So I thought long and hard about the question for oh…. at least 1 second and came up with a much better answer:

COVERAGE.

The complete set of Inspector Morse mysteries was up for grabs at my local auctioneers (www.mountaineerauctions.com) yesterday. Now this is a 35 disc boxed set issued in the US by PBS. It wasn’t individually listed on their web site so I hadn’t done any research beforehand but I reasoned a set with that many discs had to be at least $150 and so I was prepared to bid accordingly.

To cut a long story short I got the set (in perfect condition by the way) for a paltry $45! I took a quick look online today and it goes for $430.

60 hours of quality viewing and I don’t have to put up with a gung-ho swat team. Marvellous!

I have always been somewhat pertubed by the willingness of some to “end their suffering” as there’s “no hope of recovery.” I wonder just whose suffering is actually being referred to. I am even more perturbed when organ harvesting is being touted by the doctors. 

I was surprised this morning to read about the case of a Belgian man – Ron Houben – who spent 23 years in a so-called persistent vegetative state after having been paralysed in a car crash in 1983. Apparently he was aware of everything going on around him the whole time. Can you imagine that? The frustration? The pain? Being aware and not being able to communicate?

Research has apparently shown that nearly 20% of patients thought to be in a persistent vegetative state or irreversible comas eventually awoke.

I am somewhat hesitant to pronounce a verdict on all those people responsible for switching off machines and allowing victims like Mr. Houben to die as I am not privy to individual case histories, but it makes you think doesn’t it?

Perhaps people and the doctors who advise them won’t be quite so quick to pass a death sentence now.

Quality not quantity.

This is something that seems to have been completely overlooked by everyone in the US when it comes to TV. What do I mean by that? Well read on and I am sure you will find out. You may not agree of course if you’re American but then, you’ve had a lifetime of being brainwashed so the rest of us will just smile knowingly and let you be.

I am all for people having choice even if it’s on quite a large scale – such as the number of TV stations over here in the US. However, for that choice to be worth making there has to be something worth choosing. And that’s where it gets somewhat trickier. The majority of stations here are crap. They have low production standards and low programing standards. Not to mention that some of the programs are just plain banal and how they get the viewing figures they do is quite beyond me and gives me grave concern for the intelligence of the average American. And they really don’t give a damn about you and me the viewers.

The whole system is populated by repeats. Both on a US wide basis, the same movie being shown by lots of networks, and on a local basis, the same TV station showing the same movie week after week. Why do they show a movie and then immediately repeat it? Surely in the interests of their commercial advertising they want viewers to stick with them? Not bugger off because they’ve just watched that particular movie. Obviously viewer loyalty is a concept they haven’t come across yet. And what’s with the proud boast they make “three chances to watch…”? Why the fuck would I (or anyone else) want to watch the same movie in the same peak time slot three nights in a row? And then they repeat it the next week, and the next week and so on. As a special note to TNT – just because you came up with the idea of labeling a movie a “new classic” doesn’t mean that it’s worth watching twice a week in prime time (whether it’s on the same night as you frequently insist on doing or whether it’s on separate nights) for the rest of time. Do you really care so little for your viewers?

As for commercials, well, I have lived in many countries and this is the only one that seems to insist on showing commercials with a program break rather than the other way around. I am used to watching a 30 minute show with ONE  five minute commercial break – not having the intro credits role and then immediately having a word with their sponsors before the show is even underway – and then having more words with more sponsors every 5 to 10 minutes. It sucks and it’s insulting. How the heck have Americans let their TV stations get away with this crap?

125 TV stations and nothing to watch. After all, 125 x 0 = NOTHING.

Do what I did and get yourself a Netflix account. It beats US TV without having to even break a sweat.

I will grant you that occasionally someone may have one too many but that does not make them an habitual drunk driver and as such they are less of a risk. It’s the habitual offenders that concern me. The heavy drinkers that are way over the limit. They put me and mine at risk. And of course anybody else going about their normal business on the road. But what are the chances (given forewarning by the media) that any single one of them would be dumb enough to drive home that way when they know there’s a stop planned?

Only in America.

I have lived in many parts of this world and visited many others but nowhere have I found such a prudish and screwed up attitude towards sex and nudity as I have here. I have now become familiar with “greyed out” areas on my TV screen as the self-righteous censors strike. I will go into censorship in another article but not right now. Actually I’ll go into the attitudes regarding sex and nudity over here too at another time as well.

What I find absolutely amazing about the whole business is that all those “shocked” (and obviously psychologically damaged for life) people are not shocked by other stuff on TV – to which children ARE exposed. The Sci-Fi channel for instance (and I’m not picking on them – they just do it so often and with such gay abandon that I chose them as an example) frequently shows the actors being disemboweled or having their heads ripped off in glorious technicolor close-up. Now I am not saying that children should be exposed to non-prurient nudity as a matter of course on TV, but which do you think is more likely to do them the most damage psychologically? A glimpse of a bare ass or a head being ripped off? Get a grip America and get a sense of proportion.

The Prisoner revolves around the life of a former British spy (McGoohan had played the role of a spy in Danger Man – screened as Secret Agent in the US – prior to this series) who wakes up one morning to find himself in a futuristic (and highly psychadelic) prison known as “The Village.” His character was stripped of any personal identity and was known only as “Number Six.”

At first glance you might think the concept somewhat limiting but it was anything but. McGoohan carried the show and made it believable. You really felt for him.

“I am not a number, I am a free man!” quickly became a counterculture catchphrase.

I doubt anyone under the age of fifty will remember the series or McGoohan unless it’s been shown somewhere as a re-run but for my generation he and the show became a “must see” every week. The series was an intrinsic part of my childhood and was something we watched as a family.

Rest in peace Patrick you brought pleasure to many.