My worst fears about the future of broadcast television are coming true - the networks are concentrating more on their paid streaming services than their traditional over-the-air broadcasts. Not really a surprise, I suppose and I have nothing against streaming.
But to lose a source of often pretty decent programming that's free - other than the price of your TV, it costs you nothing to watch - is distressing. So yes, I'm old fashioned. But I'm also something else - cheap! To dilute a system that's lasted for around 70 years and turned out some true classic entertainment, is, in my mind, not only the price of progress but a true tragedy. Free TV isn't gone, but you can see it disappearing in front of your eyes. At least you don't have to pay for the privilege.
The upcoming cheap game shows, reality garbage, and pseudo crime documentaries will never take the place of shows like Hill St. Blues, Taxi, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, M*A*S*H, St. Elsewhere, Friends, and hundreds more that graced your screen gratis over the years. Not to mention All In The Family, which changed TV forever.
Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News, at the link below, looks at what the major networks are offering this fall, and concludes there's not going to be much to see. What happens when the current batch of good shows remaining become too expensive or run their course? Will they replace "FBI" or "Law & Order" with "Bowling For Dollars - the Prime Time Edition" because it's cheap to make?
My guess is yes, and we will be poorer when it happens. Not only poorer for less free choice, but poorer because the good stuff will inevitably be on a pay-only streaming service.
As much as I like having the new choice, I'm really going to miss the old TV system. If the warning bells have been ringing on this for a while, it looks like this coming season will be when it could finally enter its death throes. If you can hear it between all the reality crap.
Based on the description in the article, never have I looked forward to a new Fall season less.
Alan Pergament: Except for CBS, broadcast networks wave white flag this fall with few scripted series
Shorty Wave wrote:
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