Thai Tv: It It Really As Bad As I Think.

[Richb2004v2]

I just can’t decide if Thai TV is as terrible as I think it is, or am I genuinely missing something? I do not speak anywhere enough of the language to pick up what is being said so there is every possibility that what’s being said is not as mindless as it seems. I could be being overly hard on the Thais.

Recently I have been spending a lot of time around the Tv in the evening than usual. The vast majority of the programs seem to be abysmal looking game shows and celebrity chat shows. A lot of these shows are fronted by or include the same group of a few Thais, including a small chubby boy/man, a middle aged transvestite, a spiky haired bloke and various high so type women and mop topped youths. Then of course we have the ever present ‘boing’ noise and play back loops (covered by me before). This is accompanied by pointless censorship and pixilation of all kinds of things, including cartoons.

I have recently seen several Japanese and Korean game shows dubbed into Thai, which seems totally ridiculous to me. Plus the dubbing is in the most irritating voice that I don’t even think is normal for Thais.

But I am beginning to question if I am right. I am sure that it is generally poor, but is it really as terrible as I think? Last Saturday I found myself aghast at what seemed to be a quite pathetic singing show/contest. I thought that this was particularly bad for a Saturday evenings entertainment. But then I realized that at home in the UK the same format show, of ‘Pop Idol’ was probably been shown. And celebrity seems to be an obsession all over the world.

I also get in a twist at the number of transvestite and mincing gays included in almost every show, but again my home country, the Uk, has plenty of them included in TV shows. Don't take offense at this. I just find it annoying that they seem to be a requirement on every show.

A lot of the late evening shows here seem to me to be basically kid’s style shows seemingly watched by adults. But I have seen one or two shows with some interesting content, but again in a childish format. I saw a program a few evenings ago at around 9pm all about ostriches farmed in Thailand. It did seem to be in a childish format and at a strange time of night though, but it was at least a little but interesting. And there are wildlife programs on quite often.

Lately there seems to be a nightly airing of propaganda on a subject I had best not mention. This I also find appalling.

I know this topic has been mentioned before, even by me, but I am interested in if I am being too critical and what others really think.

[Neeranam]

People in my country were/are glued to Coronation Street and shows like the Generation Game.

On ITV tonight there is great tv - 7pm - Emmerdale farm then You've been framed.

I'd rather Thai tv anyday.

[IanForbes]

Yes, Thai television IS as bad as it seems, but, it is understandable. Television can't be everything to everyone unless you have a satelite TV. Thai television tries to cater to a very broad foreign market as well as the locals who don't speak English. That means dividing the 40 or so channels into a somewhat balance for everyone but suits nobody.

On top of that it seems that Thais have a very different viewpoint on humour. Just watch any of the stupid slapstick stuff they show on the long haul busses and you'll understand what I mean. I have to wear ear muffs and close my eyes to shut it off. Meanwhile I hear Thais laughing at the drivel.

[Richb2004v2]

People in my country were/are glued to Coronation Street and shows like the Generation Game.

On ITV tonight there is great tv - 7pm - Emmerdale farm then You've been framed.

I'd rather Thai tv anyday.

That's a fair comment, but that sounds to me like you are in the UK right now. Probably you're not actually exposed to Thai TV in a big way then. In Thailand 'Coronation Street' would be the equivalent of cutting edge drama, and 'The Generation Game' is about as sophisticated as Thai TV game shows get, but with an infinite amount more flashing lights, 'boing' noises and advertising.

[Moonrakers]

I don't pay much attention to it really, but the I never did in the UK unless there was something specific that I wanted to watch.

There doe's seem little in the way of educational programmes though. Most of it just seems to be 'boing' 'boing' 'wheep' 'tsch' ' boing' ' wannng' 'boing' (You know what I mean)

[mauGR1]

Almost every week my GF i asking for tv,she even offer to bring hers from her home and pay for the aerie herself.I say no, tv is not allowed in my home since 25 years.I have a very bad opinion of tv in general.

Well,except for some interesting football game,but for that there are plenty of tvs around

I agree with the op,Thai tv programs are mostly appalling,but the same can be said everywhere.big brother is a reality.

[Geekfreaklover]

Lets face it. It's dross. Look at the soaps; Beautiful Rich Hi-so Thais in luxery apartments attacking each other with weapons and feeding each other posion. It's like 'Dallas' on steroids.

