Describe a television programme you watched and did not enjoy.

You should say:

• what this TV programme was
• where and when you watched it
• what it was about

and explain why you did not enjoy it.

Model Answer 1:

India is the land of over one billion population and accordingly, there are numerous television channels with different attractive shows. Koffee with Karan is one of the television shows that I did not enjoy.

This was a television show, and to be more specific, this was a talk show in participation with the celebrities of India. The majority of the Bollywood celebrities attend his show and shared their personal and professional events. The show is alleged to create a sense of controversy as the questions asked here are often inappropriate. Most of the times, Karan Johar used to ask private questions which were not supposed to be asked at all, and even media reports have also been made centring the issues. The show has different seasons and been closed for past two years after airing the season four in April of 2014. There are several reasons behind the closure and the directorial engagement of Karan is the key reason. But there are also chances that the show may commence again, shortly.

I used to watch the show at my home after its initiation in 2014. Initially, the show was a great success for the show makers. The show was aired on STAR World India and the other channels of the same network. The show was mostly made to reveal the secrets of Bollywood celebrities before the audience. The show was aired in the evening and I used to watch the show in my own room. A sense of attraction worked here and knowing about the private events of the celebrities was always attractive to the audiences. The show actually had a witty appeal to us. Often I invited some of my intimate friends to come to my house and enjoy the show and it was great for us to enjoy it together. We used to discuss the questions and the reactions of the celebrities.

I think, mostly the show – Koffee with Karan was entirely made for increasing the TRPs of that specific television channel in India. The show created a sense of attraction for the audiences and the host was the key performer to raise the television rating point. The host used to ask such questions that often the stars and celebrities felt embarrassed for the nature of the questions. Often Karan tried to reveal some personal issues and focused on the scandals with the Bollywood celebrities. Moreover, the other private issues like familial matters, personal feelings etc. were also revealed on the show. Contemporary issues of the celebrities were asked and they used to reply to the questions. Sometimes the celebrities tried to hide their private feelings but Karan tried his best to bring the issues to the light.

In the early seasons of the show, I enjoyed them. But when I grew up and got matured, started understanding the value of privacy, the show started to lose its appeal from me. Asking irrelevant questions on a television show, insisting over answering the questions, flirting with the female celebrities, irritating them by asking private issues, raise of controversies over the issue, negative media reports etc. all made me lose interest on it. Moreover, I have observed that when the celebrities were asked irrelevant or private questions, they used to provide misinformation to the audience and it appeared that they did not want the audience to know about them. Besides, the host had a possessive attitude during the show and it appeared that he was introducing the celebrity for the first time to the nation. It was his kindness that he invited the celebrity and without him, the celebrity was nothing. All these attitudes cast a negative impact on me over the show and I stopped watching it from its third season.

Model Answer 2:

My experience with television programmes is not interesting in most of the cases. Whenever I start watching television shows, I cannot find any interesting shows and the experience becomes undesirable. This is a great question to answer and thank you for asking it. Here is a brief answer to your question.

The television programme was about the selection of a chef from a group of people. As I like to cook, I started watching the programme. But finally, I lost my interest in it. The programme was unable to draw my attention anymore. None of the competitors was able to provide any attractive recipe. Instead, it was filled with the advertisement of a specific brand’s noodles. So, I stopped watching the show in the middle.

I watched the show at my home. My television set is placed in the living space. So, it is comfortable for me to watch television programmes. When the show began, I sat in the living space and started watching it. I also planned to try any new recipe if there is something newer available through the show.  The timing was perfect. The runtime for the show was one hour. It began at 5.00 pm and was supposed to be ended by 6.00 pm. My husband also felt interested in the show and completed the show till it was finished.

The show was about selecting the grand chef among the competitors. A local television channel, here in China, organised the show. In fact, this is the annual event to select the best chef and the selected candidates get the chances to serve in the reputed organisation. This is a type of reality show that aims to improve the conditions of the chefs across the country. But in most of the cases, I have found that the chefs are not suitable to invent any special recipe. They work on traditional meals and bring some minor variations through the ingredients. Hence, this is not something special to me.

I did not enjoy the programme. There are many reasons for disliking the event. First of all, I did not like the idea of the programme. It is not actually the way to bring out the talents of people. Most of the times, the chefs belong to the ordinary class and they got registered with the show based on their interest in achieving fame in a short time. A few of them were devoted to cooking and knew. Besides, the organisers advertised for a specific product across the event which I disliked most. Finally, there was nothing new or extraordinary among the chefs’ recipe. They just rearranged some of the traditional recipes. In fact, I neither enjoyed nor learned anything from the programme. Therefore, I did not enjoy the programme at all.

A few more ideas to develop your own answer for this cue card topic:

1.  I think my luck is not favouring me in this case of television shows. Recently I watched a television program titled ‘4 Blocks’ and found it was not that much fun. I watched the show at my home on Sunday last month. It was all about dealing with gangs and the plot was based in Neukölln in Berlin. Actually, I wanted to pass my leisurely hours and so turned on the television set. The story could not attract me that much as I heard about the show. Actually, it frustrated me and somewhat ruined my time.

2.  Lots of people enjoy different types of shows but the show about cooking that I watched was not up to the mark. I watched the show at my cousin’s home here in England. The show showed some traditional recipes and how to prepare the meals. I was unable to enjoy the show as almost all the people are aware of the traditional meals in the UK. So, they do not need to show how to prepare them and describe in detail about the cooking process. Besides, the presentation of the show made it too boring by repeating the same words again and again.

3.  When it is about watching some television shows, I am a bit selective but nonetheless, I watched a show titled ‘Learn to Dance’ on a local channel here in Chennai. I was at my home when the show was going on. The show was about teaching dance to young children. But honestly, I was unable to go with the show for it was filled with some unnecessary items. The teacher appeared to be a model for a few products and instead of teaching how to dance, he was advertising them.

4.  The sitcom was an adorable show until the presenter started to make the audience laugh in some preplanned ways. I watched the show last week at my place here in Indonesia. It was all about making fun and make audiences laugh but the show lost its appeal to me. The presenter was unable to make me laugh naturally. And in some points, he tried to add humors to his words which made it bitter to me. Finally, I stopped watching the show.

5.  Usually, documentaries are based on some real facts but the one I watched on television last Thursday was completely undesirable to me. It was about the Vietnam War. The idea to make such a documentary is praiseworthy but I could not enjoy it as it was filled with misleading information. The actual facts were not present on it and there were fictions that dropped the appeal of the show.