Lowest Common Denominator

I have written about this before, and this is another go at it. Appealing to the ignorant and weak of taste may be profitable in our private enterprise system, but it has produced a lot of lousy programming. Alluring news headlines, movies, TV programming and so much more has cheapened our public relationships. A democracy needs much better fare if we are to understand the world around us and thrive.

This flashes through my mind every time I search for a decent movie or TV program while on streaming services. Netflix has thousands of programs to choose from. Time consuming if you do a decent job of searching. Clearly the market is geared toward millennials who have less experience to make keen decisions. That frustrates older viewers unless they care to learn what their grandkids are thinking. But then again, we were once young and sexiness was a thing for us, too. Hard to imagine, perhaps, but then again…

Action movies seem to be popular things, but I truly cannot stand zombie flicks, or thinly plotted cops and robbers' stories. No, I seek something with more factual or historical content. Intellectual food is good stuff to me, but there is so very little of it available. Documentaries are interesting and educational. In time, however, the whole person needs and wants lighter fare. A good love story with interesting tales appended is a good option. A tale of any sort that works in serious art forms and music is attractive. A series that investigates a fresh perspective on an old story is always of interest and worthy of my time.

But just try to select those out of the cruddy stuff. Very time consuming. Eventually the good stuff becomes visible when trusted parties write reviews of good programs making our jobs a bit easier.

Of course, there are always books to read. Favorite authors help narrow our search. Book reviews help as well. When genres get too familiar and boring, you can always switch to another one to pique interest. Besides, reading doesn’t involve ads every 12 minutes.

Having abandoned cable TV, we are refreshed by eliminating most ads. We have also eliminated annoying news programs that rarely provide fresh information or researched information. That function is left to our disciplined consumption of internet news sources.

Still, one would hope that worthy programming was easier to spot on streaming sites. Maybe in time. I'm not holding my breath.

October 25, 2022

 

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