Sunday 8th Feb: let the voting begin
Today most of us are swinging viewers, ready for a very long campaign that won't end until November.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
Television networks are a lot like political parties.
Some of us are very one-eyed in our preferences. Most viewers tend to lean towards one over another. We make judgements on them based on the way they do their business, not just the content they air.
Like good government, we all win when there is healthy opposition.
And just as Australians threw out a government that had been ruling too brashly, too long, so too have viewers seen an upheaval in ruling networks in the last two years.
Today most of us are swinging viewers, ready for a very long campaign that won’t end until November.
Shiny new shows are like election sweeteners, luring us to switch sides.
Some networks will kiss babies and offer all manner of incentives, only a fraction of which will ever become a reality. But we’re sceptical over how many election promises, also known as programming, are set to be broken.
If it’s all too overwhelming, you could always vote independent: SBS or ABC.
But if we get the government we deserve, then silent viewers probably help us get the television we deserve too.
6 Responses
Interesting analogy, David. Hopefully we do get “the government we deserve”.
The commercials are taxes which no-one mentions in their campaign as they know everyone hates them and thinks there are too many. You could become completely disillusioned with politics and emigrate to pay tv. The tax breaks are great and they don’t keep changing their policies every other day.
The healthy competition is not just from the commercial networks, ABC and SBS, and Pay TV…….
These are some of the shows I’ll be watching whilst the campaign for hearts and minds is on from the free tv commercials, Supernatural, Smallville, Crusoe, Sanctuary, Legend of the Seeker, Eureka, Battlestar Galactica, Merlin, Dollhouse, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Fringe, The Unit, 11th Hour, Caprica, Knight Rider and Heroes V4 Fugitives regardless of whether they make to AU TV or not and spread out til November. I care not for US or AU cop shows or comedies, although some AU comedies are passable, mostly on ABC1. Reality shows are out. On ABC Midsomer Murders, Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Miss Marple, Trial and Retribution, New Tricks (new series) etc. All that said, I will watch Sea Patrol on Nine but that’s about it for prime time AU free tv. All the staple ABC shows do it for me Einstein Factor, Collectors, New Inventors, Talking Heads, Four Corners Spicks and Specks to name a few . Who needs the free tv commercials, not me…
Or cast a donkey vote and watch PayTV 😛
Ah, the “campaign” never ends. It’s just that the size contest gets put on hold for the holidays.
Said it before, saying it again. There are no actual “winners” here. And the viewers are guaranteed to be the losers.
OzTam needs to be shut down.