Good TV = Bad TV²

As more and more secondhand programs fill prime-time slots, the battle for originality continues: in Technicolor.

A little over two years ago, when I decided to come home after having lived abroad for many years, friends kept recommending a TV show that they promised would make me laugh so hard I would cry. They said it was the best show ever on local TV, and they waxed on in that glowing, thumbs-up critic speak: It was “original”, “fresh” and “wildly entertaining”.

I should have been a bit circumspect, but instead I nodded enthusiastically. Finally, I thought, something to look forward to; like balloons, my hopes were inflated and soaring up into the skies.

So, one evening, I sat in front of my TV set and waited excitedly for the show that many regarded as a breakthrough in local television. I was told that the guy who created the show was a genius, how he deserved to be crowned the king of entertainment.

“Wasn’t it great?” one of the friends who had recommended the show asked me the next day.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth, but I was also too angry to play along. “It’s a rip-off,” I said.

“A what?” she said, shifting in her seat, bracing to pounce on me for bashing her favorite show.

“You have been watching the Indonesian version of [an American parody].”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“That, my friend,” I said, “is what’s wrong with our TV.”

The king of entertainment, as it turned out, had also created and produced a number of other shows that, not surprisingly, were equally unoriginal. Now, I don’t have a problem with shows that borrow ideas from other shows; I think it’s naïve to think that everything has to be original. What sells in one country may sell in another, and it’s only fair to localize such shows, which means minimizing on expenses and utilizing local talents. My problem is when the localization refuses to recognize its origins and, by so doing, brands itself “‘new”.

The king of entertainment had a brief run, celebrated by almost everyone in the media, with a popularity that was both scintillating and nauseating. He swatted his most fervent critics with one hand, while the other was busy signing autographs.

Then, when cable TV became cheaper and more people were subscribing, the shows he created lost their credibility and, with it, much-needed ratings. Viewers quickly discovered they had been cheated, playing the fools in a game of Who’s got the higher ratings? Eventually, most of the shows were canceled and the king found himself demoted to a less powerful position.

I’ve got to give it to him, though. It was a brave thing to do, if not a little audacious. He may not be the genius we thought he was, but he sure is brilliant. You see, the brain is so complex that it can create splendid things out of nothing, and it can imitate the best of things for no particular reason. The thin line which separates the two often makes it easy to mistake a full-blown copyright violation for inspiration.

In TV land, a second-rate hit show is better than no hit show at all. Plus, it’s always safe to assume that viewers are ignoramuses with no sense of aesthetics, because that assumption gives certain producers and show creators an easy target for when things go wrong.

Granted, we have more than a few excellent, original shows out there. I also know there are some serious people who commit themselves to creating quality programs and, for that, I commend them. Nevertheless, sometimes effort alone is not enough. One needs a huge leap of faith, something to stand on against all odds.

I usually say, “Gone are the good old days.” But not today. Today, I want to believe things can be better. We have had better, thus we are not deprived of the possibility to rise back up on the saddle and ride into the sunset. With that in mind, I’m going to say: “There are good days ahead of us.”

Even though, at the end of the supposedly “original, fresh and wildly entertaining” show I felt my balloon of expectation deflated. Pop!

+ Maggie Tiojakin

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