Disappointed is an understatement.
When I was young (er :lol), here in Malta (70's / 80's) we used to have
- 1 State channel (load of crap .... and still is :lol)
- 3 Italian Channels that barely reached our shores.
But I used to look forward to watching Zorro, Bugs Bunny etc etc ..... in Black and white. Though the state channel did have some cool series I used to look forward to like Mission Impossible, Kung Fu, Maxwell Smart etc etc.
In the very earlier days my grandfather used to sit by my side, translating what they were saying. Maltese, English and Italian were equally second nature to us. Plus French in schools etc, and my generation spoke at least 3 or 4 languages.
Roll on to the 80's, and antennae with, wow, boosters, flood the island.
10+ Italian Channels to now choose from !
And in colour !!!!
Best were Saturday mornings ... back to back of A-Team, Knight Rider, I Dream of Jeannie re-runs and TONS of others + anime etc.
And a choice of 2 or 3 movies in the evening !
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So in rolls the past 20 years or so and enter cable TV & Satellite.
Kids have hundreds of channels ...... and never watch any Italian Station.
They all speak English, struggle greatly with Maltese, and have difficulty grasping the basics of French. Italian might as well be Japanese to them.
If I want to watch a movie, I have to pay extra for it. It's cheaper to just buy movies from Play and have a library.
If I want to watch a series, they are flooded with adverts. So I just buy the sets too.
I turn to any Discovery channel ..... and its the same programmes regurgitated ad nauseum. Yes, there are some good ones, but as they say, history does repeat itself :lol
Ghosts, operations, ER's, accidents, fat people and their daily lives, thin people and their daily lives, cameras in any household, shop or location you can think of, just showing ........ daily lives.
Nowadays, I switch to TV when I've finished watching a DVD, and leave it on as a background, timed for an hour, just so I can fall asleep.
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Disappointed is an understatement.
It was so much better, in more ways than one, 30-40 years ago.