TV,what's the attraction anyway ?

[EdgeleyRob]

With the exception of football or music it's all a .
Wouldn't you rather be listening to music ?

[teamsaint]

With the exception of football or music it's all a .
Wouldn't you rather be listening to music ?

mostly , yes. In general, can't be bothered with trawling all those schedules for the odd gem, and wasting my time on vacuous nonsense.

I need a TV personal shopper I think.

[Anna]

I watch television mainly to be a) entertained and b) educated (the latter sounds terribly worthy doesn't it? ) I'm selective about what I watch which is mainly drama and factual. I cannot for the life of me see what is attractive about reality shows - or are they now called semi-staged reality? There really is a load of dross on some of the channels, C4 and C5 in particular but I think the BBC is good value for money. This week so far I've watched Wolf Hall, William Tyndale, Last Tango, and the second half of Shoah.

[ardcarp]

it's all a

..literally in my case. Having recorded the riveting programme I really want to watch (usually broadcast around 9pm) I invariably fall asleep in front of it. So the attraction of TV is mainly as a soporific,

[bb]

There is some evidence that high end television may be catching up with cinema, although it does beg the question, what will happen to radio, and in particular, radio drama? It does not attract the audiences, nor the investment, nor the tax relief, that are available to film, television, animation, even video games.

BFI - New BFI stats show record year for UK film in 2014

Whoever wins a BAFTA this weekend, has anyone reading the Radio 3 Forum even heard of, let alone listened to any of the winners of this week's BBC Audio Drama Awards?

Best original audio drama (Single play)

Everything, Nothing, Harvey Keitel written and produced by Pejk Malinovski, a Falling Tree production for Radio 3

Best audio drama (Series or Serial):

Ambiguous Loss, written by Michael Butt, produced by Toby Swift, a BBC Radio Drama London production for Radio 4

Best audio drama (Adaptation):

Come to Grief, written and dramatized by Hannah Vincent and produced by Gordon House, a Sweet Talk production for Radio 4

Best actor in an audio drama:

Ian McKellen in Eugenie Grandet, dramatised by Rose Tremain and produced by Gordon House, a Goldhawk Essential production for Radio 4

Best actress in an audio drama:

Aisling Loftus in Educator, written by Hayley Squires and produced by Helen Perry, a BBC Radio Drama London production for Radio 3

Best supporting actor or actress in an audio drama:

Michelle Terry in Educator, written by Hayley Squires and produced by Helen Perry, a BBC Radio Drama London production for Radio 3

Outstanding contribution award:

Neil Gaiman

Lifetime achievement Award:

Stanley Baxter

Best debut performance in an audio drama:

Jade Matthew in A Kidnapping, written by Andy Mulligan and produced by John Dryden and Nadir Khan, a Goldhawk Essential production for Radio 4

Best use of sound in an audio drama:

The Boy at the Back, sound by Steve Bond, written by Juan Mayorga and produced by Nicolas Jackson, an Afonica Sound production for Radio 3

Best scripted comedy drama:

Lunch, written by Jon Canter, produced by Sally Avens, a BBC Radio Drama London production for Radio 4

Best scripted comedy with a studio audience: John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme, written by John Finnemore, produced by Ed Morrish, a BBC Radio Comedy for Radio 4

Best online or non-broadcast audio drama: Hood - The Scribe of Sherwood, written by Iain Meadows, produced by Spiteful Puppet Entertainment

Imison Award for best script by a new writer:

How to Say Goodbye Properly by EV Crowe

Tinniswood Radio Drama Award for best radio drama script:

Goodbye by Morwenna Banks

BBC News - Ian McKellen, Neil Gaiman win at BBC Audio Drama Awards

[Petrushka]

I rarely have time or the inclination to watch television and, apart from the horse racing on C4 every Saturday afternoon, the occasional documentary and the Proms I hardly watch it. I'm always mystified when listening to the chatter in the office how they talk about what they watched on television the night before then proceed to call it all a lot of rubbish! What's the point of that?

Following all the praise on here and elsewhere I decided to watch Wolf Hall but got bored witless after ten minutes and switched off. Life's too short.

[jayne lee wilson]

Oh, I wish you hadn't said that about the great Wolf Hall, Pet... as I said, my default is usually "I don't do costume drama"... but Wolf Hall is a televisual masterpiece of subtlety, intensity and understatement, in every way - scripting, directing, gorgeous cinematography, acting. But suddenly it can cut to the quick. Last Night's episode (3) was astonishing as individual stories begin to find their collective focus, and we see the first victim of a brutal religious & political time going to the stake...

There's been nothing approaching its excellence for years. No wonder my (and many others) usual TV diet is sport, films, current affairs...

[gurnemanz]

If the question is posed, then I suppose the blatantly obvious answer is that the attraction of TV is the opportunity to use of pictures to support the point you are making or the story you are telling. Hence I watch sport, news, current affairs, films, natural history, science stuff, artist profiles, historical documentaries, (+ University Challenge). I grew up with Frostie's TW3 in the 60s and there is still some satire around - new Rory Bremner show, Charlie Brooker, Have I Got News, Mock the Week etc.

