I don't watch free-to-air TV.  I think many would sympathise when I say that quality programs are virtually absent from the digital channels.  Even the news 24/7 news channel by the ABC isn't that good.  We mostly watch DVDs we hire from the Civic Video, almost all of the them are scratched horribly but that's beside the point.  What has happened to the content of TV programs?

Have you ever noticed:

1) Every channel has a government-related job every night... portraying the lives of cops, detectives, fireman, public hospital doctors (except for that Gray's spinoff), lawyers, judges and people with special gifts who help all of the above (especially cops)

2) A significant portion of reality TV shows are all about the government in action... whether it's defending the border or riding with the cops while they make arrests

3) The news + analysis (e.g. Today Tonight) are woefully inadequate to the point of nausea... you seriously could miss a world war watching the news while getting up to the minute detail of a Koala crossing the road

Against this Orwellian backdrop are the popular shows like 'Dancing with the Stars' and of course 'Masterchef'.  What was particularly interesting is that more people watched the final of Masterchef than the Federal Election Debate between Gillard and Abbott.  Personally I don't blame anyone who did, I didn't watch the debate as I knew it would be a painful experience for me to sit through two politicians putting me to sleep with their propaganda... and that was our only debate for the election.  More people, if given the option, would vote for Masterchef than for either Gillard or Abbott.  But maybe that serves the Feds more than passionate interest by the electorate.  If people willingly resign the fate of the nation into the hands of two clowns, maybe we won't see the joke.

I'm not saying that there is a government conspiracy to control what most of us watch on TV, but if there was... would it look any different?