Scary Experience With Cable TV

[FIRE Realtor]

I'm at my mom's house for the day and after cleaning out a bunch of stuff, sat down to see if my one guilty cable tv pleasure was on:  House Hunters.

But first, I couldn't figure out her 4 remotes.  Then, she told me HGTV was channel 198, which is so much better because it's "high def"...  to me it seemed too crisp and jerky, and the words didn't quite line up with their mouths. 

I flipped through channels for a few minutes, seeing mostly commercials, and a few really disturbing show titles:

"Celebrity Hair Loss Revealed", "My 600 lb. life", "Sexy Face at Any Age"

DO PEOPLE ACTUALLY SIT AROUND WATCHING THIS SHIT? 

I can't explain my mix of feelings... disgust, fear for the future of humanity, like I'm an alien to popular culture... anyone else have such an adverse reaction to tv after not watching for a long time?

[FIRE Realtor]

Update:  House Hunters just came on and I realized that while I find it interesting to see the different houses and what they're priced at in different cities, the reason I consider it a "guilty" pleasure is that most of the time we just end up making fun of the couples for their stupid aesthetic priorities ("it doesn't have granite!") and feeling smug because of our tiny mortgage! 

[dcheesi]

Some of those are infomercials, which (I hope ) no one intends to watch. But I guess someone must fall for it, or else they wouldn't keep buying the air time.

But yes, there are lots of horrible exploitative shows on cable TV, the kind that make "Honey Boo Boo" look enlightened by comparison...

[seanc0x0]

I haven't had cable for years. I recently was on a business trip that got in kind of late, but since the timezone was 3 hours earlier than where I live, I couldn't sleep. Ended up flipping on the TV for the first time in ages.

Good lord, cable TV is obnoxious! Ads galore, and even shows that sound interesting on their face are just over-hyped, over-dramatized dreck. Yet, for some reason, I ended up watching like 2 hours of house flipping shows.

I blame the long day of travel for turning my brain off, and the rest of the time I was there I read books before bed instead of watching the boob tube. Much better. :)

[libertarian4321]

"Celebrity Hair Loss Revealed", "My 600 lb. life", "Sexy Face at Any Age"

DO PEOPLE ACTUALLY SIT AROUND WATCHING THIS SHIT? 

Don't mock it.

Last week, on "Celebrity Hair Loss Revealed," they proved that Jason Alexander, from "Seinfeld" was, indeed a short, stocky, bald man.  I was shocked!

[BlueMR2]

But first, I couldn't figure out her 4 remotes.  Then, she told me HGTV was channel 198, which is so much better because it's "high def"...  to me it seemed too crisp and jerky, and the words didn't quite line up with their mouths. 

Ah good, it's not just me.  I've watched some high def cable TV with friends proud of their setup.  I swear that the words never seem to line up with the mouths on the high def channels.  I also noticed a LOT of artifacting on the high def channels.  Must have to really compress the video a ton to fit all the high-def channels down the pipe?

[GuitarStv]

High definition stuff and cable aren't really compatible.  What you end up getting is not high def due to the compression they have to do.  Real OTA high def is significantly better quality.

[MooseOutFront]

Ha! This reminds me of one of the main reasons why I dropped cable.  The idiocracy of the show titles in the guide channel made me feel like I was in a place I shouldn't be.  The show titles you posted are exactly what I'm talking about.  Pure trash.

[Paul der Krake]

You know the reality TV channels' shows are truly garbage when you can't find a pirate version of them...

[avonlea]

Our antenna can pick up PBS but no other major networks and we also have Netflix, so we do watch some television. But, yeah, when I am visiting a place that has cable, I am surprised by how many low quality shows there are.  And since we hardly see any ads with our set-up, I do get surprised by the number of commercials there are on cable and most networks, too.

[Cpa Cat]

Update:  House Hunters just came on and I realized that while I find it interesting to see the different houses and what they're priced at in different cities, the reason I consider it a "guilty" pleasure is that most of the time we just end up making fun of the couples for their stupid aesthetic priorities ("it doesn't have granite!") and feeling smug because of our tiny mortgage!

My favorite is always, "Our furniture won't fit!"

[TheNorwegianGuy]

I have not had a TV in about a year now. What scared me was how fast I fell into the Zombie-zapping-state when I visited my parents and was just checking out what was on... :o   Not going to have a TV again anytime soon....

[FIRE Realtor]

"Celebrity Hair Loss Revealed", "My 600 lb. life", "Sexy Face at Any Age"

DO PEOPLE ACTUALLY SIT AROUND WATCHING THIS SHIT? 

Don't mock it.

Last week, on "Celebrity Hair Loss Revealed," they proved that Jason Alexander, from "Seinfeld" was, indeed a short, stocky, bald man.  I was shocked!

