This
thread got me pondering some more on just what exactly has changed about the shows over the past few years. When I cast my mind back to how I used to enjoy the daytime offerings (in particular) of the "golden era" (for me this was roughly 2010-16) I realise how much was predicated on my perception of the people involved at that time.
Back then, the channels were something I "consumed" almost by osmosis. They developed my fandom like a gourmet has his waistline expanded by his central passion. Not overnight but by a gradual drip feed of the most casual indulgence. Each day I tuned in, my habit was validated by a comfort food consistency of nod and a wink type shows digested in the background of my life. Like a pleasant wallpaper for my visual senses I took it all in even as I did other things about the house. My knowledge of, and fascination for, the shows was bolstered almost unawares a lot of the time. That and, in consequence, my spending was all dependent on the empathy I felt for the babes and the industry in general: That it was lovely to see an entertainment and people that apparently shared the same worldview on this as me. That the babes and their bts personnel presented the constant ideal that sexuality could be cheekily expressed in a live format that stayed just the right side of explicit. That the best way to do this was to sort of embody the saucy seaside postcard visuals of a typically British attitude to sex and innuendo. A lads mag on TV - every day of the week.
These people understood I thought. They got it. They knew how ridiculously stuffy most of British TV is. They shared our idea of how 'we' wanted to get off.
But that feeling of general kinship with the industry has been TOTALLY AND UTTERLY eradicated in the intervening years. Instead the channels have shown us time and again they don't really want to be part of that old attitude. They are now (to a large extent) transparently against such open expression. Loads of babes shun it in fact. The freedoms of the web have largely been scorned in terms of recreating the cheekiness and visibility of those shows of yesteryear. The channels today only pander to the vaguest idea of these sensibilities when they have to. That is a massive change in attitude to my mind.
Why did it happen? Well multiple causes I expect: The stuff I talked of in the post linked above; the resentment of widespread illicit recordings (2015ish - 2017); the rise of OF furthering the idea babes should control all their content and hide it away behind paywalls.
Simply put insider attitudes to what the shows are has changed quite fundamentally. Thus the presentations we see today no longer share my values/sensibilities and I feel much less affinity with the people employed therein. Is it any wonder then that my inclination to spend any siginificant money on the shows has been erased in the process.