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?

@TheChiefJo

There was always a little lesson at the end of Trapdoor. Berk (Willie Rushton) would sum up like 'don't throw away the things you've got or then you won't av em anymore'

I loved The Trapdoor. Such a brilliant children's programme and with a moral message without clubbing you over the head with it. Lots of children's programmes in the 1970s and 1980s were. My theory is that they were made by people who'd lived through the Second World War and wanted the world to be a better place. I am so glad you remember it too @TheChiefJo.

Generally this is how it's always been - from before TV when books were the general form of entertainment. Almost all have a lesson or a meaning or something to teach you

@limitedperiodonly

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.

Rupeet Murdoch doesn’t have any connection to Sky anymore, he sold it to Comcast.

Is that so @Fraine? That must be why Rupeet is not answering any of my calls.

It has become a bit like North Korea with compulsory propaganda in many TV shows. Hopefully sense will ultimately prevail.

Hopefully sense will ultimately prevail

Yes, let's hope so

@Xenia

It has become a bit like North Korea with compulsory propaganda in many TV shows. Hopefully sense will ultimately prevail.

Yeah, an environmental message in a TV show is exactly like living under an extreme fascist dictatorship. 🙄

@derxa

It's in everything

And all the messages are predictable, ticking all the right-on boxes.

@LoislovesStewie

I thought it was just me who thought that! YANBU!!! Sometimes I want to be just entertained, I mean just taken out of the everyday world, so I can escape, is that too much?

I also dislike the current trend of saying at the start 'this programme contains scenes some people might find upsetting', if you're that easily upset then don't watch a murder drama and so on.

Same with Radio 4. It's goes through phases were I just think, Oh God, not again, and turn it off.

I already worry about global warming and racism and social inequality, but I don't want a sodding sermon every time I tune in.

@wheresmyshoe

Even in The Archers today there was a hideous clunky inserted nudge (more like brick in the face) about why pregnant women should get the covid vaccine. I'm so very pro vax but I absolutely cringed at such a painfully obvious moralistic insert.

Godfrey Baseley had the idea in the 1950s of getting farming messages to farmers through a dramatic radio programme similar to Dick Barton and he was mocked that it would never work but he persisted and The Archers was born. It's really only continuing that tradition, I first heard of mob grazing, rewilding and a lot more on The Archers so it seems to be getting messages across.

YANBU at all - I’ve been complaining about that (especially new Amsterdam) to dh. We gave up on dr who because of the editorialising and completely shit writing!

Try snowpiercer, the 3%, lucifer…all great and less irritating by far!

@SunIsBehindGreySky

It's all a little like Afghanistan, loads of money raised and many working hard on the situation stays the same.

I remember back when "Do they know it's Christmas!" Came out I was told by older people that charities had been collecting for and working on the same reason back when they were small children and many of those people have died now and still these charities have not solved the problem, they don't seem to achieve much with all the resources they have had over the years, money thrown at them, how many of us had no Christmas gift to buy a goat for those less fortunate instead and so many volunteers including Prince William.

Where do you think all the despots, Mugabe et al, get all their bling from? Do we ever see any accounting of where all the aid goes, going back long before Live Aid?

Agree that Dr Who became unwatchable for exactly this reason.

That Worzel Gummidge adaptation from a couple of years ago was also preachy and also unwatchable.

@FlemCandango

Highway to Heaven, Littlest Hobo, Quantum Leap anyone remember those. Back in the 80s it felt like all US TV came with a side order of moralising, all flavoured with patriarchy, racism and rugged individualism. There were only a few channels so it was impossible to avoid. That was hard.

New Amsterdam forgot to include a compelling plot and interesting characterisation, Grey's Anatomy is ridiculous fluff and the Good Doctor list me with its one note portrayal of Autism. So the heavy moralising is not the main issue that puts me off those programmes. Shondaland lost all moral high ground imo when marital rape was whistled past in Bridgerton!

But Scott Bakula did it so well and still does on the Sci-Fi channel!

JudgeJ

I read recently that charities should make themselves redundant, yet here we are, the UN tell us a very bad world wide famine is coming and despite many generations trying to help the vulnerable, it's never the vulnerable who stop suffering.

I don't watch Countryfile, and I should be part of the target audience (not a farmer, but live rurally, interested in farming, gundogs, rural traditions, sheep, horses, etc). I watched it once and that was enough.

I know a retired farmer (a rare breed I know, they mostly continue till they drop) who cannot stand it.

Clarkson's Farm, on the other hand....

@YouTubeAddict

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

Just like every Salford backstreet has!

I don't watch Countryfile

Why do they let people other than real farmers write about and advise on how to accurately depict this group and the issues they face? There would be an outcry if any other cohort was treated with such disrespect

Well, the Guardian has handily told us who to blame for this phenomenon: www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/15/cake-mentioned-10-times-more-than-climate-change-on-uk-tv-report

Turns out it's Sandi Toksvig (ok, and some other people).

That Guardian article has to be a joke. They want to push for more brainwashing, not less

“It’s important we don’t tell anyone how to create anything and respect editorial independence,” she said, but added that albert was providing free education and support to empower the industry to make those creative decisions for themselves

LOL

When the audience have switched off, what then?

You're not imagining it, and yes, it's deeply irritating.

And it's not necessarily about whether we agree or not with the message in question. I am very pro environmentalism etc. but I watch a film as an artistic work or to escape. If I want to hear about the environment I can watch a documentary or a Ted talk, or turn on the news.

It also creates this "sameyness" where every film or TV show ends up feeling like every other film or TV show.

We need more stories that prioritise the most effective solutions, such as reducing flights we take, trying to eat a low-carbon diet, and using less energy within our homes

And we should be talking about inequalities in wealth that mean that some households, on all continents, consume much more than others

Channel 4’s Meat the Family, which tackled the environmental and ethical issues of livestock farming by pairing families with animals they could then choose to eat or not

Other gems mentioned by the Guardian article

You couldn't make it up