Nothing on TV

 An artifact of modern world, TV is a great invention that helps you enjoy the visuals from a far off place. Nah that is old school definition of Television. 

In olden days, it is true that TV was the only way we could enjoy a match happening in London broadcasted to millions all around the world. With advances in communication systems, in today's fast paced world, people catch up a lot on their smaller screens - be it Whatsapp video calls, Facebook live, or even all the recorded stuff on social media.

So what is the relevance of the phrase "nothing on TV"?

If we go back three decades, TV was the major source of entertainment on a normal day, replacing the radio and adding colors to the lives of many. Back then, nothing on TV meant despair, gloom and anguish. Nothing on TV could be due to power cuts attributed to bad weather. It could be due to the nasty cable operator who wants to do maintenance of his equipment right when I want to watch something interesting. Due to sheer bad timing when the programmes that were being broadcasted on every goddamn channel (well there was only a few!!) were boring news which gave birth to the phase "There is nothing on TV for me to watch"

Fast forward a decade and boom in number of satellite channels meant that there is always something interesting going on in many channels that would keep us glued to the sofa and our eyes glued to the TV in the living room. A plethora of choice only resulted in poor remote control buttons being squished every few minutes. Yet nothing on TV was a reality. You keep switching channels to find an interesting TV show but sometimes you end up just cycling through them with boredom.

Then came the era of satellite TV receivers which would show the dreaded "No signal" message on a black screen on the slightest of rain showers. And more often than not, this would happen when you are watching your favorite TV serial or movie and there is a cliffhanger. Or when Sachin is on 99 and facing Wasim Akram in a fiery spell of good fast bowling (cricket enthusiasts would relate to this).

Finally, in the internet era, TV is an extension of your small screen device (through Chromecast or Airplay) or a smart TV to stream content from the internet. In countries like India, power cuts could still cause the TV unusable and nasty cable operator is replaced by internet service provider. In developed countries where electricity and internet disruption is a rare event, nothing on TV is still a reality!!! Guess what??

A pitch black scene from a movie playing on the most advanced LED TV would confuse many as TV going blank. "Why is there nothing on TV"?

Did you get it right?

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