No, seriously, WHY?
Whyyyyyyyyy????
I don’t have an answer, so if you’ve come here to get one then you are out of luck.
But honestly, is anyone else confused and angered and maybe even a little saddened by the sheer suckiness of daytime television? Because I can’t be the only one who’s had to settle for some weird programming.
I know that the majority of the world isn’t just lazing around watching TV all day, and I know most people work, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be some good stuff on. I know it’s a bad time slot, but what’s the harm in playing something decent?
In the summers, after the school semester ends and before I get a job, I watch TV….like, all day. So I get very familiar with what is on and what I want to watch. I end up watching random morning talk shows, random disturbing episodes of Law And Order (I don’t even care for that show!) and praying that I find something more exciting to do in the afternoon (lest I be condemned to watch episodes of Dr. Phil or Bar Rescue!). Sometimes I’d find re-runs of good sitcoms (Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother…), which would be great, but then I’d find that the same episodes were on during prime time as well, so I’d have to avoid them.
Would it be so terrible to show movies? Or multiple episode reruns of a good show? I don’t even care if it’s old. I’d watch Happy Days if it was on. But it’s not. Instead, there are infomercials, and not even the good ones*.
I mean, I guess it probably has to do with licensing and contracts and money. Perhaps the shows aren’t letting the channels play their good stuff during the not-so-good time? In which case, that’s very rude because I don’t see how it’d do any damage to the shows. In fact, I see it as ways to raise more interest in the shows so when new episodes are on during prime time, they may get more viewers.
I guess the good news about sucky daytime TV is that it does motivate its viewers to go be more productive. Go apply for that job, go write that article, go breathe that fresh air…
But let’s not forget that there are some people who have nothing better to do than watch daytime TV. I’ve compiled a list of people who are perfectly allowed to do so and are unfortunately plagued with junk.
- People who work the night shift
- Ladies on mat-leave
- Stay at home moms
- Stay at home dads
- Writers/authors
- People who work from home
- Students with spaced out schedules
- Kids on PA days
- People on house arrest
- Someone getting over an injury/sickness/surgery
- The unemployed
- Rich CEOs who don’t have to go to work if they don’t want to
- People who take the day off/people on vacations
- Retired people
See? Look at all those people who TV companies are choosing not to make happy.
Hopefully, daytime TV will get better. The TV industry is always growing, and hopefully we’ll get more and more high quality shows on at all times.
It’s no wonder that Netflix is so popular. Netflix gives you the good stuff 24/7.
Leave a comment and tell me:
- How bothered are you by the quality of daytime programming? (if you’re not, that’s okay, tell me that too!)
- What’s the dumbest thing you’ve watched on daytime TV? (for me, it’d be this weird TLC documentary about this poor kid in India who had extra limbs protruding from his stomach and half the village worshipped him and the other half thought it was satanic).
* “the good ones” being: The Shamwow, The Shticky, The Slap-chop, The Magic Bullet, The Bullet Express, The Shark Vacuum, and a select few others.
P.S. If for some reason you’ve read this exact post before on the internet, I actually wrote it for a blogging course I took last year in university, so it’s all my own words, I’m just reposting it on my real blog!
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Coolbeans4 
How bothered are you by the quality of daytime programming? – When I was in high school I would always watch MTV and the movie channel. In the morning I would watch music video’s and that’s it. If I was sick then I would watch TNT in the morning because they showed 2 episodes of Charmed and then 2 episodes of Supernatural. I would normally try my best to watch Charmed and then drift in and out of sleep when Supernatural was on. Also the Maury show and Law & Order make for day time TV.
What’s the dumbest thing you’ve watched on daytime TV? – It was something on the Oxygen channel on women who were giving up their baby. One woman was contemplating giving her baby up for adoption because she got pregnant due to her one night stand when her boyfriend broke up with her.(Something along those lines, I really don’t remember) They got back together a month or two later and she found out she was pregnant. I thought the premise was dumb, I think it was called “You’re Having Their Baby”. I though it was a weird thing to broadcast.
Funny thing though, when I worked the night shift I actually stopped watching TV. I worked 3 pm – 12 am, and from 1 am till 5 am I played xbox, then I slept, and yeah. I think what’s on TV is fine, granted it’s been years since I’ve watched it though.
At least you found things to watch then! I think the quality has likely gotten worse in recent years due to Netflix’s availability.
I can’t imagine not watching TV for years though! I’m too addicted now to ever stop!
Please, please go into the television industry. You have such great points. I don’t watch a lot of tv, but if I did I would definitely be frustrated too.
