General Chat

Sorry for you that read my post on GRFB page as I may be reapeating myself...

For the first 3 episodes I loved it, yes I did think it was a tad cheesey, but I got a bit bored as it was the same concept week in week out....


There was no timescales given for the searches and foot work involved..

There was no real follow up 3 mths after the reunion , like the knock on effect these sort of reunions can cause through out a family, siblings reactions of the reunited but not directly involved.

The presenters was constantly re capping on the story, and voice overs, Nicky Cambell did give some supporting advice, but on one part the camera walked to someones front door with Davina and then shot was the camera behind the person opening the door...a tad picky I know but then it just looked far too scripted.

Island- no probs-jl

I do enjoy a bit of trash telly often but this programme just didn't appeal - if I watched if I'm sure I would have blubbed and been hooked but I'm glad I've avoided it

There are some programmes I just will not watch because I know I won't enjoy them.

There are some programmes which I begin and then realise they are not my 'cup of tea', so I switch them off.

However......

If a programme comes on and, after a while, I find the content deeply unacceptable then I will make a complaint to the powers that be either by email or a phone call. If enough people make the same complaint, one would hope they would take it on board and, at least, I have made my feelings known - I have tried.


To be fair, if there is something which I thoroughly enjoy, then I am equally quick to send a message of praise and thanks in the hope that we get more of the same quality.



Just switching the tv off only makes us feel better at the time, it does not achieve anything in the long term.





