TV once had these things called programs but that apparently ended a few years ago. The amount of time devoted to programs shrank, and the amount of time devoted to commercials grew, until one day there was nothing on TV except commercials. TV commercials now run twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
It’s possible I’m wrong about this, as I don’t have the fortitude to watch TV non-stop for a week. I admit it’s possible the powers-that-be slip in an actual program now and then. But my belief that TV is nothing but commercials is a reasonable conclusion based on experience. Whenever I turn on my TV, a commercial is running. So I decide to do something useful, such as go to the kitchen and wash the day’s dishes. I return to the TV and I see a commercial is still being aired. I watch the commercial for a while, and then another commercial comes on. I switch the channel, but the new channel has a commercial running and it’s the same commercial I just watched on the previous channel. So I turn off the TV and I go to my computer and visit the World Wide Web – a pastime which was once a pleasant journey of exploration through cyberspace but is increasingly being overrun by commercials.
For example, every YouTube video I watch has an annoying ad for some kind of “leaf filter” gutter protection. This has been happening for months. Why does YouTube show me gutter protection ads? I’ve never typed “gutter protection” into any search engine. I have no interest in gutter protectors. My house doesn’t require gutter protectors and my garage, which sits adjacent to two tall trees, already has gutter protectors installed. And yet for months I’ve been presented useless ads for gutter protectors. Ninety percent of the YouTube ads I am shown are for gutter protectors. The other ten percent of YouTube ads I am shown are for a YouTube ad-blocker. Ironic, isn’t it?
I miss the old days, when TV had programs. Maybe they’ll come back, when enough people get fed up with non-stop commercials and “cut the cord.” Why pay a company a pile of cash every month for the privilege of watching their commercials? In my humble opinion, cable-TV companies should pay me to watch their commercials. I watch their commercials, I send them a bill, and they send me a check. Everybody wins.
I know what you’re thinking, but – I can dream, can’t I?
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