Torture on Television

[Ankit Garg]

After trying to avoid this for a long time, I decided to create this topic. The recent program Raaz Pichle Janam Kaa (Past life regression) has reached the limit of stupidity. As if Rakhi Ka Swayamwar was not enough to torture us, they brought this to torture us. Even watching the ads of the show is a headache. How can they even think that we'll believe such a crap. Each of the person on the show was born in India in the past life too and they all had a dramatic death (plain crash, fire blah blah). I watched one episode, and in that the hypnotist was telling the hyptonized person to push someone in the past life. What the hell was that?? How can the hypnotist manipulate the past life of that person (if there is any past life)?? They did so many stupid things on that single episode, I was in a state of shock. How can a TV program be so bad, how can they show it on a national channel. And now they'll soon start Rahul Ka Swayamwar, that'll torture us more. I don't even switch to that channel in the fear that there might be an ad of one of these two shows going on. I hope this horror will end soon ...

[Paul Clapham]

And here I thought you were going to be talking about the new season of "24" on North American TV!

[Greg Charles]

Oh, silly Ankit. There's no limit to stupidity.

I haven't seen the show you mentioned, but from your description it doesn't even come close to a show where people compete to eat bugs and vote each other of an island ... or a movie entirely about talking chihuahuas and their culture ... or even something soul-crushingly dubbed "The Squeakquel". India still has a ways to go.

[marc weber]

In the past 8 months (since moving), I've only had my TV on a handful of times, to check CNN and watch 2 DVDs. My DVD player wasn't even plugged in until a couple of weeks ago.

[W. Joe Smith]

I watch the Discovery channel, History channel, and movies. I find most TV shows are lame (I don't really like reality TV), but I am addicted to NCIS.

[Bear Bibeault]

As a Christmas gift I got the BBC-produced Planet Earth (on blu-ray!). Breath-taking and spectacular photography!

[W. Joe Smith]

Bear Bibeault wrote:As a Christmas gift I got the BBC-produced Planet Earth (on blu-ray!). Breath-taking and spectacular photography!

Nice! I watched a couple of them on Discovery, and they are quite amazing. Although I think there are 2 versions, one with Sigourney Weaver as the narrator and one with some guy. I think the shots and everything are the same, but the narrators are different.

[Bear Bibeault]

The original narrator, David Attenborough, is retained on the discs. Sigourney Weaver replaced him for the Discovery-aired episodes.

[Ernesto Elias-Nieland]

Did you know that there are also Planet Earth jigsaw puzzles on the market? I worked on one with 1000 pieces showing Mt Everest after work for a while.

This was way more relaxing than watching TV. The puzzle is now hanging in my living room.

[Neha Daga]

I agree with Ankit, these days there are a lot of stupid shows being telecasted on national channels and this raaz pichle janam ka is the hieghts.
One thing I noticed was both the celebrities (Shekhar Suman & Celina jaitely) were born in europe(uk and switzerland) and all the other middle class people were born in some village in India. Obviously they have not been to any of these places so they cant imagine they were born in places like these, which shows its just the mind tricks and a little bit scripted drama.
this is just one example,There are so many loop holes in the program to prove it a fake.

[Pat Farrell]

Neha Daga wrote:stupid shows .... this raaz pichle janam ka is the hieghts.

I'm shocked, simply shocked. After nearly a decade of Fox Noise's "24" we are finding that we are exporting our ideals to other countries?

Lets be clear: Jack Bauer is fiction, his methods are fiction, his morals are unspeakable.

[Deepak Bala]

Just dont watch it.

Most reality shows are BS anyway. I do like variety entertainment however. For example, record "<Insert_Country_name> has talent" and fast forward through to the performances.

[Maneesh Godbole]

I can't believe all you dudes and dudettes still watch TV, get frustrated and post on the forums about how mindless the shows are.
No viewers, no TRP ratings, no shows. Simple.
Switch it off!!!

Read books.
Trash the TV.
For everything else, there is the internet

We trashed ours around 2003 and have never regretted it.

[Ankit Garg]

Deepak Bala wrote:record "<Insert_Country_name> has talent" and fast forward through to the performances.

I actually liked India's got talent but I stopped watching it when they kicked out these people

Maneesh Godbole wrote:I can't believe all you dudes and dudettes still watch TV

I like to watch NGC and Discovery (whenever I watch Man vs Wild, my mom says "So your friend Bear Grylls is here" . Other than that I watch music channels, but while surfing through the channels, I skip NDTV Imagine so that there's no remote possibility, that I end up seeing even a frame of the ad of these programs...

[Deepak Bala]

I never realized there is an India's got talent show.

[raj malhotra]

This is the article on wikipedia about Past life regression.
It is a fake for sure.
But however i am confident if you feed the positive thinking in the subconscious mind through hypnotism it works.So even though whatever people are telling about past life is fake generally based on some imagination or whatever they might have read in their life.If you can feed good things in subconscious mind,it can at least cure your phobia.

[Neha Daga]

Maneesh Godbole wrote:I can't believe all you dudes and dudettes still watch TV.

I dont have TV, I heard about it from someone in India, and watched one of its episode on youtube. And I dont watch any TV shows unless they are Comedy.

These days I am watching 'Two and A Half Men' , Its really great show watch, enjoy and forget. I liked it so much that downloaded all the previous seasons.

[Neha Daga]

raj malhotra wrote:This is the article on wikipedia about Past life regression.
It is a fake for sure.
But however i am confident if you feed the positive thinking in the subconscious mind through hypnotism it works.So even though whatever people are telling about past life is fake generally based on some imagination or whatever they might have read in their life.If you can feed good things in subconscious mind,it can at least cure your phobia.

But I dont think the show anyways helping people to cure their phobia.

