The long vacations of TV3

This week TV3 began airing the promotional spot to let us know that next Monday the daily programs are finally returning. That is to say, beyond the Telenotícies, which have run all summer, the entire regular schedule and the usual presenters are returning. The ad, in a montage of phrases from different programs and series, begins by saying: "We are back! It's intense!" Well yes, it is intense that in the first week of September the public television is still in vacation mode when the rest of the channels and media stars of the competition have already returned to work and routine. TV3, in no hurry. After a very intense summer informatively, they haven't even started Els Matins. A good part of the audience has already picked up their work dynamics, but the TV has its own rhythm. It even causes a certain jet lag to see the summer version of Atrapa’m si pots with a beach-themed set while the viewers are already thinking about the Puríssima long weekend and the Christmas holidays. The promo says: "Returning has its thing. It's knowing what day you are living in. [...] Recovering the rhythm. Seeing familiar faces again". Well, it is about time, yes. Because beyond the Telenotícies, TV3 has been left without faces. Canned programming that has abused British series as filler. It has also become clear that the 3Cat platform does not have the capacity to worthily and interestingly nourish TV3's programming during the holidays. The Onze of Esport3, the football space scorned by the management during the last season, has managed to surpass TV3 in viewers. The audience appreciated seeing that there was live life on the other side of the screen.The day of the solar eclipse now seems like a mirage, a dream. The network kept reminding us and preparing us for the phenomenon months in advance, summoning us in front of the screen on August 12th. At TV3, few events have received the anticipation, involvement, insistence, enthusiasm, and deployment of resources that they invested in this natural spectacle. But it was a flash in the pan. After that festival of connections, professionals, and excitement, the TV returned to being deserted and in a lethargic state.For too many years, public television has interpreted summer with parameters of disconnection from the audience that no longer align with reality. People are on vacation, but that does not mean they disconnect from media current events or screens. The television summer is as if time stood still. The bar for quality and proximity is lowered. Second-rate television. It is not even used to experiment with new formats, or to give opportunities to the network's professionals to assume different and more responsible roles. Except for the News, it is a television that closes in the summer. Which is a way of saying that there are months when it is not necessary.