If my daughter wants to watch something good she dials it up on YouTube. If I want to watch something good I put in a DVD. The concept of passively sitting in front of a television -- even one with fifty channels -- digesting whatever the broadcasting powers choose to thrust in front of us will soon be regarded as laughably archaic.

Remember: nobody can make you watch television without your consent.

It's hard to disagree with Peter's viewpoint. We tried to watch 'Randling'. I think we lasted about 15 minutes before turning it off. As to ABC current affairs programmes, we gave those up years ago. How many apologists for the Greens must long suffering taxpayers pay for?

Re Randling. Thankfully we have two recorders and can decide what we want to watch and when.
ABC please stick to current affairs at which you excel. Oh and repeats of UK who dunnits as well of course.

Peter West is WRONG WRONG WRONG about ABC.

He is WRONG!

ABC does NOT stand for "Anything But Comic."

ABC stands for Affectation, Bunkum & Cant

But it is so ham handed and unsubtle about its agenda that it ends up being hilarious.

The ABC is a parody of itself.

Its (unintentional) comedian in chief is Tony Jones. Q & A and Lateline are the funniest programs to be found anywhere on TV. Lateline is especially funny when Tony Jones tries to put words into the mouths of his interviewees.

I remember one classic during Howard's time. Some minister had said something disparaging about Indonesia. Jones, interviewing an Indonesian diplomat, opened along the lines of "Just how much damage has the So and So's statement done to Australia's relations with Indonesia?"

What made the segment so funny is that it soon became apparent that the hapless diplomat had no clue what Jones was prattling about.

No, when it comes to comedy ABC viewers have nothing to complain about.

But serious, dispassionate analysis? keeping its viewers informed? It's a wasteland.

I too am one of the many thousands turning away from the ABC - unfortunately for me both television and radio. I have been a devotee of both media for many years however my loyalty is being pushed beyond all limits at the moment.'Randling' sure ain't funnerer - it is, as the author suggests, simply a vehicle for getting Dentons sneering mug on the box as a Stephen Fry wannabe. 'Australian Story' would be better screened on channel 10 at 6.30pm (provided with a vast supply of tissues) and Compass defies comment. I am even tiring of the relentless reruns of 'Midsomer' and 'Grand Designs'. But there is no alternative so it is being turned off. However even my 'fallback position' of ABC Classic FM to which I have been an avid listener has been hijacked by World Music, techno funk and hillbilly banjos and who knows what else. The common factor of my regular FM listening times, that of the early morning and drive programs is that both are hosted by women who seem hell bent on destroying the Classic content of Classic FM. Why are ABC program managers of both media so determined to fix something that wasn't broken. Unfortunately now both are broken - really badly.

Thanks, Peter West, for saying so well what needed to be said. "so we have a tedious evening of people trying to be funny." Well no, not exactly. The incessant hyena-ical [forgive, just made it up] promos were so spectacularly bad that I knew I'd never watch it. And another matter, ABC, I now mute all your promos, as I always have done for commercial programs. Very poor show to raise the decibel level so high just because you're advertising yourself...too frequently,too loudly.
And, why aim, so poorly, for younger viewers when the whole population is aging. But, at least we're catching up with books we haven't read. Every cloud...