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[substitute]

I don't watch a lot of TV, mainly because I work inside the TV and I have to do stuff for my job with it, and then I don't want to any more.

But I watch TV in hotels, especially after a day of driving making me something something. So I got all caught up.

All TV is "reality" TV now. I don't just mean that there are lots of those shows on. More than half the things I saw were shot and presented like reality shows. An otherwise interesting program about crab fishermen and their battle with the elements, etc. was edited like Survivor or MTV''s Real World: little profiles of the fishermen, flashbacks in grainy B&W, switching among "contestants". Same cheesy narration, same faux-introspective interviews, the whole thing.

Couldn't watch the "News" for more than 10 seconds at a time. Wow, that was painful.

I finally found an in-depth documentary about a years-long criminal investigation of gambling, corruption, organized crime, and manipulation of information for financial gain. The writing was opinionated but balanced, the story had nuance and detail, and it revealed the seamy underbelly of a popular activity.

It was about fixing boxing matches, and it was on ESPN2.

Right, then, back to not watching TV so much.

Comments

[nosrialleon.livejournal.com]

I've seen the crab fishing thing - they've got a couple of seasons of it now. I was initially fascinated by it, and still think it's pretty cool, but I won't watch it anymore. It's death-porn; it's clear to me that what the producers REALLY want and will continue sending cameras out on boats until they GET is for someone on the boat they're on to die. This is the only format in all of reality TV where they can actually get away with a participant DYING, and they've totally already calculated their ratings share around it.