Television doesn't matter...
I hear commentators talking about television a lot. There are the discussions about 'wardrobe malfunctions' and the Super Bowl and people's sense of outrage. People 'tut tut' about Dan Rather and the botched investigative reporting of Mr. Bush's military service. Discussions rage about the good and bad points of the vast numbers of dollars spent on political ads and how they affec the electorate. A newspaper columnist in our local paper is assigned specifically to comment on what's on TV. He writes about the new shows and whether the old networks can meet the standards set by cable network shows like the Sopranos. Then there's the "58 channels and nothing on" lament. Although the number of channels could be "n" because the variable isn't really the point.
Am I the only one who thinks "Who cares?". Because I am part of that growing population of people who don't watch TV. Oh, I watch movies on the DVD player. And we occasionally turn on the news to see what the weather report is. Or some unusual program gets us to fire up the telly. But by and large I don't watch television. I hate laugh tracks. I hate news reporters who think that interviewing people lined up to get their 'free expresso' at the new coffee kiosk is news. I abhor people who mistake cleverness for insight. I get sick when investigative reporting covers 'which of these two psychics would you believe'? The series? The game shows? The reality shows? All aimed at people who don't want to THINK about anything.
The other reality? Life is only seventy some years long on average. I've used fifty five of mine. I don't want to take my last breath and think, "Oh damn, I never got around to...." We live in a world where there is greater opportunity to DO and to KNOW and to EXPERIENCE. Even with the good documentaries and informational shows, television is a poor substitute for having a life...
So I'd say television increasingly is irrelevant. I didn't see any of the millions of dollars worth of tv advertising (except when I was at the gym and the tv was on with no sound). I suspect that many of the people who vote don't watch tv either. I heard that video games are projected to outpace television programming in terms of hours spent in the near future. And certainly movies consume hours once spent watching the "Saturday Night at the Movies". So if our demographers and societal analysts did survey analysis, would it bear out my perspective? I believe I'd be close to correct.
Who cares what television has to say? The old bumper sticker used to say "Kill Your TV". I don't think we need to. It's done itself in-or close to it.
Am I the only one who thinks "Who cares?". Because I am part of that growing population of people who don't watch TV. Oh, I watch movies on the DVD player. And we occasionally turn on the news to see what the weather report is. Or some unusual program gets us to fire up the telly. But by and large I don't watch television. I hate laugh tracks. I hate news reporters who think that interviewing people lined up to get their 'free expresso' at the new coffee kiosk is news. I abhor people who mistake cleverness for insight. I get sick when investigative reporting covers 'which of these two psychics would you believe'? The series? The game shows? The reality shows? All aimed at people who don't want to THINK about anything.
The other reality? Life is only seventy some years long on average. I've used fifty five of mine. I don't want to take my last breath and think, "Oh damn, I never got around to...." We live in a world where there is greater opportunity to DO and to KNOW and to EXPERIENCE. Even with the good documentaries and informational shows, television is a poor substitute for having a life...
So I'd say television increasingly is irrelevant. I didn't see any of the millions of dollars worth of tv advertising (except when I was at the gym and the tv was on with no sound). I suspect that many of the people who vote don't watch tv either. I heard that video games are projected to outpace television programming in terms of hours spent in the near future. And certainly movies consume hours once spent watching the "Saturday Night at the Movies". So if our demographers and societal analysts did survey analysis, would it bear out my perspective? I believe I'd be close to correct.
Who cares what television has to say? The old bumper sticker used to say "Kill Your TV". I don't think we need to. It's done itself in-or close to it.
Comments
I think it comes out of boredom. It's Tuesday night, no-one's going anywhere, it's winter, what do you do? But there's also a comforting element to it, there is a relaxation that comes with crashing down on the couch and watching TV that I can easily get sucked into.
I do get really annoyed with the frivilous and shallow quality of TV though. As time goes on I abhor celebrity worship more and more. And the worst trend that I see of late is glorification of the rich simply because of their wealth, as if that's some sort of virtue that we should all aspire to. Uggghhh, it makes me worry about the way things are going.