Things that were better before?

[Amaris]

Got another one that TerokNor's post triggered:

Sesame Street then vs. now.
Then was way better than what exists now.

 

[TheKeeper]

Don't even get me started on digital broadcast. A little analog "snow" and ghosting was a small price to pay for television that was actually watchable, without the near constant pixellizing, freezing and echoing we get now.

Sounds like you need a different provider. I never encounter any of these problems.

I'm referring to over-the-air broadcasts since the digital transition in the U.S. I have digital cable (with very few problems) on the main TV but my spare one is an older CRT with a converter box and rabbit ears.

 

[Rett Mikhal]

I'm a die-hard fan of never upgrading anything. I can fix things, and would rather do that than upgrade. That's why I've been using the same TV for 15+ years, the same PC for 8+ years, and so on. Also the same goes for software. I downright refuse to upgrade. I'm still rocking AIM version 5.2 (circa 2002) with DeadAIM attachment for logging and advertisement suppression. I got tired of seeing ads for Anchorman.

Programs and software are usually victims of unnecessary upgrades far, far, far more than hardware. Optical mouse vs trackball mouse, optical wins. Winamp 3 vs Winamp 2? Winamp 2 wins on so many levels.

I'm done rambling... for now.

 

[auntiehill]

Got another one that TerokNor's post triggered:

Sesame Street then vs. now.
Then was way better than what exists now.

True. I think that also applies to children's television in general. What little educational programing that exists is now aimed at the extremely young--preschoolers. Do they even have "afterschool specials" anymore? Where's this generation's "Schoolhouse Rock?" I know I actually learned a lot from watching educational programming when I was a kid. From what I see on TV now, I doubt too many little ones will grow up to say the same.

When my nephew comes over to visit, he turns on The Discovery Channel and watches shows aimed at older audiences, like "Dirty Jobs," because he finds the kids programming stupid or boring.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I can't say I have many complaints about TV but nearly all my viewing is of the government-owned commercial-free ABC which mainly airs many quality British shows.

The thing I have a real gripe about is my ISP's tech support. Nowadays I get someone with a strong Indian accent who I have trouble understanding and who often seems to have trouble with my accent. They are however very polite.

 

[Amaris]

Got another one that TerokNor's post triggered:

Sesame Street then vs. now.
Then was way better than what exists now.

True. I think that also applies to children's television in general. What little educational programing that exists is now aimed at the extremely young--preschoolers. Do they even have "afterschool specials" anymore? Where's this generation's "Schoolhouse Rock?" I know I actually learned a lot from watching educational programming when I was a kid. From what I see on TV now, I doubt too many little ones will grow up to say the same.

When my nephew comes over to visit, he turns on The Discovery Channel and watches shows aimed at older audiences, like "Dirty Jobs," because he finds the kids programming stupid or boring.

Exactly. Childrens' programs were aimed at kids of all ages. Sesame Street was fun, but was also chock full of educational moments. Nowadays, most childrens' programs get the educational seal of approval when they are incidentally educational at best. Shows like Reading Rainbow kept my attention as I got older. Your aforementioned After School Specials kept my attention as I got older, and I learned from them. I loved to read books, and so gathered most of my knowledge from them, but sometimes it was great to sit in front of the television and watch Sesame Street teach me how to count to 10 in Spanish.

 

[Warped9]

It was already mentioned, but radio was definately better before. Nowadays I can't stand commercial radio in the least and haven't listened to it for at least fifteen years.

Banking services were better before, more personal. It used to be the bank would notify you if you were short a few bucks to cover a cheque or bill so you could come in and cover it. Now if you're only two bucks or so short the computer system will just ding you a whopping NSF charge way in excess of what you were short.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Got another one that TerokNor's post triggered:

Sesame Street then vs. now.
Then was way better than what exists now.

True. I think that also applies to children's television in general. What little educational programing that exists is now aimed at the extremely young--preschoolers. Do they even have "afterschool specials" anymore? Where's this generation's "Schoolhouse Rock?" I know I actually learned a lot from watching educational programming when I was a kid. From what I see on TV now, I doubt too many little ones will grow up to say the same.

When my nephew comes over to visit, he turns on The Discovery Channel and watches shows aimed at older audiences, like "Dirty Jobs," because he finds the kids programming stupid or boring.

