The Idiot Box

I am getting more and more frustrated nowadays when I watch TV. In the middle of anything worthwhile, there are spans of 10 - 15 minutes when I am repeatedly told that my life is totally useless and not worth living, and the way to correct that is to buy so and so toothpaste or toothbrush or computer or bike or car or something like that.

I also get to know recently that one should take a vehicle loan because the neighbour has a better car. Also that some TV is superior because it has an image decoder (the users of other TVs interpret PAL waveforms). And at times I think that I am a fool not to use fairness creams when they guarantee instant success in whatever it is you want to do.

The opinion channels (some refer to them as news channels) have totally got out of hand, except maybe for BBC news. The hindi soaps make me weep, the marathi soaps (which I encounter because of my mom) make me cry and the various vote based competitions leave me wondering who benefits from them, the viewers or the telecom companies.

Luckily some channels are still worth watching. HBO, Star movies at times, Star World comedies, some sports coverage on ESPN and Star Sports and a couple of programs on Pogo. Animal planet and the discovery channel are also good I suspect, but I can't get myself to watch the hindi dubbed versions which is what I get.

All in all, the TV is fulfilling its description of an 'idiot box', whichever way you look at it.