The State of Television and Film Today

Even with the addition of hundreds of new channels thanks to satellites and digital cable, it seems as if television has declined in quality. Most new shows can't hold a candle to the classics, and many older cartoons have clearly gone downhill over the years. It almost makes me want to go outside and get some exercise. Almost.

Remember Doug? Remember Ahh! Real Monsters and Rocko's Modern Life? These were the shows that many of us grew up on and those of us who had grown up before that time even enjoyed it. Yes, the 90's were the golden years of Nickelodeon, cartoons, and TV in general. I've racked my brain trying to find out where TV went wrong, and I realized that it's changed as times have changed. In this politically correct world of ours we can't even enjoy mindless cartoons anymore. Every show has to teach our kids to accept others and always do the right thing. While these are good morals, they aren't exactly comedic gold. We need to bring back the classic years of TV when you could actually get a chuckle out of these shows.

But now it's 2007 and you turn on the TV, only to find reality show after reality show. It seems greed is an even larger problem than political correctness, with network executives jumping on every chance to put someone's life on display for a couple bucks. What ever happened to scripts? What ever happened to actors? After all, they are professional entertainers; maybe we should leave the entertaining to them.

Reality shows almost look original compared to much of the easy-to-consume movies and shows that are raking in the big bucks. Honestly, we all know the scenario where a sports team of underprivileged children is coached by an uptight man in his forties who is hated by the team at first but later teaches the children life lessons in addition to athletics. Let's not forget the classic dance movie geared toward the rap crowd as well. We're all familiar with these movies, so why do we need more? Why do we need "You Got Served" and "Step Up" when we all saw "Breakin'" years ago? It's a concept that's been used over and over for years, and there's plenty more like it that have been used the same way.

So, what exactly can we do to fix this problem? Simply put: nothing. No amount of online petitions and blog posts by whiny teenagers will change the current attitude toward material that isn't "family-friendly" nor will it change the greedy ways of the entertainment business. We'll just have to wait it out and hope things take a turn for the better.