Sunday, January 01, 2012

Happy Happy New Year...but in general, Asian television is, uh, an acquired taste

Yes indeed, happy happy New Year.  And, since I woke up way too late, here I am reading the NY Times...and what do I find?


he agency regulating the industry, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, or Sarft, is not shy about imposing limits on dramas, either. Last year, it expressed disapproval of spy dramas and time-travel shows. In late November, it surprised the industry by mandating that as of January, commercials cannot be shown in the middle of television dramas. “The whole point here is that Sarft is trying to get TV station presidents back to the roots,” said a person once involved with “If You Are the One,” who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “What are the roots? TV is supposed to be the mouthpiece of the party in the country. You’re supposed to broadcast propaganda instead of sensationalistic content.” 


 The joke here is that American television broadcasts sensatinoalist content and propaganda.

And, having seen more than my share of Chinese as well as Japanese and Korean television...I got to say, with the sole exception of NHK's BS programming of movies (and, the sumo wrestling stuff, and some of the go shows, and a sole documentary here and there) Asian television is every bit as much of a wasteland as American television.  Not only that some of the worse aspects of American television have actually come from Asian television - including the way people are made to look foolish to sell products in commercials that have announcers that shout at you.  I don't want to be "entertained" by having people shout at me to get me to buy some junk - I buy too much as it is.

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