The Obliteration Of Childhood Entertainment

Browsing through the channels on our TV sets, we're bound to come across something worth watching eventually. Of course, the painful wade through the varied bog of shows is another matter altogether. After glaring back at a news reporters blank face, raising your eyebrows at wrestling and magic shows and gaping openmouthed at most of the 'reality' shows playing, the odds are that you would just settle down reluctantly with a second-rate movie in the Movies section of Tata Sky. Often not in it's original language. With the sound off. Playing for the fourth time that day.

The sad reality is that almost nobody ever ventures into the realm of cartoon TV shows anymore. It's impossible to hear the earlier platitudes of 'Turn on the TV at 6, Tom and Jerry is on!' or 'Stay away from that remote! I'm watching Batman and if you change the channel I swear I'll...' and other such pleasantries. 

Unfortunately, these phrases have been vanquished and cleanly wiped off the face of televised entertainment: just some crackly static in our memories. Once upon a time, on a screen far far away, a show was aired, one loved and adored by all, called Scooby Doo. It was amazingly entertaining, surprisingly durable and completely unforgettable. And then one day it stopped. Instead, eagerly drooling kids were met with a show called Perman, which between you and me, was essentially as horrendous as getting slapped in the face with a large soggy wet fish. 

It's lamentable that these titans of shows have begun to fade slowly of out broadcasting stations, and even more so due to the unbearable lack of content and quality of their successors. I can hardly imagine somebody snuggling up in bed with a big pillow, happily roaring away with uncontrollable laughter while watching something as balmy as Ninja Hattori. Unless of course they've lost most of the cognitive functions of their brains, which to be honest, wouldn't be all that surprising with all these shows floating around. Pop-eye? Accepted. The Suite Life Of Karan And Kabir? Oh god no. Violently rejected.

I sincerely hope that Scooby Doo, and other shows that are sorely missed, can pop back for some time, at least to try to counteract the damage these 'shows' have caused in the Indian television industry. Old shows like The Laff-a-Lympics were incomparable in everything, from the enjoyability factor to creativity, although admittedly, I doubt we could watch that show alone for more than two hours in a go...CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.