Jericho's second episode continues to hit all the cliche buttons and thus, I'm losing interest. Now the guy who will become the new sheriff has a troubled marriage -which maybe the reason he brought his family to Jericho.
This is one of many reasons why broadcast TV is falling down. A current article in Entertainment Weekly talks about the down trend in TV comedy, where shows like Two and Half Men are considered funny shows, despite the obvious that they are trite and about as humerous as a cold sore.
Networks seem afraid to create anything that will stimulate the mind, using the age old acorn that viewers would rather have endless retreads of comedy and cop drama's, three CSI and three Law & Order shows than support a drama or a comedy show that is more character driven.
This MTV style of programming, this idea that 18-49 year-old people (which, in reality is more like 12-24 year-olds) are more important than anyone older -and who would watch more TV if the networks stopped pandering to them so much -is causing this schism. Teenagers are not appointment bound TV viewers, but a rather ficjkle bunch of kids who do not really understand what they want.
Advertisers like this demographic, because they spend money willy-nilly, but these kids are becoming as shallow as the spoiled rich kids featured on MTV. And they are ruining TV and movies, because they have this attitude.
Now, I'm not saying that there is no room for such B craptacular stuff as the Grudge 2 and The War at Home. But its become the norm and not the exception it should be. TV can be good, and at times, even great. But today's TV is fallow, with only a handful of shows worth my time. And movies, well, movies are mostly dead to me. A lot has to do with the turnaround from the theaters to DVD -which a lot of people are doing these days. Another has to do with with the audience, as everyone is so used to seeing movies at home, talking during the film, distracted by their kids and the phone, that when they go to the theaters they can't seem to shut and just watch those flickering images on the white screen.
And theater chains, unwilling to anger any goer -even if they are part of the problem, will usually turn the other cheek. So when I do go to movies, its usally a mantinee. It can be cheaper and is usally less filled.
Anyway, I might chance to watch an episode of Jericho again, but how many more cliches will they cart out?
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