RESPONSIBLE TV PROGRAMMING

RESPONSIBLE TV PROGRAMMING I LIKE watching good movies. I ENJOY documentaries especially the ones of historical genre. But it never occurred to me that I'd get hooked on TV series! Once a week, I always look forward to two TV series via NHK. 1]. IT IS always a pleasure to watch the series on SAMURAIs. It depicts the realities of the past in medieval Japan. The storyline is based on documented history. With elaborate costumes, props and sets, the viewer is transformed back in time. WATCHING the series makes one feel how people in the old EDO lived: the way they dress, the way women were treated, the kind of food they eat, the hairstyle, almost everything! I LEARN a lot more by just watching these series than by reading the volumes before me. Of course, nothing can compare with the printed ones, but the TV medium delivers more: it can make the needed impact on the young's minds. Try teaching a bunch of kids with the moving pictures and you'll get great results. 2]. I NEVER thought I'd be interested in this one: a KOREAN story about the women who prepared the dishes for the Korean Royal Family hundred years ago. For lack of something good to do, I turned on the tube several moons ago. I switched channels and, finding the shows not to my liking, stopped with this Korean thing. I knew I wouldn't be interested so I started to surf the net, WHILE listening to the Koreanovela. [You see, I always turn on the TV, radio, or listen to Japanese music to saturate my ears with Nippongo. This is part of my plan: to be able to 'catch' Nippongo as used by the natives.] As the story went on, I found myself glued to the tube. "This is interesting!" I thought. Cooking here seems to be an art. Of course there are intrigues along the way, but one can glimpse how it was during that era. It seems similar to the Daimyo's and the Samurai's men: they all fight for recognition and positions. BUT this isn't like the others in one way: they explain the proper cooking, preparation of food, and why, benefits, et cetera. I needed that! I have been following it up ever since. Besides, I have tried cooking the same way these Cooks did a thousand years ago and the result was fantastic! Not only are they healthy, they taste great as well. I feel proud to say that I am learning here.... TV VIEWING must impart something to viewers. Most of what I've seen in Inang Bayan are garbage: slapstick comedies, or just plain chizmiz. Neither am I interested in showbiz balita. I always skip that while in Manila. I don't have the patience to watch these artistas while they make fools of the viewing public...and I refuse to be part of the fools who watch them. I have watched a few talk shows which are real good but find the rest wanting in my search for relevant information. Then there is that 'lady' talk show host who is so arrogant her body language speaks volume. I reject that, too. TELEVISION PROGRAMS have a long way to go as far as output is concerned. TV Networks are out for QUANTITY [ ratings and money] ONLY rather than giving QUALITY programs. HOW I wish we have real good shows in Inang Bayan: --------something that can dessiminate true information to the public; -------something that viewers will remember for the rest of their lives; -------something that will leave an impact into the consciousness of the Filipino; -------something that can go beyond time, and era, and bespeak of a culture that can make a nation proud; -------something that informs, teaches, instills good Filipino Value. COME to think of it, do we have responsible TV programming in the country? MERON NGA BA?