Don't like being preached at in TV shows

[NutellaEllaElla]

Is it just me? Has it always been this way? There seems to be a moral to every story. Try not to judge my TV watching habits but i'm thinking Grey's Anatomy, The Good Doctor, New Amsterdam. There's probably more i'm not thinking of right now. Was it always so heavy handed on social issues?

@ElizaBenson

Greys anatomy is a shondaland programme, to be fair with those you know what you are getting, strong black characters, particularly black women, usually tons of sex and some strong messages, if you don't like her programmes there are plenty of others to watch, personally I love them (although sometimes the sheer amount of sex is boring...) maybe you just aren't the target audience and should try something else?

No, you don't understand. IT used to be like that, but the last series was literally whole episodes of lecturing with a vague storyline shoehorned into the remaining few minutes. They might as well been standing at lecturns fgs.

I totally agree. I'm a big Greys Anatomy fan, have watched it all, twice!
But the last 2 seasons have been awful for shoe horning in social issues with really poor writing. For example, when Owen was criticised for missing a diagnosis because the symptoms in Asian people meant it was more likely to be X and he didn't consider this. The implication being that he was racist. It was handled/written really badly - in previous season there would have been a much stronger story surrounding the issue - in this case the patient barely featured , there was no story, just a lecture.
Also when Maggie lectured Amelia about the invisbility of black girls in safeguarding - really important issue, handled terribly.

I'm not sure I'd watch it again if it stays like this, it's really tedious.

I also feel that Greys has got really heavy handed with the lecturing. And Station 19 is the worst. The writing is so bad, I don’t mind the moral woven through the story, but now they just talk to each other and lecture the audience that way, it’s infuriating. You have the young students telling the oldies all about non binary and how they mustn’t identify a patient as male or female. Apart from anything else it’s bloody relevant in a hospital ffs.

I’ve watched Greys since the start and I’m really tempted to stop because of it. Maybe they’ve got new writers? It’s really not as good as it used to be, they have always had social issues in it but it’s not bashed you over the head with it.

Just attempt to make me part with my cash via a nice advert for your product

Yes, they ignore the product completely and just preach. It's irritating

Agree. I'm a self-proclaimed Social Justice bore... but I hate the heavy-handed issue peddling. It helps nobody and just serves to annoy most people or make the rest think they're saving the world by watching telly!!!

That's the thing isn't it. It doesn't convert anyone. It either patronises the right-on or makes them feel self righteous. People who don't agree 1. Probably aren't watching and 2. Wouldn't change their mind anyway

It helps nobody and just serves to annoy most people or make the rest think they're saving the world by watching telly!!!

I was talking to a woman who told me she is a witch, she said she is inundated with young females wanting to be a witch also, she said most of them want to curse people, then said she doesn't teach that.

I guess people sat on the sofa feeling they are achieving some sort of utopia is preferable to groups of young women trying to do bad things to people.

@SunIsBehindGreySky

It helps nobody and just serves to annoy most people or make the rest think they're saving the world by watching telly!!!

I was talking to a woman who told me she is a witch, she said she is inundated with young females wanting to be a witch also, she said most of them want to curse people, then said she doesn't teach that.

I guess people sat on the sofa feeling they are achieving some sort of utopia is preferable to groups of young women trying to do bad things to people.

I'm a bit confused, are those the only options?

I completely agree OP. I spend all day professionally talking about "the big issues". I spent decades working in roles that heavily dealt with some awful issues. When I watch TV I want to watch something that allows me a moments respite.

I'm self aware enough to fully understand that my seemingly odd (to the outside world) love of specifically dystopia post apocalyptic zombie films is because , whilst I agree they are usually intended as a metaphor for social issues , I choose to watch them on a level that I can appreciate a world where choices become easy because they are life or death. A world where the stresses and norms of society distill down into a very simple choice of live or die.

Given that I spend my entire life navigating a neuro diverse family through " normal" and somewhat judgemental society , a break from that, life to be simple (if dangerous) is attractive.

Of course I don't really want the world to be in peril and zombies are so ridiculous that it's not a likely threat means I get a moment to imagine life without the convoluted stresses and strains of expectations, without the nagging concern it could actually happen.

If I wanted to moralise I would work, or study. When I watch TV I don't want to think about the real world. I don't actually watch anything else so its fairly obvious why I do.

Totally ridiculous to claim that anyone who uses TV as entertainment avoids anything moral and positive but given the username for the initial negative post I can guess why it was said.

Is this a new thing? I think it's always been around, hence why the "I guess we all learned something today" joke on South Park has been funny for 25 years.

