Television Shows

For the Love of Television

 

I have a deep love of television. Most people around me, especially those younger people in the workplace, profess to hate television.  The younger generation takes great delight in not owning a television. They can watch Netflix on their ipad or computer and are so cool for doing so (in their eyes). Some go so far to say they do not know what any of the top current television shows are. My 50 inch flat screen television must seem, oddly enough, antiquated to them. Yet, I proudly profess my love of television.

First off, the last few years, movies have become a bore and television has stepped it up a notch. There is a reason why Matthew McConaughey did a televsion show (True Detective). Second, television has always provided me a respite, a way to escape bad situations.  While young girls got in trouble in my South Bronx neighborhood, I stayed in and learned about the world by watching the news and television shows on PBS and other channels.  Third, my generation was one that rediscovered the power of television shows with the advent of the Real World.  Fourth, television lets you know what we value as a society.  As such it is worth watching and learning from.  You can become an armchair psychologist and anthropologist. Fifth, television can be a game changer. Recently, Entertainment Weekly noted that television paved the way for the changing attitudes towards same sex marriage in the United States just as it has been doing with inter-racial relationships.

To love television is to engage in active acts of deconstruction and enjoyment of so-called guilty pleasures. More to follow.