On Mon, 6 Oct 2003, Pigeon wrote: > When I were a lad my parents would only let me watch Play School or > the test card, then later let me watch the other children's programmes > that came between Play School and the news. It was quite an > achievement to get them to let me watch Doctor Who. These programmes > were all on BBC1, so no adverts. I wasn't allowed to watch the > commercial ITV channel, and only glimpsed the occasional advert at a > friend's house. The only thing I regret about this is the amount of > Doctor Who I missed. >
I grew up in England too and as I child I was so jealous of my American cousins. In the early '80s in a certain town near Pittsburgh you could watch Scooby-Doo three times a day if you planned your TV schedule appropriately. And what did we have? Ok Dangermouse was good. But those weird Czechoslavakian abstract expressionist cartoons? I still cringe when I hear the words "Film Board of Canada." Rolf Harris's Cartoon Time was a weekly oasis but during the weekdays we patiently endured Jackanory and John Cravens' fricking Newsround for a brief sweet glimpse of Space Sentinels or Hong Kong Phooey. My contemporaries and I hated it. My parents didn't mind Dr. Who but at that age I wanted cartoons dammit and I would have accepted any amount of corporate brainwashing to get them. Of course I am a better man for it now. And in writing this I have gotten deeply nostalgic for the Magic Roundabout (which would melt the brains of Pokemon-addled American children.) but I would want a regime a little less severe than the BBC for my Shailaja. A few ads here and there are ok, its the relentless barrage I take exception too. > The television regulating authorities ought to legislate that the PDC > code information should contain a flag to indicate whether the current > material being transmitted is programme content, advertising or > trailers. This could then be decoded by the receiving apparatus to > mute the sound and blank the screen during adverts. Broadcasters would > be fined $100,000 per frame with a wrong flag. The advertisers would > hate it, but fsck 'em. The viewers hate the adverts, and we're in the > majority, by a long long way. > That would never fly over here where even the ostensibly "public" broadcasting service is slipping in ads. Luckily thanks to technology it may not matter. God bless Tivo and Netflix. -- Jaldhar H. Vyas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> La Salle Debain - http://www.braincells.com/debian/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
