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Network TV: Does it deserve to live?
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I am tickled to continue my 43-year tradition of obtaining the Fall Preview “TV Guide,” but Associated Press TV critic Frazier Moore seems despondent about the state of the five over-the-air “legacy networks” (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and CW).Like a parent tired of making excuses for slacker offspring, Moore insists the broadcast networks have surrendered to cable TV and streaming services, resigning themselves to cranking out safe, predictable, unimaginative “comfort food” programming (and presumably not re-filling the gas tank when they borrow the family car).Certainly, I enjoy non-broadcast programs such as “The Crown,” “Annedroids” and “Outlander”; but I think God will forgive me for also liking my well-worn jeans, comfort food at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and dopey dad sitcoms. I’m okay with “This Is Us” and “Life In Pieces” being pleasant aberrations rather than The New Normal.Methinks Moore doth protest too much. Even at its most formulaic, the gore, language and topics on current network TV are (for good or ill) far removed from the days when “story arcs” didn’t exist, Ed Sullivan made the Rolling Stones change “Let’s Spend The Night Together” to “Let’s Spend Some Time Together” and network censors freaked out over scripts that required private eye Jim Rockford to deliver a karate chop.Effete snobs may feel cheated if network TV isn’t constantly “challenging” them; but most working-class people (unless they’re Gomer Pyle) DON’T watch the timeclock in hopes of rushing home and being challenged. (“Halt!