Irish Culture and Media in 21st Century: Potential New Career

I was ashamed of myself, well not really in a shame-shame kind of way. Everything I do related to media is for research. So I was doing some research after a couple of impromptu visitors left me in my house alone, and as I do when I am home alone I had the TV on in the other room and positioned myself and the TV and the computer so that I could be watching it while I was researching what I was researching on the computer.

As a side note which only adds to the media research, I started getting emails from acquaintances in San Francisco because the time difference meant that some of my friends in SF were at work and they were communicating with me. (Now whether this is accepted practice by the "bosses," I do not know and I do not ask!)

I have spent almost 20 years in SF. I left Ireland in 1989 on November 24th when the plane flight was cancelled and Brendan Grace  and myself (and many others) were sent to hotels in Shannon to pass the 24 hour delay. (No, I don't know Brendan Grace but this did happen.) And I returned with the family to Eire on August 27th, 2009. Never once in SF did I get sucked into a phone-in "game" on TV, or a TV shopping lark on TV in SF. Now, that's nearly 20 years of avoiding.

So there was a game on the TV tonight. It's called "Play TV" and it is on TV3, it seems, late at night. (As I "researched" this info. I just saw that Madmen is on RTE 2 so I just might have to take a break from this facet of my research and indulge in some Madmen to see where we are at in the sequence of Madmen on this side of the pond.) I knew that it was a gimick etc. etc. to get us to call in and they make money, somehow, off the phone calls. You know, a 100 euro? no way would you call in, two hundred? hah! But 800? Hmmm. A 1,000? - Now it is worth a few phone calls - I might think. BUT, how much is a phone call?

(I know, I know ... they got me - but the odds...?) So I made a call from my home phone line because I was confident in my answer. Oh the problem? Here it is:

14 + 28 x 3 -1 - 7 x 2 + 2 x 4 - 2 - (11 - 2) x 6 + 3 - 4 + (7 x 2) = ?  Count!
Add all the numbers in the picture!

I called and it wouldn't accept my "blocked" number. I called from my mobile and it went through. I was asked a question like: "India is in Africa - press 1 for yes and 2 for no"
                                   "George Best was a footballer - press ....."
                                   "Moscow is the capital of Russia - press...."
                                   "Cork is in Munster - press..."
These questions were gateway questions to get through to the next step while using up time on the phone. If you answered the question correctly the voice on the other end said something like, "Congratulations! you answered correctly. You verynearly got through to the studio. Try again now." If you got it wrong the voice on the other end said, "You very nearly got through to the studio. Try again now and you might get through next time."
I monitored the call from the mobile for economic purposes. It cost 1.99 for a call. It said "try again." I did - for research purposes. I stopped after X attempts.

I mean I had the "right" answer, I believed, and it was 493, I thought. There were answers coming in as diverse as 14, 28, 3, 1, 7, 2, 4, etc... How could they be so varied. It is math(s) after all.

So, there you go. I'm back in Ireland for less than 3 weeks and I am calling up a TV station in an attempt to win money while knowing that it is a business model that lets only the station win big. The prize is up to 5,000+ and the presenter continues to lament at the incorrect answers and tells us, the viewers, to "try again, look at your calculations and discover where you went wrong."

I really want to know the answer but she is getting on my nerves telling me to call again. It continues. Will we ever be able to get one individual in our society to correctly answer this mathematical problem? Are we so pathetic in our secluded homes that we could never solve the problem? Let alone satisfy the good looking woman on the screen? BTW, there are two females on the screen, the one who is talking and a photo image of an attractive (albeit subjective terminology) woman beside the graphic of the numbers problem. We are useless. There is none that can solve the problem! this has gone on for a long long time.

As I watch Madmen I wonder about the math problem and flick over. It is at 7,300 Euros and she is still asking for the correct answer to be "brought to the table" while the photo image of the other woman in a red dress, held up off her legs by her hands, is very present on the two-dimensional screen.

Oh my God, or as my daughter texted me today, OMG, - Is this the culture of Ireland that I have returned to with my wife and young family. Is this my future in the West of Ireland? Did I let my guard down because I am in the West and felt impenetrable in this remote area? Does geography actually matter in relation to the reach of the media? Am I just as penetrable by the media in Louisburgh as in San Francisco?

I think so. My guard goes back up right now! Over to Madmen. Seriously, I have switched to Madmen. I do not know the answer to the problem. My answer was called in by another and she was told that she was wrong.

I love doing media research. The analysis always turns on the analyst!

Hmmm... wonder if someone won the prize over on TV3. I wonder if this business model might be an opportunity for employment for this returned immigrant?