TV Goes From Bad To Worse

I've noticed that in the Editorials page of the paper version of the NZ Herald that recent letters over the last few days have been very critical of the shows playing on TV here. I have to agree; there is hardly anything worth watching anymore, and the number of crime shows seems to be increasing. There seems to be a slew of shows obsessed with violent crime such as Criminal Minds, Special Victims Unit, CSI, NCIS, City Homicide,  etc. Now, I don't think there's anything wrong with a good crime show, but why so many and so violent? There's a huge jump between the shows we used to watch as kids (Magnum P.I, Remington Steele, etc) to the violence that is displayed on TV today.

There's a new show on Sky tomorrow (thankfully we don't get Sky) about mobsters in the prohibition era that promises to -

Be prepared for black-faced minstrels, raunchy sex scenes, corpse nudity, shoot-outs, midget boxing and chilling 'moiders' – 'Boardwalk Empire' doesn't hold back. No wonder it's already been renewed for a second season.

Producers seem to be intent on pushing the boundaries as much as they can more and more. I couldn't quite believe it when flicking through the TV listings today that there is a new show on TVNZ, made in Britain, in which the whole show is about people having to turn up for work at their office naked: that's it - the whole premise of the show. And that this somehow will improve office relations. Where will it end?

One letter writer in yesterday's Herald said that soon, people just won't watch TV any more and it will die out. One can only hope...