The game and entertainment shows. Spare me. I have never, after years and years of watching Thai TV seen anything remotely funny. For Thais, Mr Bean is high-brow intellectual humour.

Then theres the sport. Watching the football the other day - commercial breaks appear on the screen the moment the ball goes out of play.

The only saving grace for me is the odd nature documentory and muay Thai.

[DP25]

A lot of these shows are fronted by or include the same group of a few Thais, including a small chubby boy/man, a middle aged transvestite, a spiky haired bloke and various high so type women and mop topped youths.

Some of them also have a midget, an obese woman, and a ghost face man who appears to have Down's Syndrome.

[IanForbes]

Almost every week my GF i asking for tv,she even offer to bring hers from her home and pay for the aerie herself.I say no, tv is not allowed in my home since 25 years.I have a very bad opinion of tv in general.

Well,except for some interesting football game,but for that there are plenty of tvs around

I agree with the op,Thai tv programs are mostly appalling,but the same can be said everywhere.big brother is a reality.

A man after my own heart, mauGR1. When my kids were growing up I insisted on NOT having a TV in the house. It took away from the time we spent together as a family. I have a funny story how I finally broke down and bought one.

My daughter had a friend whose father owned a motel. When they were upgrading their B&W televisions to colour they gave my daughter one of the old ones. I came home one day to see a TV in my living room. I was pissed off but got out voted by my wife, daughter and son. Majority rules, but I wasn't happy with the situation because just as I suspected, we no longer did anything as a family together in the evening.

Then, one evening when my wife and I went out with friends, while our children stayed home to watch TV (ages 12 & 10). However, we kept getting phone calls... first from one kid and then the other. They were complaining that their sibling wouldn't watch the program they wanted to watch. I said if there was one more complaint I'd throw the TV off the balcony (10 foot drop) into the bushes below our home. Sure enough there was another phone call and when I got home that evening I took great pleasure throwing the TV off the balcony in the rain. I was expecting it to break into a multitude of pieces, but it just landed with a thump and rolled down the embankment. I figured that's that and I re-arranged my easy chair where I wanted it.

The next day I came home to see the TV back in place and my daughter sitting behind it with bulldog look on her face, all the parts on the floor and a screwdriver in her hand. I laughed and said no way, but the little bugger got it going again. RCA made them tough in those days. I figured I had been out voted by God and the next day bought a brand new colour TV... True story.

[longstebe]

The acting seems quite pathetic.

But I'm a sucker for watching the wifes face glued to the box. It makes me laugh.

She has been spoilt whilst in the U.S with all the channels (non Thai).

Being back in LOS all she talks about is CSI Miami,American idol,hells kitchen and top model

and how much she misses them.When I arrive I'll be forced into paying for cable.

[WeeGB]

People in my country were/are glued to Coronation Street and shows like the Generation Game.

On ITV tonight there is great tv - 7pm - Emmerdale farm then You've been framed.

I'd rather Thai tv anyday.

Two of my wife's (who's Thai), favourite shows - funny old world eh?

She was even more annoyed than I was, when turdvision dropped the BBC entertainment channel, now she can't see her all-time favourite show, Little Britain, with her favourite characters Dudley & Ting Tong, the Thai mail order ladyboy.

Back to the topic, what really annoys me about Thai TV is the inherent racism involved. There are very few what I would call real Thais (brown skinned people) involved. When they are, it's usually as badly treated servants to the rich hi-so's that seem to dominate on TV here. The normal everyday lifestyles of the vast majority of Thai folks are almost totally ignored. It seems that everything is focused on various stories about the mindless antics of the extremely violent, badly behaved, select few. I find it truly amazing that after watching this drivel night after night, that Thai children are so well behaved.

OK rant over, please note that this is not intended as a racist posting, but as an anti-racist one.

[simon43]

Like MauGR!, I do not possess a TV. If I need to catch up on the news then I can check the BBC website etc. Thai TV is truly appalling to watch, especially if the viewer is more than 3 years old or has an IQ higher than 85.

Any programmes that are more 'serious' in their content tend to be totally biased because the TV channel that airs the programme is either pro-government, pro-yellow shirt, pro red shirt, pro-police, pro-army or pro-buddhist. The Thai people never seem to ge an unbiased view of Thailand/Asia/world politics/religion etc. That's the result of allowing those with their own 'agenda' to own TV and radio channels.

