HBO and shock TV

Civilian · 2003-02-12, 12:30 AM

**WARNING - The following text might be considered political, but that's not what I inted**

You know, I have always been a HUGE fan of HBO and their series' like the Sopranos, Six Feet Under and mini-series' like Band of Brothers, but lately I think they are doing alot of this stuff for shock-value.

Oz is probably the best example of shocking series' on HBO showing penises, human feces, man love and men urinating. And in a way this is still borderline because they can always fall back on, "Hey it's prison, we are shooting for realism" or "You don't have to watch" and hey that's understandable, I can deal. Oz is obviously a very popular show.

BUT, tonight just proves how far they are willing to go to bring in viewers, with "America Undercover: Cannibal/Real Hannibal Lecters". I am a huge fan of the History channel, and if the murders or somehow, even "eating people" has some historical significance I might be willing to watch, but when HBO has a 35 minute documentary-type gore-fest(mutilated genitalia on decomposing bodies etc...) I am appalled. I think it's absolutely disgusting the things that HBO is willing to do to attract viewers, and unfortunately, I bet this show will get good ratings.

I am a pretty liberal person, and in no way religious, but I can tell the difference between right and wrong and I can only imagine that there's some youngster out there allowing the TV to play the role of his absentee parents, watching this sick display. I feel for those of you that may be parents and I hope you are careful as to not allow your children to watch this.

This is serious, I am extremely disgusted and VERY irritated. What the hell is wrong with this country? Maybe, I am completely wrong, is there someone out there that is actually interested in watching this type of thing?

ABRAXAAS · 2003-02-12, 12:36 AM

Agreed

Sputty · 2003-02-12, 12:37 AM

Man Love

But meh. What can you expect from networks? People will watch that stuff and continue to watch it.

afex · 2003-02-12, 01:32 AM

you pay extra for HBO and you're complaining about it?

makes a whole lot of sense........

KoldFusion · 2003-02-12, 05:59 AM

I agree with you. I will go on to say that TV in general has gone down the crapper with all this reality TV BS. I'm mean come on.... there is a show coming that is called "Are you hot?" Girls come on and they are told wether they are hot or not..... if they are not they will cry like cunnies. To make matters worse you have shows like fear factor where they eat the genitles of bulls and undeveloped ducks. There are really no "shows" on anymore.... it is all this reality shit and it is contributing to the dumbing down of America. Only channels worth watching is ESPN, Discovery, TLC, History Channel, CNN, and local news. I spend the rest of my time on the net playing Warcraft 3 for now (other than work of course). Oh..... and anonther thing i do that I wish people would do more of..... READ.... instead of watching the junkie reality stuff.

Ludio · 2003-02-12, 07:44 AM

Think of HBO like GTA3, sure there is the open ended gameplay, great driving and cool missions, but there is also blowing people's heads off and watching blood spurt out of the neck stump. The gamers praise the cool stuff and the concerned parents whine about the blood. I'm not saying that the show isn't bad (I haven't seen it), but you don't have to complain about the more controversial things when you pay to watch it.

And just as a lot of stuff is going downhill (reality TV, the show you are talking about), there is also a lot of stuff that is improving (Sopranos, Band of Brothers etc...). Look at TV 20 years ago and you will see that things have gotten better overall.

It is true that some children may grow up more on TV then with their parents, but when are the violent shows on? Usually late at night. And with something like HBO I wouldn't worry about it being the educator of todays youth.

KoldFusion · 2003-02-12, 07:47 AM

Band of Brothers = Good stuff. No question there

Hamma · 2003-02-12, 08:09 AM

Yes band of brothers was definatly a good series.

Airlift · 2003-02-12, 04:29 PM

From the Earth to the Moon was also much greatness. I watched the first couple of seasons of Oz, but there's just way to much rape in there to entertain me.