Televison & Movies

When I grew up I never had cable TV. As a matter of fact, I didn't have cable TV until I moved in to my apartment two years ago because of a "deal" optimum was having, and I canceled right after those two months. I always managed to keep up with what was going on through friends, which was funny because even the friends whose families weren't well off would usually have cable tv.
Having said that, Network television was more than enough. I can remember more about the shows on tv from between 1988 - 1995 than I remember what I learned in school. For example: 21 jump street, family matters, fresh prince, quantum leap, full house, funniest home videos, the worlds funniest videos (people falling all over the globe!), and of course, cartoon favorites like looney tunes, ren and stimpy, rockos modern life, thundercats, sesame street, etc. I could go on for a while. In middle school, school tried to implement the "channel 1" tv show for homeroom, which was basically news geared towards kids, since the advertisements were "safe" for children. I suppose the schools figured that if kids are practically raised by tv, and have their minds rotting away sitting in front of it, why not try to teach them with it?
The show was no better than the evening news. Showing violence around the world, scaring kids that paid attention, and then turning them indifferent with an ad for stridex pimple pads. Nothing like showing a country in turmoil, and then telling kids their zit covered pizza faces made them weird, and dateless.
While reading through the "Other Enduring Trends & reality tv" (pg 162) throughout the tv and then movie section, I started to think about how people said programing was so much more worthwhile in previous years. It got me thinking about how awful reality shows are, even though some can be fascinating if involving wildlife education, or a guy drinking urine out of a hollowed out snake...at least I think that's what it was. Then I got to thinking about movies like transformers that are all visual, and no real content.
It made me nostalgic for a quick moment, until I realized how terrible some shows and movies were in the 80's. As much as Schwarzenegger movies rule, how is "Commando" any better than the typical, mindless action movie from the 2010's? Originality? No, Arnold even reused a line from Terminator. Perhaps it isn't the quality of the junk we see, just the amount. That I can agree with.
Though I will have to state that they simply don't make movies like Naked Gun, Airplane or Caddyshack anymore. And that's the real shame.