The Waste Land, by Newton Minow

CBS

Paul Cantor has an interesting article at mises.org about Newton Minow, the JFK-era chairman of the Federal Communications Commission who is best known for (a) describing television as a "vast wasteland" and (b) inspiring the name of the boat in Gilligan's Island. Cantor argues that Minow's efforts to improve TV actually made the medium blander and more risk-averse, and that the regulator's critique of television was ultimately more political than aesthetic.

Comments

[The Gobbler]

Mary Ann.

[The Gobbler]

I'll be in my bunk:

http://dummidumbwit.files.word.....island.jpg

[Fist of Etiquette]

Lovey Howell was red hot.

[WTF]

Fat, middle-aged hags think they have a right to a job.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Totally Mary Ann.

[db]

I thought it was Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale..."

[Jesse Walker]

You are correct. Alt-text fixed. Thanks.

[Clich? Bandit]

I came here to bitch profusely about that...i see I am too late, and thanks for fixing it. Also, thanks for putting that damn song in my head FOR THE REST OF THE WEEKEND!!!

[Citizen Nothing]

I never knew about the Minow/Minnow connection. Awesome.

[Robert]

I never knew either, and still not sure I believe it. It might just be a joke Schwarz made after the. OTOH, it just might've been the truth then. I'll even entertain the possibility that the name "Minnow" came first, and then he decided what kind of plot to create around it. "Who or what would be named `Minnow'? How about a small boat? Now, what kind of story could be told about a small boat that comes to no good? A wreck, of course...."

But if that was a swipe at Minow, what about the TV series named Wasteland? My friend Damon Lindelof got a job writing for that ill-fated effort; he later went on to bigger things.

[Robert]

But now that he's opened that can of worms...which Brady did the title The Brady Bunch reference?

[Aresen]

Newton Minow, the JFK-era chairman of the Federal Communications Commission who is best known for (a) describing television as a "vast wasteland"

So is a big chunk of the Namibian coast. But there are diamonds there as well.

[Law Student]

Quite a good analogy I must say.

[Alan Vanneman]

Where's the Tina Louise picture, dumb ass? I mean, this is "Reason".

[STEVE SMITH]

STEVE SMITH SAY HAPPY RAPE NIGHT TO ANAL. STEVE ASK ANAL TO REMEMBER TO UNLOCK DOOR THIS TIME. STEVE SMITH GET SPLINTERS KICKING IT DOWN LAST WEEK.

[Anal Vanneman]

HEY!!!!!!!!11!

[T]

What, your google broke?

[heller]

Here ya go

(I'm sorry)

[The Gobbler]

Better get a bucket...

[Hugh Akston]

Speaking of, how is The Walking Dead?

[Mongo]

Good fucking christ...

[Citizen Nothing]

And I hear Minow always wore the bottoms of his trousers rolled.
Wait. Wrong Eliot poem.

[SugarFree]

I wish I could throw a coconut radio at you.

[Clich? Bandit]

+ 3 hour tour.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

You'd have to pedal like mad to charge up the coconut batteries first.

[Anal Vanneman]

Same for the Chevy Volt.

[Not Anal Vanneman]

Damn. Joke. Handles.

[Hugh Akston]

Newton Minow, the JFK-era chairman of the Federal Communications Commission who is best known for (a) describing television as a "vast wasteland" and (b) inspiring the name of the boat in Gilligan's Island.

Sometimes the world is awesome.

[SugarFree]

Speaking of TV... anyone else going to watch Twin Peaks: Part Deux on AMC? Wait... I meant The Killing.

[Episiarch]

It's filmed in Vancouver, so there won't even be any Seattle on location porn.

So let's see...shitty police procedural?

No.

[SugarFree]

But every episode is a single day of the investigation! And the owls are not what they seem!

[Episiarch]

"Concerning our pest problem, somebody's been leaving food around and it's attracting owls, and I for one am getting tired of cleaning those owl traps."

[Ted S.]

I prefer the Sterling Hayden version.

[?]

May is the cruellest sweeps, ...

