slowing down

With my Anne here the TV is running non-stop.

It's often on with Tolga and I, but I tune out Tolga's football programs.

Anne's shows I can't help noticing. They are soooo LONG.

The only one I can't stand is the news. Extremely dramatic music plays while a particularly horrifying and obscure news event is played OVER and OVER again. News is the shortest program on television. It's an HOUR long.

Deal or No Deal used to play in America for 20 minutes if you took out commercial time. It's a game where 20 people have a box. One person brings their box to the hot seat and chooses different numbers to open. Each box has between $1 and $500,000, and with each revelation your chances increase or decrease. At set points in the game, a special phone rings and you are offered a deal. The point is to accept the deal, or take your chances with the boxes.

The same show played here, except it was THREE hours long. There is a lot of discussion between players about what is in his/her box. Discussions on feelings and lucky numbers, on who knows what. When the time FINALLY comes to open A box, every player is wishing for good numbers. When it benefits the player there is singing, dancing, chanting, clapping - like they are in a parade after a big win. When the box hurts the players chances, sad sad sad music comes on. Everyone hangs there heads. Some cry. Some hug.

The television shows, with paid actors, are even more dramatic. The first show I watched, I was really into the story. After an hour completed, Tolga informed that what I saw was just the "summary". The action involves LONG meaningful looks between actors, with music. I guess it leaves room to really examine the interior of a character.

Just think how much we could be missing in American TV (or even in conversation, life, etc) with our fast talking and scene changing. Our wit may have made us lose some depth.


Or maybe, those Turks are just too dramatic.