riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (11/21/84)
I know nothing about the organization and have yet to receive any of their
literature, but the other day I saw a small ad in an obscure magazine for a
group called:
Society for the Eradication of Television (S.E.T.)
Box 1124
Albuquerque, NM 87103
Just a pointer for those who might be interested...
--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddlesteiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny) (11/26/84)
** > I know nothing about the organization and have yet to receive any of their > literature, but the other day I saw a small ad in an obscure magazine for a > group called: > > Society for the Eradication of Television (S.E.T.) > Box 1124 > Albuquerque, NM 87103 > > Just a pointer for those who might be interested... > There is a good book on the subject: Four Arguments for The Elimination of Television, by Jerry Mander Let's start a big argument about television. I think we would need "net.no.tv" (maybe net.religion - is Sunday football a religion? :-)), because net.tv has a lot of stuff about television and to be interested in that group, you would have to actually watch television. I believe that the value of television starts at zero and decends. At best it is a waste of time, and that's its BEST feature. It also has many many bad features. -- scc!steiny Don Steiny - Personetics @ (408) 425-0382 109 Torrey Pine Terr. Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060 ihnp4!pesnta -\ fortune!idsvax -> scc!steiny ucbvax!twg -/
canopus@amdahl.UUCP (Flaming Asteroid) (11/27/84)
> Let's start a big argument about television. [...] > > I believe that the value of television starts at zero and > decends. At best it is a waste of time, and that's its > BEST feature. It also has many many bad features. What???? You consider ``Laverne and Shirley'' a waste of time??? [:-)] Seriously, I agree that the majority of network programming IS a waste, not only of time but also of good magnetic tape. On the other hand, there are some reasonably good shows, like NOVA, or WILD WORLD of ANIMALS, etc that I find enlightening, entertaining, and enjoyable. How many of us have the wherewithall to travel to some of these exotic places to see them firsthand? TV provides us the opportunity to experience these things and places. Occasionally TV has some interesting current events coverage, and investigative journalism. Some of the 60 MINUTES episodes have been very informative (though I miss Shana and Jack). And on the lighter side, some good comedy can be found: Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, Bob Newhart (I think these three are all, though). Finally, both my daughters have learned much from shows like Sesame Street and the Muppets. The biggest thing we have taught both our kids, though, is to turn the dam thing off if they have something better to do, which is usually the case! I guess TV wouldn't be half-bad, then, if one could put a filter on it to bypass ABC, NBC, and CBS. A final disturbing note: I find the commercials are becoming more interesting than the shows they are sponsoring [gag]. -- Frank Dibbell (408-746-6493) ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,amd,nsc}!amdahl!canopus [The views expressed herein are not necessarily the views of my employer, or myself, for that matter]
marie@harvard.ARPA (Marie Desjardins) (11/28/84)
What's wrong with something that's a waste of time? As long as you know it's a waste of time... Most novels are a waste of time, but I enjoy reading them. I don't consider news shows to be a waste of time (although I know that some people do). I don't have time to read the newspaper (and, to tell the truth, I generally find it boring). I do read Newsweek, but that's only weekly, so I watch the daily news when I can. Public TV can be (and often is) very informative -- for example, "The Brain" (a weekly series on PBS) is really interesting. Also, there are some good kids' shows (Sesame Street, Electric Company, wildlife shows, etc. etc.) However, I think that tv (in addition to fulfilling, at least to some extent, the role of educator) is there for entertainment. I find some shows entertaining (in particular, I happen to like Kate & Allie, Cagney & Lacey, Cheers, Hill Street Blues, and the Johnny Carson Show). I watch them because they make me laugh. I watch old Brady Bunch shows because they remind me of when I was a little kid (I also had a large family, although we fought a lot more than the Brady Bunch did!) and they make me laugh. So I don't think we should ban TV just yet. (Maybe if they ever take Brady Bunch reruns off, we should consider it. :-)) Marie desJardins marie@harvard
dht@druri.UUCP (Davis Tucker) (11/28/84)
I don't BELIEVE it! Don't give me that "NOVA is good, Jock Coostow is okay" dreck! TV is trash! Okay, so what? It's SUPPOSED to be trash! Every closet pseudo-intellectual commie-hippie-pinko-dope-fiend just loves to crawl out from under his or her rock and grab a borrowed flamethrower whenever this subject comes up... TV IS OK! If it's good enough for Sir John Gielgud, it's good enough for all you Masterbore Theater (no "re" in America, bud) simps. What's so bad about mindless entertainment! Read a book if you want to get uplifted - I'd rather watch "Leave It To Beaver" or "Green Acres", or "Eight Is Enough" (gag! what a deliciously horrible show!), or "Battlestar Ponderosa", or - show of shows - "Gomer Pyle"! And the trash that comes on today is just as good as the trash that came on yesterday - "A-Team", "V", "Dynasty", "Wheel Of Fortune", "It's Your Move", "Mike Hammer", all great, monumental trash in the fine American tradition - go to Jollye Olde Englande and watch cricket or snooker or dog shows - "And the Queen is wearing an absolutely mouthwatering shade of tangerine! Oh my!" - just don't complain about TV in the land of the free and the home on the range! You guys probably don't even have a Ginsu Knife or a Popeil Pocket Fisherman or the twenty-album set of The Roots Of Soul, so how could you even begin to understand what TV is all about? Sheesh - I bet it was YOU who made them take Buffalo Bill off the air. Sniff, sniff. Davis Tucker AT&T Information Systems Denver, CO "Oh well, there's always reruns..."
