There's nothing on the telly!

The last two blogs I have written have been about TV programmes and I have sung their praises. But I have to say, they are in the minority. As Terry Wogan used to say on his radio show, "There's nothing on the telly". And by and large he was right.

Mostly, it is unadulterated rubbish. Improbable soaps where no one is ever happy and every misery known to man happens within the space of one year, badly acted American imports or endless repeats of classic comedies. Satellite telly is no better; more comedy repeats, inadequate American crime shows which have probably bombed on one yankie cable channel or another, out of date documentaries  and obscure minority sports which only a handful of anoraks watch.

We spend our time recording the very few shows we enjoy or think might be worth a go and then watching them on our few precious nights in. Which means if we aren't in the mood for an Italian moody detective and that's all that is on the Sky box, we have to resort to a DVD. We've watched most of them several times and they have lost their novelty somewhat, so in the end we turn the telly off and listen to music.  I really am coming round to the view - well not really but almost - that we could do without a TV and just listen to the radio, catching up with the few things we want via i-player on the computer. Strictly speaking we'd have to have a TV licence still, but who'd know? Well, I suppose all you lot reading this would now, but no one that really mattered in that respect.

However that's not going to happen - we still have teenagers who thrive on a diet of crap American drama and soaps, or take a voyeuristic thrill from cheap documentaries such as Police, Camera, Action! I have a small granddaughter that thinks Dora the Explorer is the best thing since sliced bread and worships at the shrine of Peppa Pig. Being able to fill the time occasionally with C Beebies or Nikolodeon can be a lifeline.

Quality dramas are few and far between. And I don't know why, because there is no shortage of classic material out there to draw on and surely it cannot be more expensive than importing stuff from abroad. Quality drama is usually where the beeb triumphs with only a few exceptions, Downton Abbey being one. Stephen Fry can be as sniffy as he likes about Downton, I think its brilliant and frankly I'd have loved to live the life of an aristo with servants and ball gowns.

I am just whiling the time away watching the Hairy Bikers Bake-athon, would you believe, because there is nothing else to watch and I wanted some background TV while I was writing this. But it's awful, and those grating Geordie accents are really getting up my nose. Excuse me, must get up and change the channel....