some boxes are more idiotic than others

"idiot box" - a perfect companion for people like me. but unfortunately I fall in the category that's too lazy to watch a TV. In the 15-20 min of cathode ray exposure I get every fortnight, I did manage to see some differences in the media here in Switzerland.

First thing is the language. Every time I punch a random number on the remote control of the TV, the first challenge is the number of seconds I need to figure out the language they are speaking. Right now it's 2 seconds for me from the time they start speaking very slowly. I do watch the news once in a while in Italian and English. There are some programs with quality, but I don't watch them, because they require some proficiency at the local languages. I somehow end up catching a glimpse of dubbed versions of flashy american programs - from Dr.House to Numbers to Gilmore girls to Desperate housewives .. and finally feel disgusted at myself.

The next thing is that the number of advertisements is limited. That's very refreshing compared to the US where there used to be a considerable amount of commercial air time breaking the continuity of the show exactly when you can not afford to miss the next few seconds of action (unless you dont mind wasting your money on a subscription to the ad-free HBO). Although I still do not know the exact pattern of the ads here, I see that there are not as many ads for cars and definitely know Switzerland is a happy country as there are not as many ads about anti-depressants as in the US. The number of tv commericals are really high in India. Imagine watching a 2:30 hour movie over 5 hours !! It's not an exaggeration if it's a very popular and recent movie. To reduce the distractions from studies, my friend as a kid was given a choice either to watch the TV show or the commericals in between and he chose the commericals. His strategy of wasting more time always worked !! And just in case you are not sure cows flying in the skies of Switzerland and then yielding great tasty milk is a fact or fiction, look at the bottom of the TV screen for the note 'publicita' which tells you that it's an advertisement, much to your relief .. !!

Here a few samples, selected with a great bias:
milk commerical (Swiss)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vVRivrXBO5Q
lottery commerical (US)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=FhcEp6PJJnc
mobile phone commercial (India)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uNSF0WIZw2s

somehow I still like that advertisements made in India. Well, at the end, advertisements are not meant just to be pieces of art, but to touch the local sensibilities. My liking the Indian ads only shows that I am still desi at heart .. although am beginning to like the Swiss commercials as well !!