New Amsterdam is no comparison to the great medical shows like ER and Greys (early seasons) and seems to be mainly about moralising. However I will give it two things. 1) It never pretended to be anything else. 2) It does try to explore issues, often the main character (very woke) ends up making things worse and realises there are things he hasn't considered.

The climate change advert with the overly smug kids.

I can barely watch law and order SVU. Very topical and not always well executed. It's not what I want from a TV show. I want to be able to switch off from it all.

I'm a bit confused, are those the only options? grin

Seems so, you are either some version of evil if you don't follow the Quazi religious acts of penance or be a great person because you believe, think and do things in the exact woke puritan way.

They demand you "be kind" in exactly a certain way including telling lies, don't travel unless walking in recycled shoes or on a bicycle, don't buy anything new, don't see anyone in person, spend half your day trying to repurpose everything you can, spend goodness knows how long reading an approved list of books to educate yourself, spend ages examining your self and be mindful of loving yourself only and nobody else, the you must love others more than yourself as they must be loved more than anyone else due to their special oppression points, then you have to work out where you sit on the hirarcy and check your privilege and spend a long time examining your bias, beat yourself up and then you must finally spend time watching screens being told off by the people on screen about how dreadful you are and how you must do what the people on screen are telling you to do as if they are the local Vicar or Tyrant. Then anyons who works for the state and gets compensation via salary and a pension is a living saint who is perfect and makes no mistakes and must be venerated as extra special, you have to get out the oil to massage their egos or they will be butt hurt feel a victum and moan how they are not appreciated.

or some kind of saint.

SunIsBehindGreySky I've never seen it explained so eloquently

I know my English isn't great, sorry.

I can't be doing with the double standards, conflicting and unreasonable demands.

As I said previously, I think there will end up some kind of Brexit backlash against all this millennium woke quazi religion.

Is this a new thing? I think it's always been around

There has always been preachy stuff (movies, books, etc)

But I don't recall a time when you would struggle to find entertainment that wasn't preachy.

As I said, I stick to cooking programmes, documentaries (as long as they are non preachy) or Youtubers that teach useful skills (gardening, carpentry, etc). That's it. The rest is mostly unwatchable.

*Dragonpox

I went right off doctor who for this. I just want scary monsters and lots of running around shakey sets. I don't want to be lectured every 10 minutes*

Same here. I want escapism please. I switch off at the first hint of moralising.

Programmes like A Place in the Sun seem safe for now.

I did a fiction-writing course last year and they called this issue-stuffing"editorialising". We were strongly warned against doing it. So I'm surprised TV writers are doing so much of it.

I blame Twitter.

Corrie seems to have become very Woke recently. It’s weird…

@Demelza82

Get a grip, anything vaguely moral and decent seems to amount to preaching according to people like you.

The irony of you having “morals and decency” by judging people in the swift way you did with this comment. Funny

We were strongly warned against doing it

Well, they are not following best practice, that's for sure

Not the most sophisticated of script writing. You'd think these major shows would be able to afford better writers!

[quote Lookingoutside]@limitedperiodonly

‘My friend worked for the Department of Health and they were always having meetings with scriptwriters to shoehorn in messages for the proles.’

The proles? Nice.[/quote]
You're quite right @Lookingoutside. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the producers, scriptwriters and some of the actors routinely regarded the viewers of EastEnders as proles to be lectured. Perhaps they still do.

My friend is a very kind person but she and other people in the Department Of Health could be patronising to people they felt needed guidance and education in matters of health or social views and felt they would be unable to grasp these important messages if they weren't disguised in their favourite telly programme.

They even used to win awards for this kind of insulting claptrap.

Then as now I feel enraged when I and others are regarded as lesser beings. It also makes for bloody boring TV. But I've learned that there is nothing I can do but get on with my life when people misunderstand me. Don't you feel the same?

I'd never heard of the word Prole before, just looked it up. Everyday's a school day

I've been re-watching things on Sky Atlantic. I really should try to claw back some money because they have not been investing in new drama. Covid, I suppose, but Rupert Murdoch has more money than me and I'm the one who's at home watching the the repeats.

On second viewing I've realised that almost everyone in The Sopranos from top down starting with Tony Soprano is an absolute shit. I make an exception for Artie's wife Charmaine, Tony B (Steve Buscemi), Dr Melfi and Furio (who is a ruthless killer with a terrible pony-tail but is quite kind). Bobby is also nice and doesn't want to kill anyone but does shoot someone in the buttocks. Even then it was a misguided favour.

But the creators of The Sopranos never lectured me. Like the creators of The Wire they encouraged me to draw my own conclusions. Like Omar Little (and I mourn Michael K Williams) a (wo)man must have a code.