General > General Technical Chat
An expensive TV is a poor investment, and people spend FAR too much on them
Zero999:
--- Quote from: Gyro on February 01, 2022, 09:10:06 pm ---
--- Quote from: coppice on February 01, 2022, 09:07:01 pm ---Get with the times. The BBC used to be excellent, but we never watch it any more. They have badly lost their way.
--- End quote ---
Everyone it entitled to their opinion... even if they are wrong!
Edit: I agree with Benta if not clear.
--- End quote ---
More often than not, opinion is subjective, rather than right or wrong. Whether the BBC is any good or not is an objective opinion. It's not something you, or anyone else has the authority to determine as right, or wrong.
The main criticism I hear from many and I agree with is, like much of the mainstream media, the BBC has gone far too woke. They keep pushing ethnic minorities on the screen, who are invariably talentless, just to tick a diversity box. They tell lies about British history and erase xenophobia and racism by casting ethnic minority actors in period dramas, set at a time when England was 99% white, when anyone who looked different was treated with suspicion, yet they show ethnic minorities being treated like everyone else. Comedy is now crap because they don't want to risk offending anyone. Inequality and racism are covered through the lens of critical race theory, rather than an objective manner.
News coverage is horribly biased. They way they've dealt with COVID-19 and the government's response just proves this. They've failed to adequately challenge the government's policies: lockdown, school closures, mask mandates etc. Perhaps they were right and necessary, maybe the BBC agreed with them, or perhaps they were an over-reaction, with greater harms, than benefits, but that's not the point. It was their duty as a public broadcaster to question policies which placed the greatest restrictions on our freedoms, during peacetime.
My TV license is due in spring, but I'm going to cancel it. They can fuck off. I'm not paying another penny to those evil cunts.
Gyro:
Firstly, to quote your own comment back at you...
--- Quote from: coppice on February 01, 2022, 09:07:01 pm ---.... The BBC used to be excellent, but we never watch it any more.....
--- End quote ---
If you never watch the BBC, then it seems that you are hardly qualified to be able to give an informed opinion on its output. Most of the output you do watch seems to be 10 years old and on other networks.
--- Quote ---It used to be that all the channels offered pretty good documentaries. ITV has never been quite as down market as most people remember. They are all pretty bad now.
--- End quote ---
You illustrate my point perfectly, The output of ITV and most other channels are governed by their investors and advertisers. They go for the lowest common denominator - soaps, game shows, 'reality TV' etc. The lowest effort and expenditure for the maximum financial return. The result - low end crap. A possible exception is the Channel 4 / Film4 etc umbrella, who do finance film projects, though not as much as they used to (they are relying on imported US shows and 'reality TV' more and more though). The BBC has none of these restrictions (other than the amount of money available from the license fee).
--- Quote ---BBC news, both its UK and World Service forms, are completely disconnected from reality. World Service TV was OK when it was launched, but it pretty dreadful now.
--- End quote ---
What about BBC World service Radio? You should maybe ask international readers to comment on the world service, there are many in more 'troubled' parts of the world who rely on listening to the World Service to find out what's actually happening in their own countries. In the worst countries, governments make listening to it a punishable offence! I suspect that the BBC probably has more foreign correspondents than any other news network.
With regard to news in general. The BBC represents that ideal of a state broadcaster that is owned by the whole population, not the government (how many around the world would, and do, die for such principles). It is an organisation that can, and does, hold to account the government, of whatever flavour (and even utility companies for polution etc.), without the bias of proprietors or advertisers (show me a newspaper that doesn't have a proprietor bias either). In these days of government spin and twitter output over integrity, it is an institution that we should defend at all costs. Yes, we would all like the licence fee to be lower, but it is a small price to pay for independence. The only flaw in the system is that the government can 'punish' it for telling the truth as Benta mentioned previously.
We typically watch a couple of hours of news and current affairs in the evening, the news at 6pm for UK and main international, and then over to the BBC news channel for Open Source to get a bit more in depth on the international situation.
These days far to many get their 'news' from clips social media, complete with all the hidden agendas, misinformation, and conspiracy theories, an then have the nerve to proclaim themselves knowledgable about what is happening in the world. That's how you suddenly get the mobs turning out.
--- Quote ---
--- Quote from: Gyro on February 01, 2022, 10:53:55 pm ---and actually quite a lot of really good drama series.
--- End quote ---
Not like there used to be. As I said before, I've watched a few older BBC made dramas on other services in the last couple of years. Really good stuff. All of it at least 10 years old.
--- End quote ---
Strongly disagree (both are good). That smacks of a 'kids of today' mentality. Also, who else other than the BBC makes decent Radio dramas.
[/quote]
--- Quote from: Gyro on February 01, 2022, 10:53:55 pm ---How else do you think they sell so many programs to other international broadcasters?
--- End quote ---
They do well in international sales with children's programs and natural history. You don't see as much BBC drama, comedy and other material around the world as you did in the 90s.
[/quote]
What evidence do you have for that? I understand that BBC world is quite popular in the US.
P.S. I forgot to mention the obvious one - no advertising or commercial breaks.
Gyro:
--- Quote from: Zero999 on February 02, 2022, 11:19:20 am ---More often than not, opinion is subjective, rather than right or wrong. Whether the BBC is any good or not is an objective opinion. It's not something you, or anyone else has the authority to determine as right, or wrong.
--- End quote ---
...but I agree, it is a subjective opinion at the end of the day.
daqq:
As a Slovakian, most of my exposure to BBC was via Doctor Who. Considering what atrocities they have committed to the show in the last few seasons, if a horde of rabid gerbils eats the place I'll laugh my head off.
VK3DRB:
I tend to agree. There are people I know who waste their lives watching TV when they could be designing an RF amplifier or writing a PID algorithm in C. What is wrong with them! :palm:
Seriously though, I do watch non-commercial news on the TV each night (Australian ABC TV). Hence I have a TV. The only crap I watch is a half hour show once per week... HardQuiz on the ABC, to chill out and have a few laughs... . I have not watched commercial TV for over 20 years and I feel I have missed nothing.
As for movies, I found modern American movies are generally very shallow, bug infested and aimed at the lowest common denominator. Bad acting, stupid plot. So I avoid modern American films. Hence I have no idea of what the famous celebrity actors and actresses look like. They don't make smart movies like 1964's Fail Safe anymore. I remember seeing an American SCI-FI movie at a cinema that had random beep noises sounding as data was being printed out on a screen. I walked out.
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