If you ask me, the entertainment industry is close to being bankrupt for original ideas, fresh stories and good entertainment. While there are some good and original productions coming through, these are being overshadowed by a flood of rubbish programs and repetitive shows that are coming through in even greater numbers.
So let me address some of the common entertainments and briefly look at the deficiencies that I see in many of them. In the coming weeks, I will be examining these subjects in greater detail and looking at some specific examples but, for now, I will keep it brief and general.
In recent years we have seen the rise of so-called ‘reality TV’ most of which is now so repetitive as to be totally mind numbingly boring. In addition, why do they call it reality TV when most of what they show is totally unrealistic and certainly not in line with actual reality? I, for one, am totally sick and tired of cooking shows and competitions, home improvement competitions, talent quests, singing competitions, tattoo shows, survival competitions, dancing competitions and a host of other, similar, programs. So many of these ‘reality’ shows use, essentially, the same format, the same dramas and, I am quite sure, the same scripts.
Yes, some of these ‘reality’ programs are scripted. Perhaps not in the same way as movies and TV series are scripted, but the ‘contestants’ are still instructed in how they will behave and what they will say and do. I have been told by one ex-contestant, of a popular cooking competition, that they were guided in their actions and speech, all the way through the series. Does that sound like a reality situation? Having said that, I actually hope that almost all ‘reality’ shows are scripted because I would hate to think that there are people out there that behave as some of these contestants and participants do, unless they are under instructions to do so.
When discussing movies, we are seeing more and more remakes of older movies and, while this has been successful in a couple of instances where the original movie was so old that the special effects and the acting were less than what we now expect, many of the remakes are much poorer movies than the originals. Today, directors seem to think that they can replace critical portions of the original script with nothing more than special effects and that we, the public, won’t notice the deficiencies in the story line. In a later post, I will be visiting some specific examples of movie remakes and comparing them to the originals.
What is the deal with all of the vampire, zombie and super-hero movies that are coming through now? I’ll be honest and admit that I have enjoyed some of these movies, and a little variety is always good, but a lot of repetition is extremely boring and depressing and that is where this genre is heading – too much of anything is always bad. The whole zombie thing is becoming one hell of a joke with US ammunition manufacturers even going so far as to marketing zombie ammunition! Does the US market believe that zombies are real?
In regards to TV programs; since the advent of cable and satellite TV, there has been a serious decline in the quality and standard of TV programs. It is a sad fact that, as we have more and more TV channels to choose from, we have less and less worthwhile programs to watch. I have sat in hotel rooms in Europe, the USA and Asia and flicked through as many as eighty (80) channels trying to find something that was educational, entertaining or original and, in the end, had to resign myself to an early bedtime for lack of anything worthwhile to watch. Australia is going the same way and there are times when I have gone from one channel to another looking for something that is at least reasonable to watch and come up empty handed and I refuse to watch rubbish just because it is the best available at that time.
Will I talk about soap operas? No, I don’t think so because I have never watched more than a few minutes of any soap opera to be able to comment fully. In addition, if you are a soapie addict then I think that you deserve the poor storylines, pathetic acting and rubbish scripts that make this genre what it is.
Stage productions and musicals are also going through a drought of ideas. We are seeing more and more musicals come to the stage and there are a lot of people going to see them, but many of these musicals are remakes of earlier musicals and we are also seeing more and more musical versions of existing movies and novels. When are we going to see some original musicals with fresh stories or ideas? At the rate we are going, we will soon be watching musicals like ‘Masterchef, The Musical’ or ‘Hannibal, The Musical’ or ‘Terminator, The Musical’! The theatres will probably counter my comments by saying that most musicals are fully booked out but is the public going to see these shows because they really want to see musical versions of well known and re-hashed stories or are they going because they want to see a musical and there are no other options? I strongly suspect that it is the latter reason.
I will leave my overall view of the entertainment industry there, for now, but will be revisiting many of these points in more detailed post in the near future.
(To be continued)
It seems to me all over the world this is the trend that’s what the public want, some of them anyway, the so called reality TV is big business for the people who produced these rubbish show. Example even the live musical nothing new, they keep coming with the same one every year, don’t get me wrong they are good but what about something new for a change. Getting back to the TV it’s depressing it’s getting worse, some people like those shows because their lives is a bit like the one on TV.
Yes, I think they mostly are devoid of fresh ideas.