That’s my dream! I have so many ideas to make TV so much better!
Totally agree with this. Syndication is the death of many a TV fan’s passion. At first, I appreciated that the shows I often missed during primetime (because of kids being sick or needing help with homework or that chorus concert, etc.) were on again, and I wouldn’t be way behind. But, after seeing the same exact episodes rerun so constantly, I’ve definitely decided I would much rather just watch movies or play music. My toddler is even growing tired of the insistent reruns of his fave programs.
To a point, it does have to do more with money than anything else, and the rise of Netflix, etc. in recent years does create money concerns for traditional venues like the cable networks and public broadcasting. But I do really envy the days (not all that long ago, either!) of things like “Mister Ed” or “Quantum Leap” being on at 3 p.m. on that snowday/flu day/migraine day. Yeah, you can find tons of cancelled TV shows on DVD now – but what about those of us who can’t shell out hundreds of bucks every year to get new boxed sets?
I don’t think TV broadcasting will ever completely go away, but I do think the cable industry as a whole needs a big revamp. We could do much better with 25 channels of quality viewing, rather than 250 of mostly ridiculousness.
My mother always rolls her eyes after I scroll through 300 channels then proclaim “There’s nothing to watch!”
Like I said, I’m not even asking for brand new shows to rerun during the day, I’m just asking for something other than talk shows or hour long infomercials.
Change is definitely needed!
It’s true, though, that “nothing” is on – nothing worth watching!
Yeah….but then I just lower my standards and go through all 300 channels again.
Ha! Hang in there, don’t let the establishment drag you down. 😉
I used to watch that H2O Mop informercial whenever it was onand it became kind of a joke in our house.
Hahaha I don’t remember that one but I totally just went and watched it on YouTube. My brother and I always got a kick out of the Magic Bullet ones because there was a literal plot to those infomercials.
The struggle! I honestly don’t know why there aren’t good tv shows over the day. Very relatable post!
Thank you! The struggle is #REAL!
I’m extremely bothered by daytime TV. When I have the flu and have nothing to do all day but watch TV, I get very bored and switch to a sports channel giving a recap of last week’s game. Now I work from home a lot and during lunch breaks I like to eat in front of the TV. Instead of decompressing, I’m annoyed at the TV.
The dumbest thing I ever watched was one of those talk shows about “who’s your baby’s daddy?”
I’m glad you feel my anger. I don’t even like sports so recaps and highlights of those aren’t even an option for me!
Those baby daddy shows are so repetitive and trashy.
1/2 Like you I know daytime TV stinks, so I avoid it and play video games, read blogs, and listen to podcasts. When I was younger and got sick and was home from school I’d watch The Price is Right with Bob Barker, daytime Red Sox games if they were in season, and Cartoons. Now it’s mostly just Judge shows and Soap Operas. I hate the show Judge Judy and that’s the one show my mom watches on repeat.
I mostly watch the Food Network and The Chew. The Chew is like a Mom show, but I enjoy it. I can watch Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives until my eyes bleed.
Judge Judy is alright, but watching more than a few episodes can get boring.
I’m not a foodie at all so I don’t watch many Food Network shows, no matter how many times my brother will try to convince me that Diners, Drive In & Dives is worth watching. I can only take so much Guy Fieri!
Your brother is a wise man.
I’ll be sure to not tell him that.
Lol, I only saw a few of those, but they were quite interesting. i was ill a lot as a kid so watched schools TV in the morning if I was well enough. After lunch i could watch a programme called ‘Crown Court’ probably a Thames TV programme on the independent channel, back when we only had three TV stations. Although that was dramatised but quite realistic and based on fact. Much more interesting than modern TV dramas but it had none of the flannel and ‘sexing it up’ of today’s stuff. It had a bit of ‘Hammer House of Horrors’ atmosphere to the stories though! and it’s next week for review stuff at BW, I read the sidebar wrong again! Today it’s 100 word stories! Apols!
Okay so 1st: yours are first world problems. I think of all the people who work multiple jobs just to scrape by or those who have significant issues to deal with. Secondly, you have a great sense of humor! Also I think that it’s too expensive to run quality programs in the daytime because sponsors won’t but ad time, knowing the audience numbers are very low.
I agree that daytime viewing is pathetic but there is a lot of prime time stuff that is awful too. Need I mention TLC; The Loser Chanel, or that FX one?
I love a lot of shows on TV but when they’re not on I use the time to read, or to just pursue something more mindful and overall healthy. It would be refreshing though if you and your humour and opinions could influence daytime TV programming someday, at least for one channel or network.
