TV

I am eight
When we get
Our first TV set
An old black and
White that our Dad
Has taped a plastic
Sheet blue on top green
On the bottom clear between
Which we all deplore but in time
We get a color TV only to find years
Later that Ted Turner had put the
Plastic sheet of blue clear green
Back on all the old black and
White movies we had loved
As kids and I wonder how
Such a smart guy would
Buy such a bad idea as
Colorizing old black
And white movies
But we do tend
To kill the
Goose
That
Lays
Golden
Eggs just
As we colorize
Old movies or chop off
The sides off widescreen
Movies to show only the center
Or worst of all to drift out of greed
From seven minutes of commercials
Per hour to nearly half an hour per
Hour of selling junk chopping up
Any shows or movies into bits
To be edited down to tiny
Bits over time all to sate
The greed of adverts
Nobody wants to
See or hear and
What used to
Be TV media
Journalism
In news
All we
Have left
Is opinion slurs
By readers who are
Too dumb to be tolerated
At any party or picnic the kind
Of boor or biddy we would politely
Walk away from on any excuse
But who are deemed perfect
For TV media propaganda
Thinly disguised as news
But plainly just hype or
Spin to steer those
Who want to be
Told what to
Think then
Repeating
Lies with
More
Lies.
A long
Way from
Cartoons on
A Saturday morning
Or written for TV dramas
From the early 1950s when
Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca
Got us to laugh and shows like Our
Miss Brooks or Mr. Peepers had
More wit than commercials
But I suppose there will
Be some good soul
Who jumps to
Defend free
Enterprise
Over any
Sense of
Good taste
Or proportion
Both of which require
Infinite care to cultivate.
But, that’s another poem.