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By Geri Anne Kaikowski – [email protected] – (570) 991-6121

TV viewing is getting boring and it’s all the 21st century’s fault.While TV technology has changed the way we watch our favorite shows, it certainly hasn’t improved what we’re watching on TV.

I mean, seriously, the old-fashioned way of doing things translated itself better to the small screen.

I’ve watched some police dramas recently and I’ve been downright bored at the lack of action and the loss of a visually compelling screen. Whodunit? Who cares?

Technology is great, it makes things look better, but the actual technological things look boring. Who wants to watch someone at a computer all day?

So, at the risk of being branded low-tech or old-fashioned or resistant to change, I’m making a case for bringing back the typewriter, the rotary phone and other oldies but goodies.

I mean, gadgets are good if you’re watching a James Bond movie, but cellphone use on the tube is mundane.

Consider this: Wouldn’t you rather see someone being chased down the street and then duck into a phone booth and call someone for help and have only one quarter in his pocket or someone whip out the iPhone from his jacket pocket in a dark alley? And he bought the family plan from Sprint so he’s probably good for awhile.

Or, how about the good old days when someone who was wrongly incriminated would break into an office and comb through file folders for proof while we would sit on the edge of our seats biting our nails just knowing that they could be caught at any moment. Now we watch as someone tries to hack into someone else’s computer and then see the words “Access Denied” flash on the screen.

Wow, my adrenaline just shot up about 1.1 points.

And remember when someone typed a letter on a typewriter and then had to white out some incriminating evidence? If you have to ask what’s a typewriter, you’re probably not old enough to read this column.

Or, when Lucy and Ethel held one of Ricky’s letters up to the stove to steam it open and read it and then resealed it. I suppose now Lucy would have some ‘splaining to do if she stole Ricky’s cell phone and read his emails. But even Lucy with all her clumsy charm probably couldn’t make that anymore interesting than what it is.

TV characters can’t even get lost while driving because there’s the GPS. So, there’s no trying to outdo the law by going down another street or the chance occurrence of meeting Mr. Right because you made a wrong turn.

Even photography is getting boring. How interesting is it really to watch a selfie in progress when the subject and photographer are the same person?

Let’s get back to the old-fashioned magazine photo shoot where wind machines are blowing the supermodel’s long blonde tresses all over her face as the old French photographer (who looks something like Woody Allen but even grosser if that’s possible) says to her in a thick foreign accent: “Look like you are making looove to zee camera.”

And she starts vamping it up and gyrating about like she’s ready to dislocate her shoulder and her hip.

Do you get my point?

Scooping coffee from a can is more action-packed than watching someone insert a K-cup into an appliance.

TV has become a real snooze fest with all the latest gadgets. Maybe it’s because we have so many gadgets in action while we’re viewing (hey, you, put away that iPhone right now), that we’re really to blame, too, because we’re not even looking up at the screen anymore.

We can now view on multiple platforms, such as tablets and phones. We can stream shows on Netflix. We can watch shows on a network’s website. We can record shows on a DVR. But technology itself doesn’t translate well to the small screen or big screen either, for that matter.

Remember when the Sandra Bullock film “The Net” first opened in 1995 and one of the most common complaints is that it was kind of boring to watch Bullock type on a computer for most of the film. Kind of boring? Kind of?

So while a script may read well with interesting theories and plots, watching someone text someone else isn’t all that action-packed. Maybe this is why most TV computer users say out loud what they are keyboarding in.

So, what I’m saying is that while TV shows are trying to be current, showcasing the technology and topics, the delivery is lacking.

I guess we’re just too tuned into the times. And it’s beginning to show.​

Reach Geri Anne Kaikowski at 570-991-6121 or on Twitter @TLNews. She’ll get back to you when she’s finished watching the show.