At least in prime time, there’s so much more good stuff that no one even notices the junk (though TLC is not always junk!)
yo! LOL 😀 don’t y’wish y’could make a text-based emoticon as cheesey as all those repeats! i’d love to be experiencing blogfest with my old PYE rambler hooked up to my VM box bu that’s packed up in the useless stuff drawer cos it only looked good for having as a clock. I mean really, they tell me my TV package is ‘free’ while I have to pay a ‘high definition’ charge and apparently my subscription is super-souped low enough price already! Man! I even had to switch java off my browser cos websites auto-playing beeb content renders me liable to a £1k fine! I don’t need a licence with no TV. Can’t risk free channels from my box when it skips through license-fee content. The rest of the world can watch beeb stuff online but I’d get a killer charge for it! This is drifting, I know, so back to telly! I gotta box or two or more of stuff on VHS I might never have got round to watching and a handful of DVD back-ups from the hard-drive recorder we bought just before I dumped the family home & Homer was welcome to all that cos I still not got round to those tapes while my eyes burn out enough without telly! and i do still have an old set(s) with a scart so I could laze about with telly if only… but then I never could ‘just watch TV’ and mostly could only pay attention if taking notes for some useless purpose or drawing along to it or whatever. My dad’d despair of me and so did my old man: “you’re not even watching it!” Doh! Never mind! I’d love Happy Days on in the background too… and ‘I Love Lucy’ or whatever it was cold. Oh, them were the days… I do dread those final moments tho’ as your wHOLE life drags by before your eyes and… you watched HOW much googlebox? Crikey, that lifetime flying by before you can slope off would take ages for all our generations! I don’t know whether to dread it, or to look forward to the replays… Zorro… Red Hand Gang… Monkey… Sesame Street even! maybe even especially! Hey, you linking up at BW for the Friday thing? Cos I don’t wanna keep floodin’ …! cheers, cUsoon 🙂
This is such a British comment!!!
Europe’s TV system and laws are different so I’m not even qualified to comment on the quality of that daytime programming, but I’m guessing it’s also garbage.
There hasn’t been much activity on BW so I don’t visit as much…what are you referring to?
Soz, I forget I’m an oldie in comparison: Friday features next week is film/tv review, i got days muddled and thought it was today. Admin team has very small time now with success of their developing projects – but at least they’re still sticking with essential stuff for now until anyone with time and ability enough steps up. i’m no good at succinct! i can remove some of my garble from these comments if better for ur post – or u can delete all/any urself and i won’t be offended cos i take ages remembering to just do it and gotta dash…oops!
1. I’m bothered, but for two reasons: the first being it’s generally trash tv, but the second is that it reminds me I need more of that whole employment thing.
2. When I was at school, I’d somehow gotten into watching this daft show during the holidays about ‘celebs’ undergoing regression therapy into their past lives. It even sounds terrible to say and I thought it was so dumb, but then I was also really annoyed that school started back up, it was complex.
Haha we all get attached to some dumb show at some point! They make them so we can’t help but fall into the trap!
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I really do not watch daytime TV all that much anymore; I used to when I was young, but now I don’t anymore…I am just too darn busy doing other things nowadays, such as finding a job and writing drafts for my blog!-JW
I, too, don’t watch much now either…only when school is out for the summer and I haven’t yet found a job.
I don’t have cable so I’m stuck with the major networks. What absolute garbage!!! If I sit too long in front of the today show, Strahan/Sara/Keke, Wendy Williams, Rachael Ray, and Ellen – I can feel brain cells dying by the thousands. I swear watching daytime network television actually makes people dumb (or dumber). It is just non-stop sensationalism that is developed to emotionally manipulate people into thinking and/or feeling a particular way about something. Most segments you can ask a simple question, what is the purpose of this segment? You will find informing or educating is likely at the bottom of the list. Making you happy, sad, angry, romantic, or some other emotion is clearly the goal.
I opt for PBS or Create and watch shows on cooking and traveling. Or, old sitcoms on METV or AntennaTV. Or, I watch nothing at all and play video games and/or go for a walk instead.
Do yourself a favor folks. Turn off sensationalistic/emotionally manipulate programming designed to tell you what to think and/or how to feel. Think/Feel how you want, not how somebody else tells you to.
Sometimes talk shows or the nonsense can be fun and a good escape. I don’t care to be educated from TV and I don’t turn to Ellen to get educated, obviously, so I’m not too bothered by the fact that education is at the bottom of their lists. But you’re right that there is a point where we have to turn it off and do something more productive because as much as silly TV can be an escape, it shouldn’t be the only escape.