The Multifaceted Idiot Box

Ok, I don’t know how Television earned the sobriquet of an Idiot Box. How can something as entertaining as our beloved TV be called an Idiot Box? Since I am a very inquisitive person, I resorted to Google to find the answer to this question, just like any aam person. I did not find any anecdote or incident from the past, from which this term might have evolved. But I came across certain articles and discussions which said that it is not the television, but the television viewers who are called idiots. This is because people are glued to television for most hours of the day. I think this term ‘Idiot Box’ is generalized, without considering the quality of content which people watch on television. How disparaging is that!

The face of television has changed over the years, from generation to generation. Television has always been an ultimate, daily source of entertainment since my childhood, unlike my parents’ generation who thrived on Sunday special shows like Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan and Mahabharat or the famous first soap opera of Indian Television Hum Log. People did not know TV channels other than Doordarshan, till Zee TV was launched in 1992.

I grew up watching some really enjoyable shows like Hum Paanch, Family No. 1, Hum Sab Ek Hain, Yeh Duniya Hai Rangeen, Shriman Shrimati and many more. These light-hearted, evergreen mirthful shows, without even a pinch of vulgarity, always served the main purpose for which people watch television: Entertainment. Shortly later began the burgeoning dominance of the powerful ‘K’, from which the popular term ‘saas-bahu’ was carved out. Many other shows followed suit and joined the league of daily soaps, having more or less the same line of story. Sometimes I feel that these daily soaps steal the entertainment part of television, making it dull and monotonous. Nowadays some daily soaps are broadcasted even on weekends in the form of ‘Maha-episodes’, not giving the audience a much-needed relief from the tiring 5-day monotony.

Family drama is the archetype of Indian Television. Joint family system is the paradigm of Indian culture, which is becoming a rare picture these days. Thanks to daily soaps, we can still see joint families. We also enjoy the diversity of our country in the form of religions, festivals and dressing styles of various states.  On the other hand, I also believe that the present daily soaps impugn the concept of joint family, because larger the family, higher the number of conspiracies planned against the daughter-in-law. Then as expected, the daughter-in-law boldly faces the challenges put forth and wins hearts of other family members as well. Extra-marital affairs and false accusations and suspicions are also common in daily soaps. All this gets predictable in every other show. What I find most objectionable are the extreme steps the jealous family members or mothers-in-law take, to get rid of the daughter-in-law. In one of the Marathi serials which I watched by accident, every episode showed new and heinous ways to kill the daughter-in-law, as though it were a recipe book of ‘How to kill daughters-in-law’. The shocking fact is that such serials are popular and top the TRP list! I pity the viewers with such sordid tastes.  Such programmes should be condemned which portray women as victims of violence and injustice. Don’t the producers or channels think about the societal impact of such violent content? Many a times in the newspapers we read viewers expressing contempt against serials which send a wrong message to society. When people return home from their hectic jobs, they expect to see something cheerful, something which can efface their worries and tensions. But what we watch are the internecine plots or the week long funerals or mourning over the death one of the characters. Reality shows, too, are less real and more surreal.

The new wave of shows, which emphasize on prevalent social problems like child marriage or female infanticide, are laudable attempts to make people aware of the gruesome realities which still exist in our country. Shows like Halla Bol, Webbed, Crime Patrol, Satyameva Jayate deal with other issues which our country faces. I believe such shows prove that television is an excellent source to create awareness among the masses and channelize their thinking in the correct direction. Innovative international adaptations like 24 that keep the audiences tied to their seats have given Indian television a new perspective. Comedy shows like Comedy Nights with Kapil, Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashma, Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai have gained popularity for they never fail to make the viewers laugh and thus truly understand the meaning of ‘humour’, unlike some programmes which narrate bawdy jokes, making them unfit to watch with family. Even today, Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai remains one of my favourite comedy serials and I watch it when I want to have continuous fits of laughter. Another commendable initiative which I found recently on television was the launch of a nascent channel which broadcasts critically acclaimed shows of our neighbouring country. I view it as an opportunity to understand the culture and lifestyle of that nation and the rich and mellifluous  usage of Hindi, besides the veritable content of the serials.

I am also a fan of English shows like F.R.I.E.N.D.S, Suits, House of Cards, True Detective etc. What I encounter in these serials is that they never squander a single minute in the entire 20-minute or 40-minute episode showing something which is irrelevant to the main plot of the show, obviously maintaining the quality of the show. They make sure to pique viewers’ curiosity in every episode. Indian serials turn to such irrelevancy frequently in order to constantly remain on the top of the TRP list, thus making the programme insipid. Such serials eventually lose their viewership as well. I find concept of ‘seasons’ in English programmes a very sensible one because it is purely based upon the viewers’ response to the show. People look forward to watch the recurring seasons of crème de la crème shows like Suits and House of Cards. Each season has something promising to offer to the audience.

We know the proverb “A man is known by the company he keeps”. Similarly television is a helpless inanimate box who receives flak or praise depending upon the content which it broadcasts. It is the responsibility of the channels and producers to respect the viewers’ expectation from the shows. At the same time they should also keep in mind that television is a powerful form of mass media, existing in every household. It is capable of influencing the minds of millions and therefore a careful thought must be put into, before presenting a show to its prospective viewers.