OH YEAH! I too grew up with the brothers Kroft and Bee Gee! What were they smokin’ when they did HR? And what about Sigmond and The Sea Monster?! I used eat my sugar covered choco dots right in front of tv and watch all my favs …. What about Land of Lost?! Dude, you got me …. and you nailed it!

the twilight zone

Much of that has to do with the fact the major media conglomerates are driven by mega-corporations focused on profit at the expense of quality journalism. The newsroom used to be kept separate from the accounting room, but now the latter has become the cart pulling the horse of the former. TV “news” (a.k.a., profit) relies too much on the visual medium. Images of a tornado that destroys ten homes and kills two people will be played ad nauseum on the networks because it’s visual, but ten soldiers being flown home from Iraq in body bags won’t get any mention. Brittney Spears being hauled away to a rehab clinic for the umpteenth time will be played over and over on some networks, but the Big Oil companies’ reluctance to install alternative-fuel pumps at gas stations won’t get much mention because it doesn’t provide much of a photo-op. On my local TV news, the gimmicks are never-ending. The anchors all used to be seated when delivering a newscast, but now, they’re sometimes standing up in front of a projection screen. They bounce up and down like rubber balls! TV-8 in Grand Rapids starts off any garden-variety crime story by telling us, the viewers, how to feel about the story: “Disturbing news tonight come from G.R.’s southeast side….”. “A shocking incident outside a downtown nightclub today…”. During the “sweeps” months, you can count on “investigative” reports about “dangerous paint in your child’s classroom”, or anything that will scare parents. And then, you have the profit-crazed networks running a constant crawl at the bottom of CNN, Fox, etc., “Developing Story”, “Breaking News”. The networks are hoping that will hold viewers’ attention long enough to spike the 15-minute ‘shares’. And you have split-screen remote shots of three talking heads screaming over each other, plus one studio guest, because that’s supposed to signal to the viewer that it must be a major matter if they’re all yelling and bickering.

Try PBS––––Leher News Hour, Now, Bill Moyers, Expose and of course Charlie Rose for in depth reporting.

… Just have to add: Twilight zone - the original series Night Gallery - the original series Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Elizabeth: Exactly. I have asked that same question. Perhaps we could convince our WOW0WOW ladies to give a gentle nudge on the shoulders of the movers and shakers of T.V broadcasting. But there are those pesky things called ratings!!! I wonder if it would have a broad appeal but what I wouldn’t give to view some of those superior shows again. I remember the first time I saw an Elaine May—Mike Nichols skit–––I think it was on Steve Allen––it blew me away.