bbc's charlie brooker on the state of MTV.

[deamonds]

mine would beat me to an inch of my life if thats how ungreatful I was about a brand new 5 figure car.

Seriously.. Then my dad would come by and finish the job.


How many peoples parents can't even afford a fuckin lexus??

Materialistic lifestyle TV, only the poor people love it...

which i find difficult to understand why people would want to fill their minds with this sort of pap

[rickyricardo]

TBH, none of this really bothers me. Most media, and especially television, has always been the narcissistic megaphone by which we seek to cancel our insecurities. When the stresses of living a normal western life become greater, the megaphone just turns the volume up to drown it out, and soothes our conscious. During wartime it's called propaganda....during peace-time it's called entertainment.

Celebrity "gawking", and things like this Sweet 16 show are really just exercises in smoothing over inner insecurities. I've actually sat and watched that MTV show w/ it's target demographic (teenage girls), and to them it wasn't about idolizing the girls and their herculean levels of consumption, but rather about criticizing the girls, calling them "ungrateful", "selfish", or whatever...and taking solace in the fact that you're not any of those things.

"I may have a house I can't afford, children who hate me, and a job I'd sooner slit my wrists than go to...but at least I'm not a crackhead like Britney"

Those shows exist to outrage, not to idolize. It's fascinating that it proves you can get much more mileage out of outrage than adulation.....well, unless you're Oprah. People from other countries who look at that and think it represents American character or values are missing the point. They are windows into the things that get us riled up (much like you, actually), and are the effigies upon which we unload our emotional baggage.

I don't accept the line that any of this is forced upon us. The feedback given to the media is that this is what we want...and encourage more of it. If everyone stopped caring about Paris, Britney, or whomever, then we'd cease to hear about them. Facts are though (as sad as it may be), people actually do care about this stuff. You or I may not give a shit, but enough people do for the media to get the message that it can be profitable by continuing to shovel this slop.

[habitualbeatscamp]

[quote="deamonds
which i find difficult to understand why people would want to fill their minds with this sort of pap[/quote]

Me neither.. It seems to me that we (generally speaking) have an obsession with the rich and famous.

I know thats an obvious statement, maybe when these people watch it.. they feel like they are a part of it, even if it's just a few minutes.. triggers something in the reward system of our brains??

TV is the opiate of the masses.. and boy are the masses fuckin hooked line and sinker.

[habitualbeatscamp]

TBH, none of this really bothers me. Most media, and especially television, has always been the narcissistic megaphone by which we seek to cancel our insecurities. When the stresses of living a normal western life become greater, the megaphone just turns the volume up to drown it out, and soothes our conscious. During wartime it's called propaganda....during peace-time it's called entertainment.

Celebrity "gawking", and things like this Sweet 16 show are really just exercises in smoothing over inner insecurities. I've actually sat and watched that MTV show w/ it's target demographic (teenage girls), and to them it wasn't about idolizing the girls and their herculean levels of consumption, but rather about criticizing the girls, calling them "ungrateful", "selfish", or whatever...and taking solace in the fact that you're not any of those things.

"I may have a house I can't afford, children who hate me, and a job I'd sooner slit my wrists than go to...but at least I'm not a crackhead like Britney"

Those shows exist to outrage, not to idolize. It's fascinating that it proves you can get much more mileage out of outrage than adulation.....well, unless you're Oprah. People from other countries who look at that and think it represents American character or values are missing the point. They are windows into the things that get us riled up (much like you, actually), and are the effigies upon which we unload our emotional baggage.

I don't accept the line that any of this is forced upon us. The feedback given to the media is that this is what we want...and encourage more of it. If everyone stopped caring about Paris, Britney, or whomever, then we'd cease to hear about them. Facts are though (as sad as it may be), people actually do care about this stuff. You or I may not give a shit, but enough people do for the media to get the message that it can be profitable by continuing to shovel this slop.

Thats fuckin well put. Put my comment to shame for sure.

[seckle]

TBH, none of this really bothers me. Most media, and especially television, has always been the narcissistic megaphone by which we seek to cancel our insecurities. When the stresses of living a normal western life become greater, the megaphone just turns the volume up to drown it out, and soothes our conscious. During wartime it's called propaganda....during peace-time it's called entertainment.

well said, and relevant to the latest "war on terror" .

it reminds me of that famous edward r murrow quote when he's speaking on the responsibility of the journalist:

“To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful. Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions.”