Hahahaa.  Thanks for diffusing some of my tv induced anger.  =)

[Threshkin]

Comcast offered to lower my internet bill by 33% if I signed up for basic cable so I now have TV after several years without it.

Other than watching the World Cup finals yesterday (Whoot Germany!) the TV is rarely turned on.  When I do turn it on, it usually takes no more than about 10 minutes before I am bored with the dreck and turn it off for another couple of months.

[guitar_stitch]

"Ouch My Balls!" -Idiocracy

[Forcus]

I had cable about 10 years ago. When I had 100 or so channels and couldn't find anything to watch, I realized that maybe it wasn't a value-add to my life. They have cable salemen hanging out at the local Menard's and Walmart, I always love seeing their reaction when I tell them I won't upgrade my cable because... I don't have nor want it. Usually just leaves them speechless :)

[MoneyCat]

We haven't had cable TV in years, but I was starting to get an idea of what kind of garbage is broadcast on cable TV when I started seeing listings for TLC shows like "Extreme Cheapskates" and "Amish Mafia" show up on Netflix.  I just read an article today that there's apparently a show on MTV that follows fifteen underage teenagers as they lose their virginity.  People actually pay for this stuff?  I know this kind of trash is on TV in other countries too, so this is a worldwide phenomenon of degeneracy.

[DoubleDown]

My favorite is always, "Our furniture won't fit!"

Yeah, that one and the 20-somethings who looked at the 1 acre of grass with the McMansion they were viewing, and said, "We'll have to buy a riding lawn mower!"

[Jags4186]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/a-guy-recorded-his-phone-call-when-he-tried-to-cancel-cable--and-it-s-a-total-nightmare-143731521.html


This is a scary cable experience!

[Mike2]

I had cable about 10 years ago. When I had 100 or so channels and couldn't find anything to watch, I realized that maybe it wasn't a value-add to my life. They have cable salemen hanging out at the local Menard's and Walmart, I always love seeing their reaction when I tell them I won't upgrade my cable because... I don't have nor want it. Usually just leaves them speechless :)

I did that to a DirecTV person at Sam's and the look on her face was priceless.  She absolutely could not fathom that I don't have some type of cable.  It was great.

[LennStar]

I know a woman in my house watches the American-produced badly-synchronized shopping channels (WOW, that is wonderful John! Yes, it is, Alice!! Unbelievable John!!!) where they sell you useless stuff for more then you would pay in the next shop (if a shop would waste space with that crap).
I tried it, really really tried it, but after 21 minutes I had to run away. I had the feeling my brain was trying to sqeeze itself out of my head through my hairs.

But even worse, I really felt the "need" to get my phone and buy one of the super fantastic knifes I know I would never use.  That was scary.

(I think it was a bit like when something hurts you, you know it will hurt more when you prod, but you do it anyway. Again and again. You just cant believe it, and do it anyway.) 

[maizefolk]

I had cable about 10 years ago. When I had 100 or so channels and couldn't find anything to watch, I realized that maybe it wasn't a value-add to my life. They have cable salemen hanging out at the local Menard's and Walmart, I always love seeing their reaction when I tell them I won't upgrade my cable because... I don't have nor want it. Usually just leaves them speechless :)

I did that to a DirecTV person at Sam's and the look on her face was priceless.  She absolutely could not fathom that I don't have some type of cable.  It was great.

In a previous city I had Charter as my ISP, and every month, once a month, like clockwork I would get a sales call from them trying to get me to sign up for cable TV. Until I gave up and started hanging up right away, it always followed the same script going from telling me how their cable service is better than satellite (I must be paying someone else for TV if I'm not paying charter, right?), better than OTA antenna service (I don't have it), to their company's program of providing free TVs for low income households (which I must be since I wasn't paying anyone for TV service).

[Chranstronaut]

I can't explain my mix of feelings... disgust, fear for the future of humanity, like I'm an alien to popular culture... anyone else have such an adverse reaction to tv after not watching for a long time?

Maybe I'm an outlier, but I find more and more "normal" non-Mustachian people ditching cable in favor of Netflix and Hulu Plus.  It seems like a lot of my friends got used to living without cable in college and just never wanted it again.  Unfortunately, I also know a lot of people who keep paying for the cable TV they "ditched" for streaming for one or two things they "can't live without" :/

[thd7t]

"Celebrity Hair Loss Revealed", "My 600 lb. life", "Sexy Face at Any Age"

DO PEOPLE ACTUALLY SIT AROUND WATCHING THIS SHIT? 

Don't mock it.

Last week, on "Celebrity Hair Loss Revealed," they proved that Jason Alexander, from "Seinfeld" was, indeed a short, stocky, bald man.  I was shocked!

I was so sure that they would reveal that he secretly has long glorious locks, but wears a skull cap for his character!

