Good TV.....

... A thing of the past, it's sad really because not so long ago TV and movies used to be so much better, better characters, better dialogue and an intelligent storyline, now it's all about sex and violence. Don't get me wrong, these two aspects were always present but whereas they had relevance, now they are just placed in there for the sack of having violence and sex.

Tv shows used to be great, and it wasn't as if it was all that long ago, shows like Lost, Battlestar Galactica and Boston Legal to name but a few ended around  early 2000 to 2010, so not that long ago. I had a brief moment of hope when a show called The Mentalist started. It was a brilliant cop drama that had a good set of actors but above all a good story with excellent writers.

It centred around a character that suffered a tragedy, but that tragedy went on to long. Where it had a natural ending ( season three finale) they decided to drag it  out instead of innovating and coming up with a new story arc like The X-files, they just decided to extend it to the point of being ridiculous!

I grew up with shows like the X-files, where the show drew on actual events but moulded it to the show. They relied more on good dialogue between the characters rather then now where they will just distract you with fancy and unnecessary action scenes and nudity. Shows used to encourage the audience to think but now they do everything they can to prevent that, instead they try and encourage you to focuses on what they're wearing and who they're doing!

The X-Files like the Mentalist had a single tragedy that was driving the lead, but whereas The X-File went from strength to strength after they revealed what happened to Mulder's sister, The Mentalist missed the opportunity to try something new after Jane killed the serial killer: Red John and just became weaker and is insulting to anyone with half a brain cell! Not only that but it is unmemorable, I constantly forget what has happened in previous episodes, whereas before, we actual had discussions about the episode and where the story might take us, now I can't wait for it to end!

The general public has been systematical dumbed down by the media. And most of it is because now if show don't immediately do well they will be cancelled. And the way that they determine whether or not a show is doing well is by going by the "ratings", but that's not exactly the most accurate way to determine how well a show is doing. You cannot actually determine whether the person watches the entire show, how many people actually watch the show and you can not get an accurate result because you will never have enough information to conclude what the entire population is watching.

I have to a large extent actually stopped watching new shows and instead watch re-runs of Boston Legal or just dip into my box sets of The X-Files, BSG,Lost, Heroes and Due South. Shows used to have strong. Intelligent and witty story lines now they just have canned laughter or shows that lecture you like you're a child, which I find insulting. Show like Boston Legal and The X-File challenged the social norm and encouraged you to question things more, I miss that!!!