Quote Originally Posted by English assassin
But 2 and a half minutes of a sports car trying to evade missile lock from a helicopter gunship with Hellfire missiles, to the sound of "Ace of Spades", this is the pure spirit of television. It's ephemeral, it's stupid, and it's fun.
Agreed, although the opposite also holds true.

Do you ever watch the French maritime programme Thalassa? They go to the other extreme with reports and live tv at a gentlemanly pace. Apart from lots of marine and yachting items they present extremely well-made documentaries from the far corners of the earth, or rather of the oceans.

For instance they have no qualms about showing a half-hour documentary about some lonely lighthouse guard. No commercial breaks, no 'flashy' editing, no phat beats to capture your attention - just beautiful photography, natural sounds, some biographical notes about the guy, his community on the nearby shore, some historical and technical details about the lighthouse, followed by images and yet more images that just suck you into the scenery. That is Zen tv. Pure beauty.