What Happened to Television?

Used to be that you could turn on the TV and watch whatever came on. I don’t want to make myself sound too old, but reality TV just wasn’t around when I was growing up and it shows in what the young folks of today are really into. Sometimes I’ll turn on the TV a for a bit of a curious squizz and I’ll see all sorts of inane rubbish. Oh, ten idiots living in a house. How does that qualify as entertainment? I come back to Melbourne and TV antennas have popped up all over the place. Really, sticking out of every roof.

You know where we didn’t have TV? That’s right…space. We picked up a lot of signals, obviously, but anything that wasn’t vital communication was a bit hit and miss. I remember watching a lot of Russian sitcoms. Couldn’t figure out what they were saying, but I bet it was really funny for the folks back on Earth. Meanwhile, here’s us trying to laugh along to something in a totally different language to what we were used to. Then there was the time that we spent a good week and a half wondering what to make of a Japanese game show where the contestants had to wade through a field full of something the captions called ‘demon ants’, and then they were chased around a maze by a man in a pink leotard wielding a blow-up mace. Then again, that seemed to be par-for-course in terms of all the Japanese TV we consumed. I mean, really.

Alright, so television has been a bit odd for a long time, I’ll accept that. But now, everyone has a digital antenna. They can go and pick up whatever channels they want, whenever they want, and all the world’s entertainment is mashed together in one glorious hub, like on the space station except there are actually options. Go outside! Read a book! Or people of Melbourne, digital antenna installation can be used for good. Find something educational! Preferably about space. It’s the subject that just keeps on giving.

-Apollo