andrewducker | (no subject)

What's interesting, to me, is that the media we have now will never die.  Every year there are a few more pieces of art that are 'classics'.  And we'll always have those to watch/read/listen to/experience.

I have a season of West Wing, one of Six Feet Under, the complete Reginald Perrin, all of This Life and a whole host of other tv waiting to be watched.  Once the whole backlog of TV is available to us on a demand basis, there's almost no need to make any more.

There's no musical genre that someone somewhere isn't churning more out of.  Once something's been created it never dies.  Once you find your taste tribe(s) you'll never run out of recommendations.

Every year more and more art is produced that's a rehash of a previous style, less and less is produced that's in any way original.  Is this because we've explored most of the phase space of human experience?  Has everything from monobloc simplicity to stories so postmodern they seem to be pure static now been attempted?  Is all that's left finetuning?

Or will some other genre pop up next week that makes everyone wonder how we ever lived without it?

Something to look forward to, I guess.

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On a relatd note: I love that I can own, ostensibly forever, copies of the handful of TV shows that I'd actually want to watch again. But now that DVD players are getting cheaper and cheaper, companies are starting to cater to the lowest common denominator. Or perhaps I just feel that way because I'm a cultural snob.

I own box sets of The Prisoner, Angel, The Tick, Mr. Show, The Young Ones ... and I feel no shame in that. But really, am I any better than whoever it is that'll buy "Gilligan's Island: Season One" on DVD? (no, really -- http://tinyurl.com/yrdno )

Well, yes, actually, I am. Or so I'd like to believe.

Well, yes. And TV On Demand will make things even 'worse' as it makes pretty much the entire shitty history of television available to anyone who wants to see what terrible nonsense has been watched.

One man's sponge is another man's cup-cake, bub. Diversity is good, and should be celebrated. The same people you deride for watching what you class as "shitty television", probably think Babylon 5 is the biggest pile of muck yet filmed.

What I'm trying to say is, without people willing to take chances on different things in TV, half of the shows you now know and love wouldn't exist. There's room for everything - that's the beauty of digital media, and TV-on-demand. We can ALL watch our favourite shows, at the same time, without impacting on anyone else. Freedom of choice.

won't tv on demand make it better because you will only watch what you want to watch?

in fact i would have thought it more likely to reduce viewing spectrums to only what you have seen before. you wouldn't be able to channel surf onto a new gem by accident or watch things by accident. much more personal responsibility would be required in seeking out new territories. i feel that music is already like that.