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Free To Air
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Phillip Hong
August 5, 2013 |
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A close friend of mine was moving from one condo to another in Downtown Toronto and needed a bit of
help from me in the drawn out process. As we were packing odds and ends into the trunk of my car, I
noticed the loneliness of her flat screen TV that had previously been sitting in her old living
room. "It's going into storage," she said in a resigned tone, exhaling boredom as its power cable
was being bundled together, "I've cut my cable subscription".
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Yikes. I know downtown is a very lively place, but isn't there going to be some days where one needs
to harness their inner couch potato? "It's just too expensive a bill for something I never really
use".
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This has become a much less uncommon trend. Thanks to the growing reach of alternatives like the
internet, and what some call an endless banal line of shows that are neither engaging nor worth the
trouble watching, we have really begun to lose a long standing addiction to what was going to be the
thousand channel universe. I have to admit, even I have downgraded some of my cable packages since
I feel more entertained reading articles online, and getting angry at what some say (The National
Post once described me as "just plain angry").
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Ironically, I've known of one trailblazer who frowned upon it all before I could even decipher it
all. Eight years ago in a condo in Kowloon, Hong Kong, an elderly great aunt of mine grew wary and
irritated quickly after watching a single minute of a local soap (Hong Kongers are famous for
producing soap operas that are churned out at a nauseous industrial rate). She demanded I shut the
television off and proceeded to rant and complain about the immorality of drama to the viewer.
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"It riles your heart in such an unnecessary manner and the muck just creates artificial, unneeded
tension". But wouldn't you like exploring different subjects and plots that are depicted this way?
"Living life is more than enough to toy with your emotions".
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In some ways she's correct. Try this American reality show plot: There are seven men
and women, but only six beds in each chalet at the camp they're staying in. Someone (in other
words, the producer) is less than quaint in suggesting in the format of the show that the odd ones
out should shack up together. Steamy, but pretty "artificial" in any definition. Would there be a
raison d'etre for this series without such an obvious set up to "toy" with you as a viewer?
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We discussed my friend's television viewing in the living room of her new apartment, sans flat
screen. Does dumping cable mean you're watching more videos online? "I guess you could say so".
Hmm...
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Phillip Hong is a columnist with 148.ca.
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