rfg@hound.UUCP (R.GRANTGES) (11/28/84)
[] Continuing the good side of tv, there is the Macniel/Leher report which will for sure put you to sleep after dinner, which is good for the digestion. The Great Performances series on commercial tv and the other artsy stuff on PBS are really worth the price of admission, though. "It's the thought, if any, that counts." Dick Grantges hound!rfg
moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (12/03/84)
>I watch old Brady Bunch shows >because they remind me of when I was a little kid (I also had a large >family, although we fought a lot more than the Brady Bunch did!) and >they make me laugh. > > Marie desJardins > marie@harvard Gosh, you had a LIVE-IN maid, just like Alice? I mean, JUST LIKE Alice? Nope, sorry, don't believe it. No one can be that cheerful, patient, and understanding without some degree of brain damage.... "Negative, sucker. You need a smoking pistol and you know it." "Right you are. Where are those handguns when we really need them?" Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. UUCP: {cornell,decvax,ihnp4,sdcsvax,tektronix,utcsrgv}!uw-beaver \ {allegra,gatech!sb1,hplabs!lbl-csam,decwrl!sun,ssc-vax} -- !fluke!moriarty ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA
techpub@mhuxt.UUCP (mcgrew) (12/07/84)
> What's wrong with something that's a waste of time? As long as you know > it's a waste of time... Most novels are a waste of time, but I enjoy > reading them. > I don't think novels are a waste of time at all. It depends on what you read. One can learn alot from good novels (Michener, perhaps??). > Public TV can be > (and often is) very informative -- for example, "The Brain" (a weekly > series on PBS) is really interesting. Also, there are some good kids' > shows (Sesame Street, Electric Company, wildlife shows, etc. etc.) > Public TV is my favorite... especially since they began airing Nature. That show is, in my book, the best show EVER. The photography is absolutely phenomenal!!! Oh by the way, can anyone out there tell me how the heck they film a rattlesnake's den from *INSIDE LOOKING OUT*? or how they film a fly falling into the ovary of a plant that contains liquid pollen (and eventually drowns) and they show the fly *UNDERNEATH* the liquid pollen (as if it were under water)? Everytime I watch Nature these questions are asked. Any nature photographers who can answer them? > However, I think that tv (in addition to fulfilling, at least to some > extent, the role of educator) is there for entertainment. I find some > shows entertaining (in particular, I happen to like Kate & Allie, Cagney > & Lacey, Cheers, Hill Street Blues, and the Johnny Carson Show). I > watch them because they make me laugh. I watch old Brady Bunch shows > because they remind me of when I was a little kid (I also had a large > family, although we fought a lot more than the Brady Bunch did!) and > they make me laugh. > > > Marie desJardins > marie@harvard How about Leave it to Beaver....Good ole Beave!!! Although there's alot of crap on TV, entertaining shows are still available--you just have to look a little harder to find them. One thing I've found is that having a VCR (video recorder) has opened alot of new doors regarding TV. Usually the best of the old movies are shown at most inconvenient times (4am....11:30am, etc), and by having a VCR I'm able to record and watch them at my leisure (without watching the commercials!!). Melanie mhuxt!techpub
marie@harvard.ARPA (Marie Desjardins) (12/10/84)
> (Moriarty:) > Gosh, you had a LIVE-IN maid, just like Alice? I mean, JUST LIKE Alice? > > Nope, sorry, don't believe it. No one can be that cheerful, patient, and > understanding without some degree of brain damage.... Yep, just like Alice. And she always stuck up for us kids. (Except, of course, she liked the boys better -- or so we thought, since she had been living with them and Dad for longer.) She wasn't crazy about it when we put a whole box of soap in the washing machine, but boy were we cute swimming around in those suds! Marie Brady marie@harvard
andrea@hp-sdd.UUCP (12/15/84)
********************** basenote drift **********************************
Jerry Mander's book (Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television)
was excellent, and gave many people a more thoughtful basis for the
instinctive gut-level fear&loathing response to TV.
The recent issue of "Whole Earth Review" (reincarnation of the
*sniff* recently deceased "CoEvolution Quarterly" plus the
"Whole Earth Software Review") has a number of philosophical articles
on the theme of "Computers as Poison", leading off with one by
Jerry Mander.
I highly recommend this issue - they have managed to keep the flames
limited and humorous, and have raised a number of good questions
(like any good subversive should... :->)
Andrea Frankel, Hewlett-Packard (San Diego Division) (619) 487-4100 x4664
net: {allegra|ihnp4|decvax|ucbvax}!hplabs!hp-sdd!andrea
go, go, go said the bird: humankind cannot bear very much reality...