[Joanne Neal]

W. Joe Smith wrote:

Bear Bibeault wrote:As a Christmas gift I got the BBC-produced Planet Earth (on blu-ray!). Breath-taking and spectacular photography!

Nice! I watched a couple of them on Discovery, and they are quite amazing. Although I think there are 2 versions, one with Sigourney Weaver as the narrator and one with some guy. I think the shots and everything are the same, but the narrators are different.

<mockhorror>
Some guy ??? David Attenborough is the god of natural history broadcasting !
</mockhorror>

Seriously though. It's practically unheard of in the UK to have a major natural history program produced by the BBC that is not narrated by David Attenborough.

[Jesper de Jong]

Bear Bibeault wrote:The original narrator, David Attenborough, is retained on the discs. Sigourney Weaver replaced him for the Discovery-aired episodes.

I'm a fan of Sir David Attenborough. I wonder why he had to be replaced by Sigourney Weaver.

[Paul Sturrock]

Bear Bibeault wrote:Sigourney Weaver replaced him for the Discovery-aired episodes.

Sacralige! David Attenborough is the voice of BBC natural history programs, and has been for going on fifty years. Wonder why Discovery (or whoever) decided to replace him?

[W. Joe Smith]

Paul Sturrock wrote:

Bear Bibeault wrote:Sigourney Weaver replaced him for the Discovery-aired episodes.

Sacralige! David Attenborough is the voice of BBC natural history programs, and has been for going on fifty years. Wonder why Discovery (or whoever) decided to replace him?

Well, as a major viewer of the Discovery channel, I knew instantly who Sigourney Weaver was, but I wouldn't have known David Attenborough was unless I was told. It is all about familiarity, I guess. Although I could watch all of them on mute and still love it. The shots and scenery are just mind-blowingly awesome.

[Arvind Mahendra]

Paul Clapham wrote:And here I thought you were going to be talking about the new season of "24" on North American TV!

The new season of 24 is going to feature Anil Kapoor of SlumDog Millionaire as one of the characters.

[raj malhotra]

Neha wrote:
But I dont think the show anyways helping people to cure their phobia.

Yes i think so.Just saying once in the end "You have to leave your fear in your past life" will not work.I think it needs repetition to change the behaviour.

[tapeshwar sharma]

hmmm...we must understand one thing. Stupid things are on TV because they sell.
Melodrama, indigestible stunts, cheap/insipid comedy shows....Sadly, they all sell.
I find it amusing how some Indian TV serials so strikingly stereotype women when they are shown crying in every single episode, if not every other scene.
In the US, they are not into melodrama, but they have their own demons (even though admittedly, their demons are more sophisticated than Indian demons :-) ).
You know what? US or India, crap sells, and sometimes sells like hot cakes, so I wouldn't blame the producers entirely.

Also, another factor is that what is crap for you is not crap for me. Or may be I like crap despite knowing and admitting that it is crap! (Trust me).

[Deepak Bala]

I'm a fan of Sir David Attenborough

++ I like his narration style and voice and the little dance he does sometimes when he explains stuff

[Arvind Mahendra]

Paul Sturrock wrote:

Bear Bibeault wrote:Sigourney Weaver replaced him for the Discovery-aired episodes.

Sacralige! David Attenborough is the voice of BBC natural history programs, and has been for going on fifty years. Wonder why Discovery (or whoever) decided to replace him?

It might be because he has sometimes critical views among other things like on issues like the environment blaming George W., and also going after inhabitants of powerful country for not being aware of the goings on in the world.

[Pat Farrell]

tapeshwar sharma wrote: crap sells

And that, is the final answer. People watch this crap, and it sells advertising, and thus it is good.

A wise man once said: " no one has ever gone broke underestimating the intelligence of the American audience"

[Arvind Mahendra]

They don't call it the idiot box for nothing. 2 things sell no mater what: Sex and violence. When you combine the two, you have a recipe for great success, and this would also explain why wrestling is able to maintain such a vast audience and droves of people still turn up to watch that BS live.

I think the real reason why people stay glued to the TV is because they have issues. Issues that demand addressing and instead of tackling those issues, they escape into the world of make believe and send their minds into a world of mush.

This must also hold true for other mediums, like the internet and maybe by posting at MD we are to some extent doing the same thing. Our preferred medium is different, but escapism is the same.

[Andrew Monkhouse]

When I saw the title of this, my first thought was "Horror Movie" by Skyhooks.

Warning: this is from the 70s.

I had forgotten how Shirl, Red etc dressed back then. I refuse to admit to how I dressed then.

[akash kumar]

Paul Clapham wrote:And here I thought you were going to be talking about the new season of "24" on North American TV!

Is "24" that bad?

It has got 8.9/10 from 35,568 votes
Won 2 Golden Globes. Another 40 wins & 135 nominations
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285331/

Would like to watch an episode! out of curiosity.
:rolling:

[Vikram Kohli]

Good programs are also there. I watch only SAB Channel. They do have some quality programs which you can watch with your family. And among news channels NewsX

[Piyush Patel]

I watch Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah. which is most popular comedy show on indian telivision..
i also watch CNBC TV 18 and CNBC AAWAZ .

[Pankaj Programmer]

Most toruring programs on TELEVISION


1) Rakhi Ka Swayamwar
2) Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jayenge
3) Raaz Pichhale Janam Ka
.
.
.
.

These are few programs which i find most torturing on television ...
Guys keep adding to the list...

[Vinod Tiwari]

Thank god that I don't watch TV.

[Mahesh Kedari]

Apart from Discovery, Travel and Living and National Geographic
I watch "Dance India Dance" show.
But again, because of that stupid drama's of judges in between the performances, I prefer watching these shows on You Tube.
One of my Fev Performance..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7T_0WOtBQo