds along the way) so you can experience TV as a beautiful, wild garden instead of a vast wasteland. After all, when you really sit down and think about it ... TV is related to everything! Or, at least, I can relate most anything to TV. Can't you?

P.S. -- I'll try to include links to interesting or fun information, too, so click on them if you have a sense of adventure!