Blogging again. I am going to nap in a few minutes and then, hopefully, I’m working 3 hours and that’s that. I only have 3 for today and 3 for tomorrow. That’s it. So umm, nothing can happen for the next two days. I’m demented enough to think I’ve forbidden it.
I feel tired. I also feel very old but I don’t want to dwell on that right now. I’m stressed enough as is.
I haven’t followed up on my critiques on TechTV shows in a while. I’ll give some unlikely advice and that’s all I’ll say on the subject. I grew up watching pro wrestling. In the 90’s I was in a position to get to know some of the mid-level guys from WCW. From what they told me and from what I observed, being booed is good. Being cheered is also good. No matter what your reaction is from the crowd, as long as the reaction was SOMETHING (even if you were a good guy and the crowed booed you; or a bad guy hearing cheers), if the crowd reacted to you then you play into it and you’re doing your job. The very worst thing is to go out there to no response at all. If the crowd is dead, essentially, YOU SUCK.
Now you can go on and on that pro wrestling sucks, but that’s what they want you to say. You’re spending your time discussing pro wrestling. If someone hears that it sucks, then it serves as a weird sort of publicity. People check it out based on how poorly you rate it and how vigorously you say it sucks. So starting a campaign to get Pro Wrestling taken off the air is about the dumbest thing you could ever do. The more you protest, the more you advertise for them and the more people go to their shows.
TechTV is like that. There’s a show on right now that is horrible. Well more than one. This one in particular WANTS negative feedback. There’s nothing better in their eyes than getting a scathing review. They’ll then put it up on their website and bask in the negative glory because it is some sort of publicity for them.
Letter writing campaigns, polls to say the show sucks, petitions, etc., all are the dumbest thing you can do because they show you care enough about the show that you MUST be watching (even if you hate it). They’ll do something even MORE outrageous or outlandish just to keep you angry — and watching. That’s just how it works.
My advice? Stop everything. Don’t watch (and don’t send out letters to your friends not to watch because it just makes them watch even more). Don’t mention them. No letters. No cards. No petitions. No reaction. It’s the easiest way to kill a show that sucks.
I’m doing it. If you look at the percentage of stories some shows get on my site you can easily track which shows I think aren’t worth it …
k9