Non stop news is too much. I am sick of it. I want my TV shows back!
Yeah, I was kind of thinking this myself, not so much in terms of “I want my TV shows back” but in terms of the yapping heads on TV don’t really have anything new to tell us for long stretches of time, so they fill the airtime with rehashes of old news or pundits to fuel the “bomb the bastards back to the Stone Age” rhetoric. But they don’t want to resume regular programming because, after all, they spent all that money on musics and graphics.
On the one hand, I hope you mean that you, like many of us, are sick to the very pit of your soul at the violence visited on our nation, and need to take a break from the non-stop parade of horrors on TV. That is why God (and Sony) made VCRs and DVD players.
On the other hand, if you’re complaining because you can’t see a rerun of some inane sitcom or cop drama, then you are a sad, shallow, sorry creature who needs to get a life pronto!
Thank Someone for cable. Of course, even with it, I can’t watch regular TV for more than 5 minutes without turning back to the news.
But I definitely hear you- it’s overwhelming. I also think that alot of it is ratings-mongering with the (un-?)intended consquence of increasing the fear of an already frightened nation.
Can’t help but think that regular programming with cut-in news alerts when necessary might really be what alot of people in the nation need right now, for better or worse.
-j
p.s. I don’t know you very well, so the above post was made assuming that you are NOT trolling.
I totally agree with this point, I gave up cable TV 4 years ago and I so very happy. DVD’s and VCR’s are great because you can choose what to watch and when. If you feel like mindless drool put it on, something to stimulate the noggin’ put it on.
If none of that works buy a book.
One of my friends was a little upset on Tuesday because she was not able to watch “Passion Cruise” or whatever that new reality TV show on the boat is. I almost broke out my bitch slapping gloves :rolleyes:
I like to sit in front of the TV while I cross-stitch. It gives me something else to focus on while I work with my hands. The past four days, yes, it would have been very nice to flip it onto something besides news of the tragedy. A nature show, a sitcom, I don’t care what. There is no escaping the news, and I am totally shell-shocked. Of course, my solution has been to needlepoint in front of the radio instead, but it will be awfully nice when there is TV besides news of the tragedy again. I just can’t take anymore right now.
And someone on my pregnancy message board was killed in a car accident this morning, so that isn’t helping my mood either.
Yeah, I want TV too. it’s not so much that the cable news networks are fixated, but regular networks too. Which I guess is good for folks without cable, but I couldn’t watch the Simpsons yesterday. And I really needed something to unwind, too. But anyhow, it was cool that TLC piped in BBC America for a different perspective, and I’m also glad they’re back to soothing Nature shows.
Did anybody else see the guys in SportsCenter Wednesday night (they ESPN had somebody’s news in on Tuesday) when they signed off the show and said “Well, I guess all this sports stuff seems a little inconsequential in light of recent events, but it is still an important part of our culture and needs to be documented.”? I thought that was great.
Tenebras
There really isn’t an official “premiere week” like there used to be, but I believe next week was going to see the first wave of new shows and returning old ones.
If it’s necessary for regular programming to be pre-empted next week, then so be it. But the start of the new TV season is a tradition, and I’m hoping that society isn’t changing so drastically that we have to forgo it. I want to see the premieres of my shows, not because I think they’re more important than WTC, but because I want to be reassured.
Not that I think producers and networks would agree to throw out all the money they spent on already completed episodes. They’ll get them on the air, all right. But if they don’t start filming new ones, then I’ll be scared.
They’ll film new episodes. I mean, it never occurred to me that they wouldn’t!
I wasn’t worried at all about any of the “regular” shows being pre-empted. They’ll be shown when they are shown. Don’t care about it, not worrying about it. Sooner or later I’ll be in the mood to see the new season of “Frasier”, but that time is not now.
The Sci-Fi Channel is my solace right now, though. When I can’t take any more news, I check it out. And I have been keeping up with “Farscape”.
It’s been a fucking nightmare with kids! Here’s Mum trying to pretend that yeah, it is all over and there’s no more nastiness coming down the pike and instead of the morning shows, there’s the bloody nightmare over all 4 channels!
It didn’t bother me the first couple of mornings but I just wish one channel could run normal programs so we can help the kids pretend it is still normal times. Pokemon missing in the morning does fuck all for the mental health of kids who are looking for normalcy.
I don’t have cable. I am getting channel 2 finally after so many days of black. Channel 4 is there also, but it is so fuzzy and I can’t get audio. Channels 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 are still off the air. This bothers and upsets me because they are like a void, representing the WTC and all those people and lives torn asunder.
Yes, I want TV back - any TV. Yesterday I watched on that single channel the funerals for the NYFD Chief and Chaplin. The tears I was able to shed were strangely comforting. Perhaps my numbness is starting to lift. It was comfoting to hear the words of those that mourn their deaths. It was strangely comforting to see the ritual of burying our dead - the bagpipes, the old fire engine now as a hearse. It was painful but I guess I needed it - I’m sorry, but I can’t seem to find the right words to express this feeling.