[tacospheros]

which i find difficult to understand why people would want to fill their minds with this sort of pap

Me neither.. It seems to me that we (generally speaking) have an obsession with the rich and famous.

I know thats an obvious statement, maybe when these people watch it.. they feel like they are a part of it, even if it's just a few minutes.. triggers something in the reward system of our brains??

TV is the opiate of the masses.. and boy are the masses fuckin hooked line and sinker.

[contakt]

I kind of think the inevitable recession might be a good thing in some ways, might actually make people realise what's important in life - and no, it's not trainers.

Is it designer sunglasses then?

[dubluke]

rah he pretty much sums up everything i feel about crap telly, haven't read the rest of the thread yet but i really feel programming on the whole is abysmal, i watch the news each night and an occasional documentary and thats about it, i'm fuckin sick of half of it

[dubluke]

TBH, none of this really bothers me. Most media, and especially television, has always been the narcissistic megaphone by which we seek to cancel our insecurities. When the stresses of living a normal western life become greater, the megaphone just turns the volume up to drown it out, and soothes our conscious. During wartime it's called propaganda....during peace-time it's called entertainment.

Celebrity "gawking", and things like this Sweet 16 show are really just exercises in smoothing over inner insecurities. I've actually sat and watched that MTV show w/ it's target demographic (teenage girls), and to them it wasn't about idolizing the girls and their herculean levels of consumption, but rather about criticizing the girls, calling them "ungrateful", "selfish", or whatever...and taking solace in the fact that you're not any of those things.

"I may have a house I can't afford, children who hate me, and a job I'd sooner slit my wrists than go to...but at least I'm not a crackhead like Britney"

Those shows exist to outrage, not to idolize. It's fascinating that it proves you can get much more mileage out of outrage than adulation.....well, unless you're Oprah. People from other countries who look at that and think it represents American character or values are missing the point. They are windows into the things that get us riled up (much like you, actually), and are the effigies upon which we unload our emotional baggage.

I don't accept the line that any of this is forced upon us. The feedback given to the media is that this is what we want...and encourage more of it. If everyone stopped caring about Paris, Britney, or whomever, then we'd cease to hear about them. Facts are though (as sad as it may be), people actually do care about this stuff. You or I may not give a shit, but enough people do for the media to get the message that it can be profitable by continuing to shovel this slop.

VERY well said, the thing i can't understand is everyone's obsession with becoming rich/famous, i for one couldn't stand being a celeb, being hounded everywhere you go and having your every move scrutinised in the tabloids sounds like a shit life

i also don't understand everyone's addiction to money, personally i don't give a fuck if i don't get rich in later life, its funny cos people spend their whole life working far too hard to make a lot of money, and realistically when are you ever going to need that much in one lifetime? but basically as long as i've got a roof over my head i'm happy really; and can happily scoff at the celebrity lifestyle

[pk-]

the problem with charlie brooker is he's a 'Creative Director' with this bunch of talentless stnuc

http://www.zeppotron.com/shows/index.html

and looking at that repetoire he's not really in a position to complain about shit tv

good way with words though, i'd agree there!

[shonky]

the problem with charlie brooker is he's a 'Creative Director' with this bunch of talentless stnuc

http://www.zeppotron.com/shows/index.html

and looking at that repetoire he's not really in a position to complain about shit tv

good way with words though, i'd agree there!

I dunno, percentage-wise there's still a few gems on there (used to love Unnovations when it was on Play UK) - compare that to the shit foisted on us by those Big Brother stnuc, well Big Brother for starters.

[betamaxnomates]

the problem with charlie brooker is he's a 'Creative Director' with this bunch of talentless stnuc

http://www.zeppotron.com/shows/index.html

and looking at that repetoire he's not really in a position to complain about shit tv

good way with words though, i'd agree there!

Bang on. As much as I enjoy Brooker's columns and his little rants on Screenwipe I can't help but feeling he's as much a part of the problem as he is the solution. Stuff like 'Spoons', 'FAQ U', 'The Law Of The Playground', and the truly execrable 'Space Cadets' are just as shoddy and morally reprehensible as 'My Sweet 16', if not more so as they're produced by someone who should - and indeed, who publicly purports - to know better.

