boob tube

I will never understand the culture in which TV is a member of the family.

Some people turn on the TV first thing when they get up in the morning (if they even turned it off the night before).  I like to have a cup of coffee and stare out the window, maybe check my e-mail.  I'm not too fond of strangers on the telly talking loudly at me while I'm trying to enjoy my morning.

Some people never turn the TV off.  They NEVER TURN THE TV OFF.  Whether nobody's watching or everybody's watching, or everybody's in the room with the TV but nobody's watching, or people are back and forth, the TV is always on, stuck on some lame show that nobody really wants to pay attention to.  Despite this fact, it never occurs to somebody to turn the darn thing off!  Growing up, we only turned the TV on for a couple hours a day, and watched it the whole time it was on.  Then, when the show was over, or our brains had rotted enough, we turned it off.

TV is like candy or dessert.  It's fun and good in small doses.  In fact, I like good TV shows as much as I like movies.  House, Bones, NCIS, Law and Order - they're like mini-movies that I get to watch every week.  But 95% of television is total CRAP, which is why I don't understand why people want to have it on so often. 

As long as I'm discussing crap, I might as well tell you about my least favorite TV channel ever: The Freakshow Channel.  Whoops, I'm sorry, I meant TLC, The Learning Channel.  This channel takes advantage of people's desire for fame, recognition, or even just an understanding ear, and exploits them as freaks for their differences.  And we, the American population, watch them like we would the Fat Lady at the circus.  Any misplaced expectation on the part of the subjects of the show that they would be understood and seen as normal through publicity is shot to hell as they are paraded around on television as DIFFERENT and WEIRD. 

Anyway.  That's my morning rant.  Now back to my coffee.