I feel compelled for news. My brother works at an embassy in Africa. My brother-in-law for in another embassy in Africa. I want to know what the situation is there. I want to know they are safe.
And when I can listen and watch no more, I want to be able to turn my mind off to the horrors. Give me the triviality of the soaps, the game shows, the sitcoms. Let me groan at stupid storylines, clap for contestants and laugh.
Let me laugh.
Go rent tapes of Oprah or Springer or whatever precious drivel you’ve lost these days. TV is generally a complete waste of human energy and it’s good for the moment to be able to turn it on and get something of value, insight into the latest news on this horrific event.
I miss TV too. Not because I’m concerned that I’m missing some sitcom, or talk show, but just because regular TV programming can be comforting. I was so excited when I turned on the TV yesterday and they were playing This Century on ABC. You know the multi-part documentary narrated by Peter Jennings? It wasn’t regular programming, but goddammit, it wasn’t the same horrible news reported on a ten minute loop.
I don’t think people wanting to see something other than the ten minute news loop are disrespecting anybody’s memory, or downgrading the horror. I don’t think any of us still should stop living our lives. And for a large amount of people, a stupid sitcom or cop drama, or talk show, or cartoon is part of normal life. Part of their routine. As sad and horrified as I am, I haven’t altered my routine in anyway, because I don’t want to give whoever is responsible for this the satisfaction of allowing them to ruin my life.
PBS has been a pretty good place for “escape”. I’ve seen some interesting programming. But of course even PBS has been playing the ten minute loop.
I think all the TV shows are back tonight.
I had to switch to CNN, because I’m not ready to change gears yet myself, but I know I will be relieved when I can.
Reminds me of when I was a kid and I was so mad because they kept running news about the assassination attempt on
Ronald Reagan instead of Sesame Street for about a week. 
Around here, PBS didn’t run anything about the attacks during their kids’ programming, so I didn’t even know about it until my husband called me with the news. PBS Kids has been a real island of normalcy throughout all this–the only one on non-cable TV around here.
Well, the Emmys were supposed to be on CBS. Not happening, as we already knew.
Fox was supposed to show Independance Day this evening :eek:. They showed Mrs. Doubtfire instead.
Quibble - I didn’t see any advertisements during the coverage, so “ratings-mongering” probably wasn’t the motivation. I’m sure the networks lost a fortune in the past week. In fact, I’m in NYC and have broadcast only, so I could only get the local CBS station, as well as one PBS station that was alternating between ABC’s national and a local cable news station’s coverage as a courtesy (For those of you outside NYC, the antennae for the other local stations were on the WTC). I’m sure the head of the CBS station (Channel 2) gnashed his teeth a bit at the thought of a captive audience and an inability to run any ads.
But I learned something a bit depressing about myself - I keep time at home by television shows. I have two roommates, so our television is usually on in the evenings, and I know it’s time to go to bed when the nightly news ends. The past few days I’ve been basically stuck at home in Brooklyn, and there was more than one time when I’d suddenly look at a clock and realize it was 3 AM.
Sua
I just i know* you are kidding…
All that they are showing lately is clips of Bush’s latest stuttering mispronounced speach, or… my personal faves:
Next up, we will talk with the guy who used to live next door to a man who mowed the grass at the White House, lets get his take on things!
OR, always fun, they set up a camera in a room full of destroyed, demoralized, distraught people in desperation for their missing family, then zoom in as they ask the burning question: how are you coping?
HOW ARE THEY COPING???
HOW THE FUCK DO YOU THINK THEY ARE COPING!!!???
Bah! the news was important the first day, maybe two, now they are all just searching for a new and emotional way to hold your attention, to hell with the families. I watched a little girl of eight or so choking on sobs while her mother described for the viewers at home ‘how she was coping’. I could have happily went my WHOLE life without ever seeing that.
There is NOTHING left to report, its all conjecture and speculation at this point, and the CONSTANT replaying of footage cant be healthy. You dont have to be Freud to know that.
There is nothing wrong with being entertained. We were al entertained BEFORE this happened, and while it is a tragedy of unimaginable size, we are still here, we still need to eat, sleep, fuck, pee, scratch…
We go on.
Well, maybe we only do in Canada, maybe you guys in the states arent ready to move forward yet. I dont know. But isnt one 24 hour a day news station enough.
And to whoever said read a book:
Thats just silly, you can just as easily say: read a newspaper, let the tv be for entertainment. BUT nobody is saying that, because while news is a part of tv, its been a week, surely its time for the odd “breaking news” segments instead of constant coverage.
Just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Quibble registered and agreed to. 
My bad. In retro, it seems more like no one station wanted to be the first to go back to regular programming, or… mabey I don’t know what I’m talking about. 
Have you noticed that time has seemed to slow down a bit now that you don’t measure it in 1/2 hour increments? Very weird.
-j