Maybe effort in making speculative shows
encourage the big lie to stay alive. I don't watch tv often, but if I have it on, the slick production of shows about fantastic animals such as Bigfoot or Thunderbirds, or unexplainable events, such as strange disappearancesm or UFOs, even the origins of humankind, mysterious pyramids, ancient aliens, indicate a lot of entertainment dollars went into each episode. I say entertainment, because so many of these subjects might never be explained to complete satisfaction, and the only value in their perpetuation is getting people to tune because there isn't anything else on. Anyway, if people watch these shows, and get pulled into the slick production, and the earnest explanation of some fantastical thing (today I heard a guy seriously saying the giant moths or birds seen in Point Pleasant were mutants because of oil pollution), who isn't going to think there might be a grain of truth in the yarn they are unravelling? A tv show is a lot easier to swallow whole than those paperpbacks from the 1960s. And how easy is it to transfer a gullible mindset from Bigfoot to Big Lie? And then believe it all, with no question.
I canceled cable TV about 3 years ago. I don't miss it, but when I go let the granddogs out, or stay with the grandkids, I'll turn their tv on. If I get tired of hearing the weather, I'll tune into the History Channel, and watch a few minutes