Are you woke yet?

Once upon a time, TV executives lived by the Nielsen TV Ratings. Nothing else mattered. If a show won its time slot, it survived. If it didn't, some hyper-popular show from the past like I Love Lucy or Gilligan's Island, was resurrected from the vault and substituted before viewers were tempted to spin the dial and find something to watch on a competitor's network.

These days it seems that shows will be aired regardless of audience approval until we knuckle-draggers learn to love what the networks are offering. Aren't they aware that We the People now have options?

Once upon a time, my wife and I truly enjoyed watching Dancing with Has Beens and Wannabes. The show was an excellent balance of talent and personalities and humor (provided by Tom Bergeron). Replacing Tom and his cohost, Erin Andrews, with Tyra Banks destroyed that balance for us and, it seems, a great portion of the popular audience. At least eight percent of the audience spun the dial with us, and that used to be enough to send almost any show to the chopping block.
     But not today. It seems that there are other factors driving the decisions of TV executives. I can't begin to speculate what their rationale is in this case, but it appears that many shows avoid the programmers ax by being sufficiently woke, and you and I will be forced to watch until we too are woke.
   To be perfectly honest, we spun the networks right off our dial. We replaced our cable TV service with Internet streaming and discovered foreign TV. British TV in particular, once a joke with dog trainers and horticulturalists dominating the programming schedule, has matured into watchable TV featuring well-trained actors, excellent writing, and professional production values. My wife and I have binged on several series that original aired in the British Isles, Australia, and New Zealand as well as Europe.
     Still, with the coming of each new season, we explore the new offerings on American TV, drawn I suppose like moths to the flame. We are turned away by show after show featuring the woke culture. One show in particular, demonstrates the point: La Brea.   

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My wife is the disaster film fan in our family, though I am attracted by the scenes of the destruction of Southern California which we only recently escaped. Generally, I am tempted to invest myself in another episode, however there was one plot point that caused me to reserve my decision. One of the characters caught in the trap (I am not about to reveal the plot) is purportedly a Los Angeles police officer who appears to be one of the villains in the story. She finds and attempts to hide limited food supplies from the others and then aggressively dismisses accusations when caught in the act. Those who remember watching first responders rushing into danger while victims fled in the other direction, may find this beyond their ability to suspend disbelief as I did. Sadly though, disrespect of law enforcement is a hallmark of the woke. Maybe we'll learn that the person with the badge stole it and is actually a criminal. (As I said, I am reserving judgement.)
     So there you have it. Once again I am exposing myself as not only not woke, but also vehemently opposed to the woke culture. No, I don't suppose that admission will help me attract any fans to my stories, but again, I am more concerned with the success of America than I am to my own.