Simon

[zzaa09]

I quite enjoy Thai television. Programming content has matured greatly even in 10-15 years. Some Thai TV content is quality and then, of course, and then some content is quite silly - like TV everywhere. That's as regular broadcasting goes.....Thai TV within the satellite and cable systems is expanding in quality.

[geronimo]

I just can’t decide if Thai TV is as terrible as I think it is, or am I genuinely missing something? I do not speak anywhere enough of the language to pick up what is being said so there is every possibility that what’s being said is not as mindless as it seems. I could be being overly hard on the Thais.

Recently I have been spending a lot of time around the Tv in the evening than usual. The vast majority of the programs seem to be abysmal looking game shows and celebrity chat shows. A lot of these shows are fronted by or include the same group of a few Thais, including a small chubby boy/man, a middle aged transvestite, a spiky haired bloke and various high so type women and mop topped youths. Then of course we have the ever present ‘boing’ noise and play back loops (covered by me before). This is accompanied by pointless censorship and pixilation of all kinds of things, including cartoons.

I have recently seen several Japanese and Korean game shows dubbed into Thai, which seems totally ridiculous to me. Plus the dubbing is in the most irritating voice that I don’t even think is normal for Thais.

But I am beginning to question if I am right. I am sure that it is generally poor, but is it really as terrible as I think? Last Saturday I found myself aghast at what seemed to be a quite pathetic singing show/contest. I thought that this was particularly bad for a Saturday evenings entertainment. But then I realized that at home in the UK the same format show, of ‘Pop Idol’ was probably been shown. And celebrity seems to be an obsession all over the world.

I also get in a twist at the number of transvestite and mincing gays included in almost every show, but again my home country, the Uk, has plenty of them included in TV shows. Don't take offense at this. I just find it annoying that they seem to be a requirement on every show.

A lot of the late evening shows here seem to me to be basically kid’s style shows seemingly watched by adults. But I have seen one or two shows with some interesting content, but again in a childish format. I saw a program a few evenings ago at around 9pm all about ostriches farmed in Thailand. It did seem to be in a childish format and at a strange time of night though, but it was at least a little but interesting. And there are wildlife programs on quite often.

Lately there seems to be a nightly airing of propaganda on a subject I had best not mention. This I also find appalling.

I know this topic has been mentioned before, even by me, but I am interested in if I am being too critical and what others really think.

As a fluent Thai speaker, I can tell you that a majority of Thai TV is abysmal. The real bad ones are the Thai soaps, always a rich family, coupled with either an inheritance struggle or the Mia Noi situation. I used to think it was down to the inability of the makers, however I've since found out that they are providing the content that the masses want. In short, watching it leaves one totally void of any thought and is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

Kop Nork Gala (frog outside the cocunut shell) is very good. Every week they select something, like watches. They then go to the factory and follow the manufacturing process from start to finish. Very informative and well put together. It's on every friday evening (not sure which channel)

[sassienie]

Want to know why their are so many crazy Farangs living in Thailand?

2 years ago Immigration brought in a new form of punishment for those who had let their visas expire.

These people were locked in a padded cell for 48 hours with a TV showing non stop Thai soap operas. These TVs have no means of being switched off and are controlled by the police.

After only 5 hours the Farangs went completely insane.

Edited July 28, 2009 by sassienie

[zzaa09]

Want to know why their are so many crazy Farangs living in Thailand?

2 years ago Immigration brought in a new form of punishment for those who had let their visas expire.

These people were locked in a padded cell for 48 hours with a TV showing non stop Thai soap operas. These TVs have no means of being switched off and are controlled by the police.

After only 5 hours the Farangs went completely insane.

[njpski]

Free to air TV world-wide is ordinary, to expect Thailand's to be superior is just an excuse to Thai bash

[bannork]

Watch Thai PBS (Channel 11- free TV) from 18.00 to 18.50) Mon to Fr, there's good documentaries translated into Thai, this week is Columbus's exploration\ invasion of Central and S. America. Good news analysis later in the evening.

Channel 9 has some interesting talk shows, people who have had to struggle in life, and Khao khon Khon Khao at 21.40, an analysis of the day's news can be informative.

Of course if your better half has the remote and she's a soap opera fan, you'd better buy another telly or retreat to the internet.

[Birdman]

Most of Thai TV could not be shown in the West, because it would beat even Western soap operas and game shows in simplicity by lengths. However Thais enjoy it more then Western viewers enjoy their TV programs.

