It's Getting Easier to Turn Off the TV
(Originally written in 2001)
Used to be, parents had to tell their kids to turn off the TV and go out and experience the world. As it is, it looks like that admonition is becoming less necessary.
Although there are more channels on TV these days, without even mentioning cable, as an old pop song said, “99 channels and nothing on”. Ok, I’m not sure about the 99 part, but even with the influx of new stations, basically it's still the same old boring stuff. Boring talk shows and hosts, unfunny comedies and awful drama and dialogs. I don’t even watch ABS-CBN anymore; its hurting my brain.
Even the commercials are getting bad! Kids sitting on toilet bowls aren’t very appetizing when shown while your eating. Misleading lectures such as “Del Monte naturally has lycopene which MAY reduce the risk of CERTAIN cancers,” contain too many uncertainties (not mentioning that all processed tomato products have lycopene, even Hunt’s). Ads declaring nonsense catch phrases such as “Color is power”. In what sense? Also, does Extroderm work on legs? Why did the camera have to drag the focus on one of the girl’s legs? It's not new that many commercials contain sexual themes, but it doesn’t make it acceptable. And whoever said “[Ponkana ang] sikat sa Pinas”! There are too many advertising tricks that I can’t discuss all of them here.
And you can’t imagine my disappointment when they repealed the political ad ban. Even when the political ad ban was lifted, it was insulting to see Manny Villar’s publicity cheap shots, fronting the Filipinos need for Sipag and Tiyaga. D-uh! Tell us something we don’t know! And now that there is no ad ban, commercials pollute the airwaves with worthless one-liners and horrible jingles! (I’m glad they stopped playing the L-O-I song!) And these commercials hardly tell us anything anyway.
But it was also disappointing to see GMA protect one of its own, then host of Brigada Siete, Tito Sotto. Did anyone else notice on a special news report after the ouster of Estrada (I’m not sure if it was titled Saksi sa Kasaysayan when it was aired), that when they showed a summary of how the senators voted on opening the controversial envelope, they lowered the volume on Sotto’s vote, so the audience wouldn’t hear his “No”. Also, remember the acronym the people used to represent the eleven senators who voted no, using the initials of all of their last names? I think the acronym was JOSE COHORTS, where the last S represented Sotto. The camera scrolled down on a large poster containing this acronym, including whom each letter represented, showing every letter, except the last S.
And now, net 25, a station I believe is owned or supported by the Iglesia ni Cristo religion, has practically lambasted ABS-CBN and GMA, claiming bias against the Pro-Erap rallysts by the two networks. Of course, net 25 and DZEC would probably deny it, always saying that its all the caller’s opinions, but if you asked this viewer who watched their coverage, they’re the ones who are biased. A female host even responded to an “Anti-Erap” caller’s comments read on the air, even when the comments did not ask for her response, saying she has the right to respond because the comments were sent to their station. And yet they read comments from listeners against reporters from the other stations, blatantly saying Erwin Tulfo is a liar, and Mike Enriquez also, for saying that Arnold Clavio was “beaten up” (I don’t know the exact words he used), even though he really was. And they don’t respond to these! Is that not bias?!
Now of course, there are still shows that are worth watching. Shows that may even raise your IQ, instead of actually lowering it. We can just hope that more quality programs arise, and those that are stay that way, or else there will be less and less couch potatoes watching the boob tube. Then again, isn’t that a good thing?
Used to be, parents had to tell their kids to turn off the TV and go out and experience the world. As it is, it looks like that admonition is becoming less necessary.
Although there are more channels on TV these days, without even mentioning cable, as an old pop song said, “99 channels and nothing on”. Ok, I’m not sure about the 99 part, but even with the influx of new stations, basically it's still the same old boring stuff. Boring talk shows and hosts, unfunny comedies and awful drama and dialogs. I don’t even watch ABS-CBN anymore; its hurting my brain.
Even the commercials are getting bad! Kids sitting on toilet bowls aren’t very appetizing when shown while your eating. Misleading lectures such as “Del Monte naturally has lycopene which MAY reduce the risk of CERTAIN cancers,” contain too many uncertainties (not mentioning that all processed tomato products have lycopene, even Hunt’s). Ads declaring nonsense catch phrases such as “Color is power”. In what sense? Also, does Extroderm work on legs? Why did the camera have to drag the focus on one of the girl’s legs? It's not new that many commercials contain sexual themes, but it doesn’t make it acceptable. And whoever said “[Ponkana ang] sikat sa Pinas”! There are too many advertising tricks that I can’t discuss all of them here.
And you can’t imagine my disappointment when they repealed the political ad ban. Even when the political ad ban was lifted, it was insulting to see Manny Villar’s publicity cheap shots, fronting the Filipinos need for Sipag and Tiyaga. D-uh! Tell us something we don’t know! And now that there is no ad ban, commercials pollute the airwaves with worthless one-liners and horrible jingles! (I’m glad they stopped playing the L-O-I song!) And these commercials hardly tell us anything anyway.
But it was also disappointing to see GMA protect one of its own, then host of Brigada Siete, Tito Sotto. Did anyone else notice on a special news report after the ouster of Estrada (I’m not sure if it was titled Saksi sa Kasaysayan when it was aired), that when they showed a summary of how the senators voted on opening the controversial envelope, they lowered the volume on Sotto’s vote, so the audience wouldn’t hear his “No”. Also, remember the acronym the people used to represent the eleven senators who voted no, using the initials of all of their last names? I think the acronym was JOSE COHORTS, where the last S represented Sotto. The camera scrolled down on a large poster containing this acronym, including whom each letter represented, showing every letter, except the last S.
And now, net 25, a station I believe is owned or supported by the Iglesia ni Cristo religion, has practically lambasted ABS-CBN and GMA, claiming bias against the Pro-Erap rallysts by the two networks. Of course, net 25 and DZEC would probably deny it, always saying that its all the caller’s opinions, but if you asked this viewer who watched their coverage, they’re the ones who are biased. A female host even responded to an “Anti-Erap” caller’s comments read on the air, even when the comments did not ask for her response, saying she has the right to respond because the comments were sent to their station. And yet they read comments from listeners against reporters from the other stations, blatantly saying Erwin Tulfo is a liar, and Mike Enriquez also, for saying that Arnold Clavio was “beaten up” (I don’t know the exact words he used), even though he really was. And they don’t respond to these! Is that not bias?!
Now of course, there are still shows that are worth watching. Shows that may even raise your IQ, instead of actually lowering it. We can just hope that more quality programs arise, and those that are stay that way, or else there will be less and less couch potatoes watching the boob tube. Then again, isn’t that a good thing?
