i had an idea the other night that i haven't written down because i haven't come up with a conclusion to it. and it isn't keeping me from writing about other things, because i have no other things. so conclude what you will.

where i live, if not throughout the states [perhaps canada and other countries as well?], certain things are relegated to late-night television.

1. pornographic material. i'm sure you can get it whenever you want if you pay, but on normal channals it isn't on until late at night. call it soft porn, b-movies, or t & a, it's porn. it is on late to keep kids from seeing it, so it is said, and i don't see any reason to assume otherwise.

2. low-quality [or at least usually low-rated] television programs. whether it be bad old tv such as nick-at-nite or tv land, or bad new tv on any number of other cable channals. it has this time slot for the same reason ground meat is scary, filler. [well one of the reasons anyway.]

3. infomercials. besides the ones that fall under rule #1, they too find their purpose at these hours to be filler. profitable filler, no less, for either the station or the cable company, depending on who exactly has the deal. also, it seems likely that anyone up at these hours, other than people with crazy shifts at work, are out of their mind and willing to buy whatever steaming vacuum cooker knife they can get with their 4 easy monthly payments. [3 if they call within the next 20min of course.]

4. public service announcements. while most are aimed specifically at kids, they are shown at an hour that most children are expected to be asleep, see #1. each station has to devote a certain amount of airtime each day to psa's, so they are often lumped together when revenue losses will be the lowest. the message doesn't seem to be important either, as the same one will often repeat itself in lieu of, say, avoiding monotony.

i doubt if it would make a difference if public service messages were run during the day, but this letting companies slide around the rules is a horrible tradition. one that will never change because nature abhors a vacuum. no, wait, because good ol'boy politicians loves them some tradition. sorry, i guess i got my principles mixed up.

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