(I came this close to wasting my whole day rewriting the whole thing to set up a hoggin'-in-Jersey-at-closing-time joke. My god.)

[Clich? Bandit]

WOW...second verse. Since I am not old enough to have watch the original airing I guess they trimmed this on the reruns. (I initialy went looking cause that ONE DAMN LINE I always for about right before "With Gilligan and the skipper too.")

So this is the talel of the castways,
They're here for a long, long time,
They'll have to make the best of things,
It's an uphill climb.

The first mate and the Skipper too,
Will do their very best,
To make the others comfortable,
In the tropic island nest.

No phone, no lights no motor cars,
Not a single luxury,
Like Robinson Crusoe,
As primative as can be.

So join us here each week my freinds,
You're sure to get a smile,
From seven stranded castways,
Here on "Gilligan's Isle."

[Pro Libertate]

That ran at the end of the episode, didn't it?

[Jason]

Yes... even in reruns.

[Fartriloquist]

That Gilligan was no Maynard G. Krebs, that's for damn sure.

[Episiarch]

"I don't have anything against work. I just figure, why deprive somebody who really loves it."

[Area Man]

I don't own a television.
I, personally, would rather spend my time doing something useful than watch television.
It's just an idiot box, boob tube, electronic baby sitter.

I haven't had a television since 1989 when my girlfriend moved out with her set.

I'm not an elitist. It's just that I'd much rather sculpt or write in my journal or read Proust than sit there passively staring at some phosphorescent screen.

If I need a fix of passive audio-visual stimulation, I'll go to catch a Bergman or Truffaut film down at the university. I certainly wouldn't waste my time watching the so-called Learning Channel or, God forbid, any of the mind sewage the major networks pump out.

People don't realize just how much time their TV-watching habit?or, shall I say, addiction?eats up. Four hours of television a day, over the course of a month, adds up to 120 hours.

That's five entire days! Why not spend that time living your own life, instead of watching fictional people live theirs? I can't begin to tell you how happy I am not to own a television.

[The Gobbler]

"I don't own a television.
I, personally, would rather spend my time doing something useful than watch television.
It's just an idiot box, boob tube, electronic baby sitter."

Fucking smug Luddites, how do they work?

I used to sit on the Board of a non-profit that used to spew this drivel. So prior to each meeting or board retreat or whatever, I would tell her about the fascinating show I had just seen about some indigenous folk from New Guinea and how it reinforced my belief that fundamentally, humans are basically the same world-wide.

[Hugh Akston]

You should start reading The Onion before you embarrass yourself further.

[The Gobbler]

Right.

[T]

I didn't own a TV until I got married. Not through some great philosophical dislike or anything, just that I'd rather read or surf the internet.

However, the best thing about not owning a TV is the looks you get from people when you tell them. Their brains lock up for a second and you render them speechless.

[PantsFan]

That is the look of someone trying to find a polite way to say 'you're a pretentious asshole'

[Galdiator]

Are you not entertained?!

[Gladiator]

Son of a...

[Internet Czar]

Don't worry, we'll get it right this time. You guys are going to love net neutrality! After that, we'll see. I have ideas, though. Oh, yes, I have ideas...

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

I have to say Minow generally was right about one thing. TV pretty much is a vaste wasteland. I try to watch as little of it as possible.

I do like Top Gear, though - the good British version, not the crappy American version.

[PantsFan]

The US Top Gear is an aberration.

[R C Dean]

So, maybe he should have gone by Newcular Minow?

[Pro Libertate]

It somehow lacks the impact of Newcular Titties. Not sure why.

[Pro Libertate]

And, of course, it leaves out the "T".

[creech]

This is the same crusader who managed to have the FCC ignore the monopoly license status of tv station KTBC in Austin, Tx. It was the largest city in the U.S. with only one VHF license, which license was in the hands of Lady Bird Johnson. I'm sure the power wielded by her husband, LBJ, had nothing to do with this monopoly status.

[R C Dean]

Fucking smug Luddites, how do they work?

By candlelight?

[Smug Luddite]

We don't even own a candle at our hovel. The sun and moon all we need.

[Allen]

Yes,that's it