By understanding the language, it is not possible for me to watch a prime time soap opera longer then 10 minutes. All is very, very banal, the lights, the dialogue, the acting, the plot ...but Thais love that.

On the other hand for instance, I showed my wife a picture of a gay parade where gays act like horses, which was very funny to me, but no funny at all to her.

Edited July 29, 2009 by Birdman

[trainman34014]

Want to know why their are so many crazy Farangs living in Thailand?

2 years ago Immigration brought in a new form of punishment for those who had let their visas expire.

These people were locked in a padded cell for 48 hours with a TV showing non stop Thai soap operas. These TVs have no means of being switched off and are controlled by the police.

After only 5 hours the Farangs went completely insane.

You don't have to be locked in a cell to go mad watching most of Thai TV. However; there are one or two moments of 'Spirit Asia' worth watching from time to time and just recently we have new prog's have appeared about Plane crash investigation and World Railway Adventures. Maybe there is intelligent life somewhere in the corridors of Thai TV stations!

[Richb2004v2]

Free to air TV world-wide is ordinary, to expect Thailand's to be superior is just an excuse to Thai bash

Not true. In the Uk there is a lot of outstanding free to air content, or at least there used to be. Watching a 90's Uk TV drama on DVD and then switching it off to see a Thai soap was what got me thinking about the subject.

Looking at it from another angle, the DVD I was watching was a cop drama, which once over there seemed to be an abundance of on TV in the UK. A Thai might see that situation and think 'why do the ferang watch nothing but gritty crime drama's?'

[toptuan]

To restore your faith in the quality of Thai TV, just soak in Academie Fantasia for an evening!

[delmersomsri]

Hate Thai TV myself. Even my Thai wife says it's terrible! There seems to be only a handful of people doing the dub overs and their voices are so down right irritating. The women doing the screaming and yelling have a voice that just sends me into fits of torment. Told my wife that if Thai women really sounded like that no man would get close to them. Do they do that to imply emotion and/or dramma? Westerners use the spoken word, or music, not the pitch or screach to imply emotions and/or dramma. Asean's have not got it yet. I do see some hope for Thai TV as some evening (THAI) drama programs seem to be more realistic. Lose the dub overs ! Get rid of the stupid, mindless programs for the masses. After all this, who's in front of the TV? My in-laws!

[a2396]

Same as American, 90% crap.

[Richb2004v2]

Same as American, 90% crap.

Apart from all those great HBO series we all like, and those half decent comedy's .

[sunholidaysun1]

Thai TV would be ok if they took OFF the bald headed freak with big ears teaching them English

[zzaa09]

Thai TV would be ok if they took OFF the bald headed freak with big ears teaching them English

Yeah. Does come across rather goofy.

[Birdman]

Thai TV would be ok if they took OFF the bald headed freak with big ears teaching them English

Good point, while some Westerners would associate with that guy a ridiculous appearance, Thais love him for his behaviour.

What about Christy & Jonas, BTW?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJREDokAo58...feature=related

[Richb2004v2]

It is as bad as I think.

As I sit typing this, in the back ground my wife is watching a soap in which two high so girls are fighting each other on the ground in slow motion to a soundtrack of evil music. I must have seen this scene in every one of these soaps that I've had the misfortune to see. Oh dear, now the evil high so girl is saying something to camera with a pantomime treacherous look on her face whilst the music gets darker and the camera slowly pans in on her face.

I can't take it anymore. I'm going to go and jump off the balcony.

[MarkyM3]

Free to air TV world-wide is ordinary, to expect Thailand's to be superior is just an excuse to Thai bash

Not true. In the Uk there is a lot of outstanding free to air content, or at least there used to be. Watching a 90's Uk TV drama on DVD and then switching it off to see a Thai soap was what got me thinking about the subject.

Looking at it from another angle, the DVD I was watching was a cop drama, which once over there seemed to be an abundance of on TV in the UK. A Thai might see that situation and think 'why do the ferang watch nothing but gritty crime drama's?'

Agree UK TV compares favourably with other countries. Now most areas are converted over to digital transmissions, with a fair selection of "free to air" channels available via Freeview. Much more available with satellite or cable subscriptions of course. Freeview HD is next on the horizon - does Thailand have digital/HD broadcasting yet????

I guess it's worth pointing out that TV in the UK isn't entirely free. The annual licence fee is about £140 nowadays.

Enjoy those Thai soaps LOL. Seen a fair selection during my time there and yes they are awful!