Is Television Better Or Worse Now Than When You Were A Kid?

My nephew watches Gumball. Show cracks me up.

 

Worse, that being said I don't really watch that much tv nowadays....so to some degree that probably skews my perspective.

 

As a kid we had Gumby
As a adult we have real housewives

I'm sticking with old TV.

 

Everyone just says that everything used to be better.

 

A prime example of the flaws in today's television is simply that dickhead who pretends to be gay Tosh.0

 

Old farts, old farts everywhere here

 

Yeah, pretty much this. I find it annoying.

I now have instant access to pretty much every television show past and present--in HD mind you--on multiple different platforms allowing for a previously unseen amount of fluidity in programming. When I was a kid, you'd never see the kind of stuff that's on HBO or Showtime or Netflix. Why would I want to go back to adjusting bunny ears so I could watch one of four networks show programming that had to be approved by the FCC?

 

Not really. Mainly old people

 

Back in my day we had to take the bunny ears and walk with them 3 times around the tv then chant a druid chant while holding them over a fire then bow to them amd pray to the reception gods then cover them in foil and stand with them at just the right coordinates, two inches out from the body x three inches above the head, just to get channel 3. Yup, back in my day things were just better. This new generation will never be as good

 

I find the dramas to be better but the sitcoms are not often something that holds my interest.

 

The Network / free to air stuff is generally shite compared to the sitcoms of the 80's and 90's. The stuff produced streaming services is picking up the slack though.

 

Yeah but Yeah but...If you can watch everything what the hell do you choose to watch. To much viewing options for a lifetime.

 

I agree. Netflix and Amazon at are putting out some great stuff.

 

TV today is infinitely better. The characters and stories are much more nuanced and complex

 

If you include Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. ... it is WAAAY better. Not even close.
If you are only talking about cable TV alone...worse. Not even close.
I cannot fathom how people pay well over $100 a month for 200 channels of nothingness.

 

Hello, I wouldn't buy a new television (big screen e.g.), because programs shown isn't worth it

 

I recently started watching a show on DVD every night that was on TV when I was 14 years old. I didn't have access to television at the time as I was in boarding school, and at this school we didn't watch TV at all because there were no TVs; at least not that we had absolute access to. Anyway, the point of telling you this is only so that you might see how the show interests me today.

Incidentally, the show is "ER" which many of you will remember. Anyway, I do like the acting in it! I'm only several episodes into the first season and I'm already impressed. George Clooney did something really fancy in one of the episodes; I forget what. They are all constantly walking and chewing gum at the same time. I'm not really comparing it to anything that's on air these days, but the acting seems to be pretty good. And it's a pretty old show.

 

For me........8 years ago.

 

It's much, much better now.

For curiosity, I actually downloaded some of the cartoons I watched as a kid-- good lord they were awful. Cheaply made toy commercials for the most part... really not much in terms of story or anything. I don't really have any desire to revisit a lot of the shows I watched when I was a bit older. I have watched some of the newer cartoons and they're much better, and don't condescend as much.

Of course every generation has its good stuff and its bad stuff, but compared to what's on Netflix, HBO, etc... 80s TV doesn't even come close.

 

Not only is TV better now than in the past, TV studios are putting better content than movie studios.

Movies are horrible these days while TV just gets better and better. A lot of talent has jumped from one ship to the other. Not sure if that is cause or effect, but there you have it.