Reply #51: I'm seeing the "we're only giving people what they want" excuse

[Lydia Leftcoast]

Was there a groundswell of public demand for WWF wrestling before it was on?

Was there a groundswell of demand for "reality" shows before they were on?

Was there a groundswell of demand for celebrity poker (the true sign of the coming apocalypse, televised card table kibbitzing) before it was on?

Was there a groundswell of demand to turn the Discovery Channel into nearly back-to-back DIY? To turn the History Channel into the Hitler Channel? To turn A&E from a showcase for British and Australian dramas and cultural programming into a true crime channel? To turn the Travel Channel into the Las Vegas hype channel? To turn Bravo from a foreign film channel into the celebrity poker plus West Wing reruns channel? To program BBCAmerica almost entirely with DIY shows and Benny Hill reruns except on Monday nights?

These days, the only worthwhile programming is on digital cable, and even there, the quality is starting to drop.

Every once in a while, I get into these "must drop cable entirely and go to prerecorded programming" moods, but I get my Internet service (and, by extension, my Vonage phone service) through the cable company, and it's really good.