[MoneyCat]

I had cable about 10 years ago. When I had 100 or so channels and couldn't find anything to watch, I realized that maybe it wasn't a value-add to my life. They have cable salemen hanging out at the local Menard's and Walmart, I always love seeing their reaction when I tell them I won't upgrade my cable because... I don't have nor want it. Usually just leaves them speechless :)

I did that to a DirecTV person at Sam's and the look on her face was priceless.  She absolutely could not fathom that I don't have some type of cable.  It was great.

My wife got the DirecTV spiel at our warehouse store and she just lied and said "No habla Ingles", which shut the guy up.  LOL!

[Mike2]

I had cable about 10 years ago. When I had 100 or so channels and couldn't find anything to watch, I realized that maybe it wasn't a value-add to my life. They have cable salemen hanging out at the local Menard's and Walmart, I always love seeing their reaction when I tell them I won't upgrade my cable because... I don't have nor want it. Usually just leaves them speechless :)

I did that to a DirecTV person at Sam's and the look on her face was priceless.  She absolutely could not fathom that I don't have some type of cable.  It was great.

My wife got the DirecTV spiel at our warehouse store and she just lied and said "No habla Ingles", which shut the guy up.  LOL!

I will also sometimes tell the salesperson I have whatever they are selling already to shut them up.  It isn't as much fun but it can be easier.

[lisahi]

All those crappy "reality" shows are a product of the changing television landscape. And there will be more of them as time goes on in part because more people are ditching cable and satellite for pay-monthly streaming (like Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime or Netflix) or pay-for-content-you-want services (like Amazon or iTunes). Cable networks are losing revenue stream. As are broadcast networks (they forgot they were supposed to be "free" and ad-funded so they sue companies like Aereo and screw over people who want to cut the cord).

Reality TV is CHEAP. The people on reality TV aren't paid a whole lot (except, maybe, now those Duck Dynasty guys). You don't have to pay writers or creative people; you basically just need a director, a crew and some exploitive producers.

So you get crap.

It's a vicious cycle. Cable started the problem when it overran broadcast with hundreds of new choices, making it more difficult for broadcast TV to get eyes on their channels.  So you get reality TV.  As broadcast and cable fill up with cheap reality TV, viewers become dissatisfied and switch off cable altogether in favor of alternate entertainment.  Cable and broadcast lose even more viewers (because broadcast has a stake in people keeping cable subscriptions, too). More crappy and cheap reality TV. And it gets worse and worse and worse.  On and on and on.

[Paul der Krake]

In a previous city I had Charter as my ISP, and every month, once a month, like clockwork I would get a sales call from them trying to get me to sign up for cable TV. Until I gave up and started hanging up right away, it always followed the same script going from telling me how their cable service is better than satellite (I must be paying someone else for TV if I'm not paying charter, right?), better than OTA antenna service (I don't have it), to their company's program of providing free TVs for low income households (which I must be since I wasn't paying anyone for TV service).

The super chill rastafarian guy from Time Warner Cable who came to install our line was kind enough to warn me to use a junk email address to sign up to their online account services, because "oh man they're just going to send you e-junk until you give up". Unfortunately that doesn't stop the flood of snail mail offers, it's been averaging 2-3 per month since we moved in 5 months ago.

[odput]

All those crappy "reality" shows are a product of the changing television landscape. And there will be more of them as time goes on in part because more people are ditching cable and satellite for pay-monthly streaming (like Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime or Netflix) or pay-for-content-you-want services (like Amazon or iTunes). Cable networks are losing revenue stream. As are broadcast networks (they forgot they were supposed to be "free" and ad-funded so they sue companies like Aereo and screw over people who want to cut the cord).

Reality TV is CHEAP. The people on reality TV aren't paid a whole lot (except, maybe, now those Duck Dynasty guys). You don't have to pay writers or creative people; you basically just need a director, a crew and some exploitive producers.

So you get crap.

It's a vicious cycle. Cable started the problem when it overran broadcast with hundreds of new choices, making it more difficult for broadcast TV to get eyes on their channels.  So you get reality TV.  As broadcast and cable fill up with cheap reality TV, viewers become dissatisfied and switch off cable altogether in favor of alternate entertainment.  Cable and broadcast lose even more viewers (because broadcast has a stake in people keeping cable subscriptions, too). More crappy and cheap reality TV. And it gets worse and worse and worse.  On and on and on.

I would add as an important addendum to this point that reality TV keeps perpetuating itself because people keep watching it!  Not only is it low cost for them to "create" these shows, people eat that shit up.  I read somewhere that television is democracy in its truest form.  While that was a random musing of someone on the interwebs (hell, it may have even been somewhere here that I read it), it certainly rings true and is quite disturbing.