typical lcd panels require a backlight for them to function as the lcd does not produce light. depending on which colors are turned on rgb you get rgb or b/w. however, even with the pixels turned off (to get black) you often get dark grey at best since the backlight still needs to be on for adjacent pixels. this can result in things like "clouding" or bright/dark spots depending on what kind of backlight you have. grid array shows much less of this.
oled uses small leds which emit light on their own so do not need a backlight.
what are the major benefits of this? highly increased contrast and deeper blacks. basically the same principle of plasma which uses cells which emit light
http/s.hswstatic.com/gif/plasma-display-side.jpg
even the best lcd screens (va and ips are a type of lcd panel technology) can only offer contrast and black levels as good as their backlighting and even the very best backlighting available (due to cost mainly) are grid array which while better than we have had before is not even close to plasma or oled which do it at a pixel level.
the negatives about oled are longevity - there is a problem with one of the colors failing in the long term though i forget which it was.
instead of chalking things up as garbage or making broad claims it helps to know the differences and explain them as such. while i do personally believe that oled is not quite ready for mass market tvs (it needs to be improved) it is certainly a viable technology and in fact is used in most cellphones. even plasma televisions still have a place (though once oled improves this may phase them out).
for the average person, just about any tv with decent backlighting would work.