by Frank Butry

Created on: January 31, 2009

I will be the first to admit this, but television is much better now than when I was growing up back in the sixties. I certainly miss some of the old shows, though. Like no one will ever replace Rod Serling or Alfrerd Hitchcock. I can still remember my mom telling me if I washed up and had my homework all done I could stay up and watch what was my two favorite programs. With the advent of cable and satellite TV, television has grown up.

Back when I was young, you would have to wait till the next day after the fact to learn about breaking news worldwide or even your favorite teams scores. Now with the extent of cable news, you see it as it happens , both in sports and news. I may be wrong here, but I think it brings people worldwide closer together. To actually see the horror of famine and the inhumanity going on live in other nations, as well as our own, it draws your interest quicker and focuses on the real world we live in. It may even move you to help in whatever manner you can. As for programming, sure , there is alot of adult content that was never there before, but you are the parent, you still can control what your children watch. I'm no fan of MTV, but I'm not really so sure it is evil either. The sitcoms that were on when I was a lad were out of touch with the real world too. No ones dad ever worked in a factory worrying about losing his job, the family never struggled to meet the rent or buy groceries. Every problem was solved in thirty minutes or less. Incredible stuff. The big problems facing the audience were if Beaver really put the frog on some girls desk. I remember my friends and I had a discussion on how we felt inferior to the TV families. They had so much, and we had nothing but working class dads who never wore a suit and tie.

Most of the cable networks are very good, if not downright educational. I have seen and learned things from TLC network as well as the History Channel and A&E. Some of their shows show me things I never knew and introduce me to things I never heard of. We never had anything like it when I was growing up. Not even close. Of course, the plethora of sports programming is good stuff too. Thanks to MLB season ticket on Direct TV, I can follow my team every night of the year, and see results and highlights minutes after they happen. Back in the sixties, we only had Curt Gowdy on Saturday afternoons. Not that he was bad, its just it was the only game in town. Nowadays, you can subscribe to just about any sport package around. just great!

I'm not crazy about the reality TV shows however. I could care less about Ozzy and Hulk Hogan. I guess people tend to be nosey. Its the only explanation I can come up with. There was nothing like it years ago, but I'm sure if somebody thought of it, we could have seen the life of Elvis implode before our eyes. Can you imagine a reality show with Billy Martin? Now that would have been entertaining! I guess television is much better now because it is more streamlined and customed to the viewing public. No more three network domination putting out what they want, you have now so many choices, the shows have to be better to keep up with the competition.

Learn more about this author, Frank Butry.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.