[alfie]

to be fair to charlie he is very self-deprecating and often describes himself as a 'thirty-something media tit'

[mrfixxy]

Television has been in a better state than its ever been, its just we have more choice than ever, BBC4, More 4, Film4 for free, all the on demand channels, some great underground torrent sites.

I think its lazy to say that all tv is rubbish, theres more telly about and maybe the signal to noise ratio is lower, but Brooker is an example of the living paradox that is modern television.The fact he works for a subsiduary of Endemol but can make a programme calling them sizan on a public service broadcaster says alot about the modern broadcast climate.

Of course channels like MTV will peddle flash-bang lowest common denominator programming, but its only been 20'ish years since we only had access to 3 channels in the UK.

I do love brooker though, hes a class act, TV go home used to be my favourite website.

edit: in other news being a creative director doesnt mean you look after the output, its a vanity name given to important creatives that basically get given gree reign to do what they want.

Adam Curtis is a Creative Director at RDFmedia, but there is no way he gets a say in the bread and butter programming, it just provides a place he can work on his ideas with minimal interferance.

[sigha]

I kind of think the inevitable recession might be a good thing in some ways, might actually make people realise what's important in life - and no, it's not trainers.

no, your wrong, it is trainers.

[seckle]

I think its lazy to say that all tv is rubbish

In england you guys have the bbc, which is largely state supported which is a huge contrast to our situation here.

all of our TV here is privately fueled corporations except for PBS which is sort of Americas BBC equivalent. aside from sports and a handful of science channels, i'd say that 85% of our TV in this country is stupid. It's subject matter is manic, and hype driven.

we have a military channel here that is purely military related 24hours a day, and is the official voice of the Dept of Defense.
http://military.discovery.com/

[tempest]

It is a sad state. It just looks like massive scale brainwashing. USA is the worst but its spreading.

But I truely believe that more open-minded people are being born and are willing to be critical of our goverment / media / anyone who appears to have control over the masses.

We will beat these evil narks.

[prisoner]

aside from sports and a handful of science channels, i'd say that 85% of our TV in this country is stupid. It's subject matter is manic, and hype driven.

sports are as easily hype driven as anything else on tv, if not more so. look at how much coverage the super bowl gets and how many millions of people watch it world wide. it's ridiculous....

i work at a grocery store, and over this past weekend there were as much in sales as there were for thanksgiving and christmas. sports drive as much of the consumer/entertainment buisness as anything else. and i think it turns people just as mindless as any other shows you'd find, generally speaking, on american tv.

[deamonds]

It is a sad state. It just looks like massive scale brainwashing. USA is the worst but its spreading.

But I truely believe that more open-minded people are being born and are willing to be critical of our goverment / media / anyone who appears to have control over the masses.

We will beat these evil narks.

rise up!!!...

the revolution cometh...and cometh quick hopefully!!

[mrfixxy]

I think its lazy to say that all tv is rubbish

In england you guys have the bbc, which is largely state supported which is a huge contrast to our situation here.

all of our TV here is privately fueled corporations except for PBS which is sort of Americas BBC equivalent. aside from sports and a handful of science channels, i'd say that 85% of our TV in this country is stupid. It's subject matter is manic, and hype driven.

we have a military channel here that is purely military related 24hours a day, and is the official voice of the Dept of Defense.
http://military.discovery.com/

I guess in defence of the american model, what I would say is that it makes some amazing big budget dramas and comedys.

The model allows (I mean that in the not white boy ironic utilisation of the word on here) great in intricate comedies and dramas to flurish develop in a way that the UK model doesnt really allow.

Off the top of my head I can think of dramas such as Oz, The Wire, Deadwood, Sopranos, and Lost (I don't like lost personally but a lot of people seem to) and comedies such as Fraiser, Seinfeld, Simpsons, Arrested Development and Its always Sunny in Philadelphia.

None of these programmes could have been funded, produced and developed in the uk, with the technology, I think its possible to cherry pick the best from both sides of the atlantic for relatively little effort.

I'll agree that 85%+ is stupid american programming (I lived there for a year, and I have to work with it sometimes), but there is no need to be bound by a schedule anymore.