Cx

~~~~~~~ to Island :D

Janet, I wasn't actually addressing you. I was quoting another poster.

Wha' ??

Don't turn on your television, don't click on the thread.

Seems pretty simple to me.

Not that I recommend either as a solution to a perceived problem.

Feel free to express your opnion about what's said in the thread, and I'll feel free to express my opinion about the subject of the thread.

If it's all the same to you.

That is: I won't recommend that you click on by as a response to your displeasure with what's said in the thread, and I'd be grateful if you would not recommend that people turn off their television if they are not pleased with what it is showing on it *over the public airwaves*.

There's an actual distinction, you see.

This is a conversation among people who pay for the use of this website.

Television programming is broadcast using a medium owned by the public: the radio-television spectrum. If anything is a fit subject for comment by anyone, I'd say that is.

Of course I anticipate the standard advice that I keep my nose out of domestic affairs.

In pre-emptive response to which I refer gentle reader to my comments about this type of television programming in general, and how it affects humanity at large.

Island I would think that the only difference about my statement saying if you don't like a certain program don't watch it and your thought that if you don't like this thread stay out of it, is that if a program is switched off then there is no connection between the transmission and the reception of the viewer.
Unlike these boards all can receive the written word so it cannot be compared to a dormant television . So I would say that it is different. -jl

"Janet I agree with you.entirely. people seemed to expect too much in this type of programme. they watch Big Brother and the Celebrity in the Jungle and make no comment on that"

Who exactly are these people?

We are all entitled to our opinions are we not?

How about I say 'if you don't like this thread stay out of it'? Not nice eh? But no different from the old cliche "if you don't like it don't watch it".

"Why cannot people who don't enjoy this sort of program just switch off."

I dunno ... if your domestic television networks were airing child pornography, is that what you'd say?

Some of us think that the quality of the programming being sent out over the public airwaves matters, to society and thus to us.

I think this kind of programming is garbage. I think it is detrimental to society. I think it distracts people from genuine problems in society and interferes wtih their ability to care genuinely about people who suffer from those problems.

Baby Jessica is one example. In the two days she was stuck in that well, with the full resources of her community and her society devoted to getting her out, and people all over her country and the world glued to their teevee sets and "caring" about her, thousands of children just like her died of malnutrition and preventable diseases and had their lives destroyed by civil wars and tyranny. Did any of the people "caring" about and weeping over Baby Jessica give one of those children one thought?

How about all the "make-a-wish" type charities, that send sick kids in wealthy countries, kids getting all the medical care money can buy, to Disneyland? When people donate to those charities, do they stop to think what their money could buy for a kid at risk of dying from lack of food or lack of a simple vaccination? Life, that's what it could buy. Instead of more money in the pockets of big corporations like Disney.

If I don't like that, I shouldn't donate to it? Well I sure don't, despite the multiple spam solicitations I've been getting from that particular "charity" in the US lately. But how genuinely could I claim to care about hungry, sick kids in the world if I didn't speak out against manipulative profiteering like "make-a-wish"?

Get out your hankies, folks, we have a sad but heartwarming tale to tell you.

Don't you worry that we're all making a handsome profit from the sales our tale generates for our sponsors, both from you when you buy the dish soap from our sponsor and from all the desperate people who think that buying our own product is going to find them the happiness they deserve.

" people seemed to expect too much in this type of programme. they watch Big Brother and the Celebrity in the Jungle and make no comment on that"

I don't watch BB or Celebrity, actually Rita and I expect nothing of them, but yes there are standards I 'expect' of a programme which is dealing with this topic. The participants and those who are looking for their own relatives deserve nothing less than the best surely? That is not to be compared to 12 z list celebs getting paid huge amounts to have a few weeks in the jungle imo.


Would it not be better, don't you think, if the programme helped more of those who need help? whether I watch it is irrelevant to that question.

Rita and Janet - you are quite correct to say that peoples tastes differ. It would be a very boring world if we were all the same.

IMO, this thread is to a certain extent a backlash at the incessant posts on FB by GR, about the programme, trying to whip up emotional support (and viewing figures/product advertising). If people choose to add to a thread sharing their (empathic) viewing emotions about the programme, so be it.

The football World Cup had a similar anti thread/football free zone on the boards so those who weren't interested could say so. If there is one next year about the Olympics, I'll probably post on that as well!

Just for info - I never watched the Living Rellies programme, did watch one or 2 Big Bro episodes when it first started, just to see what the fuss was about, and avoid the Jeremy Kyle type programmes like the plague! Can't stand the celebrity in the jungle/up a tree/jumping out of a plane whatever programmes either. Or the Talent style shows - give me a good thriller/drama any day! But we all have different interests.

Empathy as previously mentioned. Yes, there is a point there, but again, whilst empathising with the loss of a mother, I certainly didn't buy into the 'Saint' Diana emotional blackmail going the rounds when she tragically (tragic because she left 2 young sons motherless) died.

Try reading the comments on the net, 4.7 million viewers, tha'ts about the ratings competition, and the hard sell of products advertised.

Sadly not about empathy ?

I don't 'enjoy' the programme no,because

a) it's really not very well made ( yes I do know a little about programme production..it's in the family you might say)

b) I think it's unfair to give no informaton to others HOW to find relatives, it's just a 'magic act' which produces some happy bunnies from a hat at the end, and leaves those who need to know how to do it still in the dark.

c) it is precisely BECAUSE of my empathy with the participants and those in similar circumstances that I would like the best possible help for all of the parties, ( on screen and the thousands who don't get that 'opportunity'). No I haven't had to seek for a parent, though I barely 'knew' my father as he died when I was a child, but I have seen at first hand a reunion which DID work out well, because it was handled slowly and carefully, in private.

Why cannot people who don't enjoy this sort of program just switch off. No-one asked hundreds of people to share the funeral of Diana, or the marriage of her son the other week. That could be described as good telly as I for one never met Diana or Prince William.( I did see her in a grumpy mood once at a Cornish show- no cameras around at the time)
This week Obama has mentioned the word that his mother taught him which was 'empathy'. Sometime people on these boards ask for 'healing thoughts' or 'prayers', they don't cost anything only time , these are for people who we don't know or we are never likely to meet.
I find these programs give food for thought as already mentioned. Wear the shoes then decide. It just makes me thankful, that even though I didn't get on with my father, at least I knew who he was.-jl

Cynthia, re Piers Morgan and the Slap, You should have a chat with Jeremy Clarkeson,Apparently he gave him a good one in a restaraunt some time ago. :D

What about the heavy advertising in the breaks.It gives the impression that you join GR and all will be revealed ?

Never mind that the records they need are not on GR and the information they want is on pay to view sites.
Are we to be expected to pay for and hand over names addresses and phone numbers willy nilly ? I don't think so.

I so agree with you RR.

So much on tv seems to be geared into making people cry in public..........why?


Piers Morgan is now known for trying to get the guests on his show to cry............why?


Is the emotional state of this country so unstable that we have to resort to having a good cry in public or watching someone else cry in public, in order to feel good about things?


Some of us prefer privacy to public outburts ..............


....and whilst I'm here.....if there is one thing I can't abide, and that's watching a reporter shoving his microphone into the face of an extremely distressed or traumatised person and asking them how they feel!

A good slap comes to mind :-(



falls off soap box...


:D

I wonder if they get paid a "Fee" for appearing on that programme? ;-).Oh and Island ,Its not the Typing thats slipping Its the Soap from the Hospital Soaps that does it, and as for Heir Hunters,can some one put me in touch as I,m losing mine Fast and would like it found before it all goes.**M**. :S :D.

well here's a thought,

if next series they cut all the faffing about in parks,driving back and forth to 'give the news on camera' ( I'd settle for a phone call or a first class stamp if it were me?!) camera angles, soft focus on Davina's eyes etc, cut the presenters by half ( save a wage), make the reunions private with just an update on screen...they could probably double the number of searches...would it be 'good tv' though, would the same number of people watch if there was less sentiment but more results for those people who desperately need them?

How altruistic could you be vs the chance to have a good cry?