First there were little ads in the corner of the screen for stuff when you watched a show. Than little banner ads along the bottom. Than that annoying dog barking at you for Anna Nicole’s show when you watched E! Now when you watch VH1, there is an ad that blocks half the screen. CUT IT OUT folks. I’ve had it. Remember when you used to watch TV and there was no station logo in the bottom right hand corner? Think back folks….. you can do it. Now that logo blocks captioning. You think they would know to shift the text left… but wait that would be blocked by an ad……
Come on Evil Bastard…. I need you to rant here on socialism, communism, and somethingism…. But wait you probably have the PBS Sprout Kids logo burned in the bottom right of your TV right about now 🙂
Well,
The best I can come up with is a formula I’ve used to avoid television’s commercial advertising.
I don’t have much time for entertainment. I have basic cable because I bundle my phone and Internet services with my cable provider and, for some reason, the whole package is $5 cheaper to have basic cable than no cable.
I use Netflix to rent DVDs and reference rottentomatoes.com to ensure that I get good movies when I rent them (I’m not confident in the user ratings on Netflix). We watch about 3 movies a week. So far, this forumla keeps ups from getting bored enough to turn on the tube and flip channels, as we’re likely to enjoy the dvds we rent.
As far as my 18 month old: she adores Blues Clues and Dora the Explorer. Compilation DVD’s of both of those shows are pretty cheap and, at her age, she can withstand seeing the same ones over and over. I figure these aren’t “bad” shows, as they’re educational — and have some catchy songs as well.
True, under communism, the state-controlled television would show educational, cultural, and political ad-free programming — however, you’d then probably get tired of the hammer and sickle logo on the screen. I remember hearing that another country (it was either France or Japan, can’t remember) with more socialized TV services mandated that all commercials air in a block of time — that way, they don’t interrupt programming and those who want to watch them still can.