The truth about television

Today the local national public radio station was doing a show on television. They do this every now and then. Must be a slow news day. Anyway, as a preemptive strike I sent in a quick email to them and it got read on the air! Pretty sweet.

See, when public radio listeners start talking about television, there always is a snooty air of, "How plebeian to watch television. That is only for the uneducated masses. Why would my public radio station ever discuss television here?" (If you read the previous line in a fake British accent, it's even better.)

So I got the hugest kick from my email being read on the air. The host started with an email from one listener who grieved the television season ending last year. That she felt like her friends had gone away for the summer. The next 3 or 4 emails were along the vein that I referred to in the previous paragraph. And then he read mine, which went like this:

It always strikes me as funny when NPR talks about television. There are always dozens of self congratulatory people out there professing that they've kicked the t.v. habit. That it is a boob tube. That they never let their kids watch t.v. and if they do, they never change the channel from PBS, Discovery, Animal Planet, etc. You would think that there is no one watching TV at all.

I don't watch network news. I don't just watch PBS, and because I don't have cable or satellite, I don't watch any other educational programming. That isn't what my *relationship* with TV is. I watch to escape. I watch to distract myself from the other constant noise of life. For that 30 minutes or maybe 60 minutes, I don't think about my own stuff. And I love it. It is helpful and I appreciate the entertainment. I like watching pretty people. I like not thinking about what I have to do tomorrow and I really don't care to learn anything from TV. I'm there purely for entertainment.

I watch TV. And I'm not ashamed. Shocking, isn't it?

And I know I probably came across as somebody who watches all the time, all day long. I don't. I have a full life -- always busy. But every now and then, it is nice not to have to work too hard and let the television do all the heavy lifting.