At its best, TV is a window on the world from your living room sofa. We have satellite dish and can watch international channels free-to-air on Astra - German TV has a lot of classical music with frequent complete operas there. Just to refer to one current programme we are watching: The ex-paratrooper Walking the Nile on Ch 4 has been a great experience - a proper challenge set against a striking natural backdrop but including fascinating cultural, anthropological and political insights along the way.

There is generally little worth watching before 9 pm. The attraction of talent shows, competitive cooking, sewing, gardening etc eludes me. Likewise, watching people sell antiques or buy a house.

[kernelbogey]

By a long chalk I have lived more without a television than with. I have just bought one last month - at the moment still in its box! - for the reasons cited above: the occasional superlative drama series (e.g. see Spiral thread), science, history, concerts and opera etc. When I've unpacked and installed it I may post again...

[Richard Tarleton]

I'm probably at odds with most in bitterly resenting every penny of my license fee handed over to the likes of the Premier League - any sport in fact. I'd like to see it all on pay to view, and the money spent on

gurnemanz

news, current affairs, films, natural history, science stuff, artist profiles, historical documentaries, (+ University Challenge).

and commissioning quality drama.

It's even worse in Wales, where the regular BBC1 or 2 schedule is frequently dumped for a village pump rugby match which anyone with an interest in is probably at (hope Anna's not reading this). Fortunately with satellite it's possible to watch the scheduled programme from another part of the UK, if desired.

I would just add blokes doing infantile things with cars to gurnemanz's list of programmes the appeal of which eludes me. And as for property - the article by Richard Morrison that I quoted on another thread worked out that there were 16 hours a week of programmes about people buying houses.

[eighthobstruction]

RT, I guess you mean gurnemanz's third paragraph when you refer to his list....otherwise he seemed to be quite happy with his list in para one....as am I generally....

Yes, dreadful service most generally on the Welsh channels ( I cannot believe it is what most welsh want, let alone the vast numbers of oftcomer ex pats.....)....

[richardfinegold]

With the exception of football or music it's all a .
Wouldn't you rather be listening to music ?

I reached that conclusion in my teens. I recently dumped our cable service because we weren't watching any of it and I am now saving over $1000 a year by doing so. Most of the shows I do want to watch are on our Public TV stations (usually BBC fare). For $10/month we have a Netflix app and occassionally watch something from there.
My first wife came from a family that was addicted to T.V. Her parents had TVs in every bathroom so they wouldn't miss a minute. As the years went by my ex became more like them. She could only fall asleep if the TV was on and for me it was like being waterboarded. When she fell asleep I would turn it off and half the time she would awake and put it back on. I started sleeping in other parts of the house.
My second wife watches about 3 hours a week and is appalled by the notion of a TV in the bedroom. Recently her father passed away from Cancer. She took time off to care for him in his home. She is a Nurse and many of the more onerous parts of that duty didn't bother her, but what she couldn't handle was the fact that he wanted to have the TV on all night while she slept at his bedside

[kernelbogey]

Update:

By a long chalk I have lived more without a television than with. I have just bought one last month - at the moment still in its box! - for the reasons cited above: the occasional superlative drama series (e.g. see Spiral thread), science, history, concerts and opera etc. When I've unpacked and installed it I may post again...

The tele is out of the box, (cf genies, et al ), and I've played around with it but not yet watched anything all the way through. I'm simply staggered by the number of channels I can receive (tv jewellery shopping in the early hours, anyone?) and the rubbish thereon.

I've heard, on the other hand, many good things about Channel Four News, for example, and look forward to sampling that. The '+1', '+3' channels look a useful tool.

It's intriguing to listen to R3 via this bit of kit - the sound's not too good, no doubt because of speaker size, and I'll see if I can hook it up to the amplifier etc, which no doubt simply requires reading instructions + patience + time! I shall have to find out how to turn of the b****y beeps every time I push a button on the handset: I've managed to find out how to stop the irritating screen saver that wobbles about when on audio only.

I'm looking forward to setting up the Broadband connection, which I haven't yet done - it's a 'smart' tv (who knew? ) - and to be able to watch concerts and other programmes via iPlayer at a time that suits me.

I'm mostly interested, however, in watching films on it - whether on terrestrial broadcast or, more likely, playing DVDs.

[gamba]

I have finished altogether with TV, yes, even music. Especially music, constant camera movement, zooming, tracking, panning, they never stop. CLose-ups of parts of people & their instruments, never stopping, always on the move.

Also, the constant use of music, of sorts, as background to EVERYTHiNG that is shown.

I've had my fill of TV, I'm learning to read again & am gaining unbounded pleasure from ' Hamlet '

Next will be, ' Alice in Wonderland '

Bye all, gamb

[richardfinegold]

I have finished altogether with TV.

Congratulations!