Exactly. Childrens' programs were aimed at kids of all ages. Sesame Street was fun, but was also chock full of educational moments. Nowadays, most childrens' programs get the educational seal of approval when they are incidentally educational at best. Shows like Reading Rainbow kept my attention as I got older. Your aforementioned After School Specials kept my attention as I got older, and I learned from them. I loved to read books, and so gathered most of my knowledge from them, but sometimes it was great to sit in front of the television and watch Sesame Street teach me how to count to 10 in Spanish.

Yeah, I agree. Even cartoons were better back then for the most part. These days, children cartoons are very violent. There was a point where cartoon violence was very mild, but it's grown. Children TV shows were more entertaining in general, to the point that I'd often watch one of them just for fun when older. I think there was more entertainment and educational value out of them to keep children's attention. There's also the point that there's a lot more for children to be distracted by too, such as videogames. One of my favourite children TV shows while growing up was Mr Dressup, Mr Rogers' contemporary.

 

[Warped9]

^^ I remember Mr. Dressup, Romper Room, Chez Elene, Captain Kangeroo and The Friendly Giant.

I also remember The Commander Tom Show beaming across the border from Buffalo with reruns of The Adventures Of Superman after school. I still think George Reeves is the best Superman.

 

[Trekker4747]

It used to better when all of you kids would stay off my lawn!

 

[Miss Chicken]

I was wondering if kids TV is better here than in the USA and would like people's opinion on it.

I thought i would look at what our government-owned TV station had on for children between 3-6pm. As I don't know much about kid's TV people can tell me what they think of the lineup

Dirtgirlworld - animation/cartoon.After seeing what a great job worms do composting, dirtgirl decides to make her own worm farm.
The Adventures of Bottle Top Bill - animation/cartoon. Bottle Top Bill and Corky, his horse and best friend, are made of everyday bits and pieces. They travel thought the world meeting different characters and situations in their magical adventures
Sea Princesses - The Sea Princesses are cheerful, adventurous and irrepressible young girls doing all they can to care for all the lifeforms that live under the sea.
Oggy and the Cockroaches - animation/cartoon - The roaches spread fertiliser over the garden and everything grows to gigantic proportions/Oggy rigs the fridge up with a heavy duty security system
Gawayn - animation/cartoon - An ogre, sent by the Duke to destroy the Questors once and for all, falls in love with Gwendolyn the moment he sees her.
Deadly 60 - Documentary - Steve Backshall is in the Bahamas and there is only one animal on his mind this time: sharks.
How to be Indie - comedy. Indie wants to show the school that South Asian food is awesome! But chaos ensures when nemesis Ram Ramachandran challanges her to a cook off.
Behind the News - news and current affairs - This shows provides a wealth of news and current affairs for students (made for the 10-13 years age group)

That are the shows on ABC1. We also have ABC2 and ABC3. ABC is a dedicated kid's station.

Details on what all three stations are showing for kids today are here

 

[B.J.]

I wish they'd stop overtaking all the plumbing in modern cars. I don't think there's a single car on the market that I'd be able to work on myself without investing in thousands of dollars of diagnostic equipment.

 

[scotpens]

. . . Banking services were better before, more personal. It used to be the bank would notify you if you were short a few bucks to cover a cheque or bill so you could come in and cover it. Now if you're only two bucks or so short the computer system will just ding you a whopping NSF charge way in excess of what you were short.

What bank do you deal with? I find that banking service has actually improved in the last twenty years. I have a checking account with Bank of America. With online banking (which there's no extra charge for), I can check my balance as often as I like. Which is a good thing, because balancing a checkbook using a pencil and a calculator is a pain in the ass. And there's no overdraft fee if I'm overdrawn by less than $10. Also, banking hours are longer than they used to be.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Since we're going through a social Dark Age now, it's easy to see how entertainment was better in the past, especially in terms of movies and TV. And comic books. Regular books and fiction magazines are still pretty good in terms of quality, but they're not selling very well.

Music used to be better. There's really nothing in terms of new music that can keep my attention.

Cars used to be better, but that was a long time ago. They started getting boring in the 70s and have just continued to get worse.