NBC TV Not Worth N$204

TELEVISION is meant for entertainment first and foremost.

One would ideally love to unwind in front of the TV set after a long and stressful week. Do not get me wrong, television watching shouldn’t become a ritual.It is however frustrating to switch on your set and all one gets to see is repeated shows and movies.I remember in the early ’90s ‘Silk Stalkings’ was a hit show.Fast forward to 2007 and a repeat of this show is a seriously bad idea.Universal Grooves is another culprit.It’s like one is stuck in a time warp.I spoke to regular NBC TV viewers and they mentioned a whole host of other shows that are repeated, some twice weekly.These are: ‘The Apprentice’ (a repeat of the first season after 4 seasons), ‘All About Us’ (repeats on Sundays and Mondays), ‘One On One’ (repeats Wednesdays and Thursdays), ‘Half & Half’ (repeated shows on Saturdays), and ‘Brothers Garcia’ (repeated on Saturdays).Movies are the worst on NBC.Honestly, what is the logic in dividing a movie in two parts – part 1 played one weekend and part 2 played the next weekend? One caller on Chat Show was wondering what the programme End of Transmission is.Pardon me, I had to laugh at that! Maybe it would explain why movies are played in two parts during the weekend.Is it worth fooling viewers like this and is it worth continuing paying our TV licences? Is it worthwhile for a pensioner to waste +/-N$64 on something this useless? (Where is our compassion for the elders? In South Africa pensioners do not pay TV licences.Maybe the Government should take a cue from South Africa…) Of course one might argue that there’s the news and the beloved soapies.The news at eight is a good argument but the soapies? Come on, not everyone is a soapie fan! I spoke to people who find these soapies played at 20h30 annoyingly silly.Let’s not get started on ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’! Another argument would be that N$204 is not a lot of money.But – there’s always a ‘but’ – N$204 from more than 100 000 individuals is not small change.I find it incomprehensible that in a huge organisation such as NBC, nobody bothers to research what people want to see.Compared to MNet, NBC is like a high school project.The Government spends millions bailing out NBC.We fail to see what that money is actually used for.We are threatened into paying our TV licences.What does NBC actually use that money for? NBC workers are on strike – one wonders about the mechanisms of the parastatal.Nothing ever comes out of NBC that is worth raving about.Maybe NBC should be privatised.One Africa Television may be young but it’s far surpassed NBC in the quality of service it provides.Unhappy Viewer Via e-mail Note: Name and address provided.EdDo not get me wrong, television watching shouldn’t become a ritual.It is however frustrating to switch on your set and all one gets to see is repeated shows and movies. I remember in the early ’90s ‘Silk Stalkings’ was a hit show.Fast forward to 2007 and a repeat of this show is a seriously bad idea.Universal Grooves is another culprit.It’s like one is stuck in a time warp.I spoke to regular NBC TV viewers and they mentioned a whole host of other shows that are repeated, some twice weekly.These are: ‘The Apprentice’ (a repeat of the first season after 4 seasons), ‘All About Us’ (repeats on Sundays and Mondays), ‘One On One’ (repeats Wednesdays and Thursdays), ‘Half & Half’ (repeated shows on Saturdays), and ‘Brothers Garcia’ (repeated on Saturdays).Movies are the worst on NBC.Honestly, what is the logic in dividing a movie in two parts – part 1 played one weekend and part 2 played the next weekend? One caller on Chat Show was wondering what the programme End of Transmission is.Pardon me, I had to laugh at that! Maybe it would explain why movies are played in two parts during the weekend. Is it worth fooling viewers like this and is it worth continuing paying our TV licences? Is it worthwhile for a pensioner to waste +/-N$64 on something this useless? (Where is our compassion for the elders? In South Africa pensioners do not pay TV licences.Maybe the Government should take a cue from South Africa…) Of course one might argue that there’s the news and the beloved soapies.The news at eight is a good argument but the soapies? Come on, not everyone is a soapie fan! I spoke to people who find these soapies played at 20h30 annoyingly silly.Let’s not get started on ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’! Another argument would be that N$204 is not a lot of money.But – there’s always a ‘but’ – N$204 from more than 100 000 individuals is not small change. I find it incomprehensible that in a huge organisation such as NBC, nobody bothers to research what people want to see.Compared to MNet, NBC is like a high school project.The Government spends millions bailing out NBC.We fail to see what that money is actually used for.We are threatened into paying our TV licences.What does NBC actually use that money for? NBC workers are on strike – one wonders about the mechanisms of the parastatal. Nothing ever comes out of NBC that is worth raving about.Maybe NBC should be privatised.One Africa Television may be young but it’s far surpassed NBC in the quality of service it provides. Unhappy Viewer Via e-mail Note: Name and address provided.Ed