Photo Cred: Rene Asmussen, Pexel

The following is based almost entirely on a conversation I recently had.

I think a lot of people, especially people who are seniors or who are at least old enough to remember when DubTV was just starting, around the first and second seasons (most notably the Hallways of Our Lives era) there was this sense that DubTV was cool and interesting. It was something that was somewhat silly but I think there was a level of effort in it that showed. People are nostalgic for that era, and like all nostalgia, I’m sure a lot of it has more to do with the time and person people were when they experienced the show than it was the show itself. However, the idea that the show now has less effort put into it is interesting.

When DubTV started, it was seen as a student effort. Kids who wanted to do work for a student tv station made it happen, so the first few classes were people who had been pushing hard for the class and were passionate about making sure they were happy with the content.

Now DubTV is seen, at least by some, as a blow-off class, which makes me sad because I like to make content for DubTV, even if it’s bad and makes my friend question why they interact with me. Because it is now perceived as a blow-off class, there is a spark lacking from the class, one that I think helped pull together earlier shows.

Perhaps the bar to entry is too low. I remember when I was a freshman hearing a rumor that you had to write a description of why you wanted to take the class before they let you in. Obviously, that isn’t true, but if it convinced people they actually had to put in work I think it’d be a good idea. “We have lots of people and nobody really cares”- says Dearborn Plys 19’ (edited because the language was too strong. I think lots of people actually do care, but I don’t know if it’s enough.

This isn’t to criticize everyone in DubTV now, because as I write Terik is trying way too hard to beat 3rd period DubTV in our class showdown, but it is to try and point out that unlike with a math or English class, if we have low effort in DubTV, the whole school knows about it. And I don’t think that’s fair to them, or to the people who really care about this class.