Friday 30 January 2009

Pointless Prattle: The Impossibility of Dave

I don’t understand why there is a TV channel called Dave. I don’t understand how someone thought the concept of it was a good idea. I don’t understand why I find myself watching it.

For those out of the loop, Dave is a freeview channel that almost exclusively shows repeats of programs such as Have I Got News for You, QI, Top Gear, Mock the Week, Dragons Den etc. It often sounds and looks like a good line up, until you remember that these shows are probably a couple of years old and that you’ve probably seen them before. The problem is compounded in the case of topical news shows as the news they’re talking about is no longer current.

As a channel, it should, on paper, be an absolute failure. They have practically no innovation and that which they do have tends to be mediocre at best. I therefore find it highly depressing when I find myself watching it if I’m looking for something on TV.

I’m not really going anywhere with this, I just find it odd that some of the most enjoyable TV is stuff that’s been and gone as opposed to anything that they’re making at the moment. Maybe this shows clearly around Christmas, when they still wheel out the same old Christmas specials, but I can honestly say that there hasn’t been a TV show that I’ve actively looked forward to watching each week on TV since they aired the first couple of seasons of 24 and even the Simpsons has lost it’s ability to make me stop whatever it is I’m doing at six. Maybe I’ve outgrown TV a little, or maybe I’m just not quite mind numbingly bored enough to watch lifestyle prattle or soap operas.


In case you’ve missed them, this weeks articles were:

Getting Through Boring Commitments

Cave Emptor: Buyer Beware - Doing your homework before shopping

Credit where Credit is due

Issues of Naivety and Trust

Of Mice and Graduates

The Virtues of a One Day Stay-cation

Coping with Computers

Adapting a Student Lifestyle to a Post-Student Lifestyle

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