TV

My wife recently began borrowing from my sister-in-law all ten seasons of the nigh-popular TV show, "Friends." It has led to some contention in the household. I take the blame for it. I'm the one with the problem. Without going into some crazy-long dissertation, I feel the need to post for my friends and family just what it is that drives me nuts about it...

I have, for a long time, had a love-hate relationship with television. My first recollection of watching TV is when I was about four years old. I watched "Sesame Street" and "The Electric Company." I give a great deal of credit to public television for making me the person I am. I was always leaps-and-bounds ahead of my classmates in school. I could read and write at a very young age. I was placed into gifted children programs. I'm very fortunate that my parents were not stupid people. They not only made it their goal to teach their children, but they also used whatever resources they could, including TV.

Be that as it may, TV has really changed over the last 30+ years. Near the end of the 1970's what has been referred to as "The Golden Age of Television" came to a close as cable TV came about. My sister-in-law laughs at me when I tell her stories about how we had four channels on TV when I was young: ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS. That was it. Your choices were limited, but TV, in so many ways, was better than it is now. Back then most of what was on TV did not border on the degenerate. Back then we worked a lot harder at finding things to engage the body and mind that did not involve electronics.

The link in this post title does a far better job of explaining things than I do, so I'd refer y'all there. The short version (and my not-so-humble opinion) is that by a large measure television programming these days is mindless crap. It doesn't seem to be getting better. Entertainment is one thing, but the content of that entertainment matters, or at least it should, to our nation. (Jib-Jab's "What We Call The News" says it well.)

Yes, there is some good stuff out there, absolutely. PBS is still in pretty good shape. The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, and public TV are still a benefit (mostly) to the public. These channels, though, are such a small minority of what's out there. Most of what is on TV today barely qualifies as entertainment, and is more akin to decadence. I swear, one of these days I'm going to flip on my TV to get ready to watch a good movie and I'll see this advertisement" "Lions eating Christians tonight on FOX, right after the public beheadings direct from the Middle East. Stay tuned!!"

This rant may make me sound like a crusty old dude. I don't care. TV pretty much pisses me off. I use my TV to watch movies I like, and almost never do I watch a lick of regular programming. A lot of that has to do with commercials: they offend me. Commercials insult your intelligence, and TV is littered with them. Here's one of my favorite quotes from back in the day when I started realizing just what a load of crap most TV is:

"I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV..." Need I say more? I think that ad was for Bayer aspirin...anyway...

I have, seemingly, gone off-topic here, so let me bring this all full-circle. The TV show "Friends" is a mostly well-acted, well-produced sitcom. I can respect that as an art form, truly. Untalented people generally can't get a TV show to air for 10 years in a prime time slot. Be that as it may, what does the subtext of the endless jokes on "Friends" teach people? Hmmm...

1. It's okay (actually beneficial) to have sex on a first date
2. You can live beyond your financial means
3. It's completely normal, and expected, that you will maintain close friendships with people with whom you have had sexual intimacy, even when those people are being intimate with other people in your social group just like you are
4. You can treat your closest friends in a demeaning and sarcastic way and they will still want to hang out with you
5. No one who is sexually promiscuous ever contracts a venereal disease
6. You can lie and deceive those closest to you, come clean later, and the friendship will never change
7. A lack of formal education will not bar you from personal achievement or financial solvency
8. Rudeness to people for whom you don't particularly care is expected and okay

I could probably rant on, but you get the picture. Yes, I have laughed at the jokes as I have sat-down and endured three episodes with my wife (she wants to spend some time with me, so sometimes I just plop down on the couch next to her). Yes, the show is funny, but in the end would I want my kids to grow up with the life values I see on "Friends"? Hell no, and therein lies the problem: children don't know the difference.

I'm not talking about reality versus fantasy. Even my four-year-old knows that Simba the Lion King is imaginary, and animals can't really talk. Does my thirteen-year-old know that in the real adult world you can't act and live like Rachael-Ross-Monica-Joey-Chandler-Phoebe, and still make it in life? No, he doesn't. My wife and I are pretty good about instilling good values into our kids, but TV is such a powerful influence. I guess I just resent that it makes my job as a parent a lot harder than it already is.

I don't disrespect the need for entertainment. We all need it. All throughout recorded history people have been using entertainment for various reasons. People must have diversion of some sort or the brain goes haywire. I guess what bothers me about TV is that, like a pair of scissors, it can be a great tool or it can hurt you. Based on what I've seen recently on TV I don't think the producers or the public really care.

I think I'll go sit on my front porch and read a book. :)