• AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    59
    ·
    2 months ago

    Because around 20 years ago these networks figured out that they can make just as much money pumping out cheap and crappy reality shows as they can by creating expensive and difficult to produce quality programming.

  • eran_morad@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    57
    ·
    2 months ago

    PBS is the only television worth a damn. Incidentally, it is replete with history, documentaries, non-editorial news, music, and science.

      • IsoSpandy@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        2 months ago

        Man I love Spacetime and Eons. I have watched almost all of spacetime. I wish there were a spacetime hardcore where they threw as much math at me as possible. Awesome channels

    • jaxiiruff@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      2 months ago

      So true. PBS has always been a reliable place to find something decent to watch when all else fails I feel. Not to mention no commercials! or very little if any.

  • fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    31
    ·
    2 months ago

    Reminds of an observation my dad made once about how neighborhoods are named after what had to cleared away to build there. Oakwoods. Rolling hills. Pleasent view. Etc etc

  • Jomega@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    25
    ·
    2 months ago

    Don’t forget Animal Planet, which hosts shows about tree houses and mermaids now.

    • jaxiiruff@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      2 months ago

      that one pisses me off the most, not to mention that pitbulls and parolees or whatever the fuck its supposed to be. I swear its on every day.

  • eezeebee@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    25
    ·
    2 months ago

    History channel has Forged in Fire where, for about 30 seconds per episode, they give a quick lesson about the historic weapon the contestants will make.

    But yeah, TV is bullshit. Fuck commercials.

  • rekabis@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    24
    ·
    2 months ago

    Because of capitalism. Because all content must drive quarterly profit ever-higher.

    Meanwhile, public broadcasting (PBS) is still putting out great content for families regardless of profitability.

      • zephorah@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        2 months ago

        The last time I had cable was the year of 9/11. And that was only because I plugged in a stray cable on a whim and found that my upstairs apartment tapped into the the cable from the downstairs apartment.

        Honestly, with internet, I never saw the point. And internet only cost $10-25/mo back then. Ofc, by about 2012 or so they became wise to that being the trend and started jacking the internet bill rates. And now internet costs the same as cable used to cost, or more, depending.

        But I don’t think anyone ever did a GenX is Killing Cable TV headline.

        • Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 months ago

          I think that’s around the same time I cut the cord. I moved shortly after 9/11 and didn’t see the point in subscribing. I left my (CRT) TV behind too rather than waste space in the truck for it. I haven’t owned a TV since.

        • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 months ago

          And internet only cost $10-25/mo back then.

          True, but minimum wage was like $5 an hour, and broadband connections were like 1.5 Mbps. My current broadband connection is almost a gigabit.

    • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      They really need to pare down the number of channels at this point since they’ve all been bought up by a few companies and all show the exact same shit just at different time slots.

    • Kintarian@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 months ago

      Yes, they have people I don’t know trying to sell me things I don’t want and can’t afford just so some bigwig could buy a second yacht.