Not All Addictions Are Destructive: My long-time love affair with watching Television

By Adeoye Falade, Avon HMO

On growing up

I was the only boy for nine years so my childhood was initially boring. I had just my sisters to play with (and instead of actually playing, we fought a lot!). We were living in a block of flats then and there was just one other boy, our landlord’s son but we still had to beg our sisters to join us when playing football or other games. Most times they avoided us, with good reason because we tended to get really rough sometimes. As a result, I preferred school because I had more people to play with there. You could call me the typical unserious boy, I was fascinated with play and however, I could catch my grove. So this opened up my love affair with Television, as it was one of my primary means of entertainment as a child, much to my parent’s nightmare and tons of chores left undone.

On being unserious and having a TV Addiction

This was more of a headache for my grandmother, who in order to shield me from becoming completely useless, created a door for her Television which she ensured we had as little access to as possible. Back then, no TV station went on air before 4 pm and after watching Voltron and a few other shows, we got bored again and went outside to play. Imagine! It was almost as if we were insatiable with our quest to entertain ourselves. Then Clapperboard and AIT began operations so the game changed because the new guys started broadcasting in the morning. Even at that, there were very few programmes for kids beyond 6 pm. So as expected of African parents, mine tried their best to control what we consumed on air.

Then came cable and all bets were off because there was more variety. The restrictions still applied though, but I often snuck off to my landlord’s house upstairs where the kids had a separate living room and were rarely disturbed.

I remember seeing a Jackie Chan movie and then taking a table knife to school to protect myself from some bully. I was in maybe primary 1 or 2 by then but the beating I got when I was reported ehn…that’s story for another day.

On his top three TV shows

I loved power rangers, biker mice and Mr Bean. Things either had to blow up or make me laugh to keep me interested. So action and comedy were my go-to. Doctor Who freaked me out so I largely avoided it like a plague because I was scared of the dark back then.

On having options and the relevance of TVs

Interestingly, I love gaming as well. Funny enough, it’s one of the few things that takes me near the TV these days. Over the past decade, I developed a funny relationship with television as I became more selective of what programmes I consumed. If it wasn’t soccer or Nat Geo, I wasn’t interested.

There was a time, between 1999 and 2001 during which we were without electricity. Generators weren’t mainstream then so all I had was books and radio.

I also lived without a TV for years and then when the 2018 World Cup came around, I went and got one. It’s usually off till the weekend when I can watch games or play them but I still watch a lot of TV shows, on the internet. So it’s not that I can’t live without the screen, it’s just that I absolutely love it!

 On life skills as a TV Buff

Two lessons really:

1. Imagination can lead you to achieve amazing things.
2. Life is way more than what we can see; there’s so much going on beyond our scope.

On What Millennials Are Missing

Not really. In fact, they’re getting the best of everything. All the great shows we saw are even being remade and the quality of what Millennials get today is miles ahead of what we grew up on – even though we thought the shows were badass back then.

I saw an old clip of the Incredible Hulk, Captain America and Iron Man recently and I was just laughing. It was beyond silly but at the time, that was the height of special effects on screen.

I do think that they’re missing out on quality Nigerian content though. Back then, NTA gave us impressive shows from New Masquerade, Things Fall Apart, Checkmate and so on. Most of those shows were produced by the NTA but it has fallen behind now. Other stations did not have that kind of budget so they couldn’t toe that line. Eventually, NTA’s decline in fortunes led to the growth of Nollywood – that’s where all the actors went – and eventually became DSTV’s gain.

On going from TV lover to TV writer

Hmm, yes. It’s interesting how the one thing my parents thought would kill me has brought me fame. (Look, mama, we made it!) This is how it started though: A few years ago, I got a call from Chris Ihidero, producer of MTV Base’s Shuga about starting a proper reviews platform that would focus on Nollywood – TNS. He was at Amaka Igwe studios at the time but I’d worked with him as an editorial intern in 2008 and we stayed in touch. Long story short, TNS was set up and reviewing movies became something I ended up loving. I loved filmmaking and film but delving into reviews changed everything for me as it was a new area of writing to explore.

Now about reviewing these movies, it is not as simple as whether the creative piece is good or bad but that’s not all there is to it. It’s also unravelling the thinking behind why films are being made. It’s basically an identification of a standards problem, especially here in Nigeria. Anyone could make a film and get you to spend money on it but who’s to say if it will be a waste of money for the consumer? When there’s no form of independent accountability, people can serve you anything without caring about quality.

On his favourite line from a TV Show

“I drink and I know things.” – Tyron Lannister (Game of Thrones). I just think it’s cute, and funny too.

On the future of TV

I don’t think TV is dying, just evolving. While there’s a democratisation of media content and creators, television still has its place and has found a way to also thrive on the Internet. In three months, Disney will launch its streaming service, further increasing competition with platforms like Netflix and Amazon (Disney already owns major shares in Hulu) but who’s still making those shows? The same platforms making what we watch on TV.

I mentioned earlier that I rarely watch TV these days. That’s misleading, I still do but the only real difference today is how I get to consume TV content and this is why I think television won’t die, not for a long time.