On TV and why I watch it: good, bad, and reality.

When I hear a statistic like the average American consumes six plus hours of television a day (I think I might've pulled that from an old DFW essay, "Television and U.S. Fiction"), I want to scoff because I can't imagine my life being so filled with drivel. But then I think about lunch and dinner, and how Melanie and I usually spend that time on the couch. And then there's the falling to sleep to background noise. (We didn't listen to all the advice to not put a TV in the bedroom because it's a comfortable place to be and we needed something to sit atop that dresser). This doesn't account for most of the television I enjoy watching, it's just what's on while we consume in other ways. What else are we going to do, talk?

I say that with sarcasm only because we have plenty of time to talk to one another. We are lucky in that we're able to spend lots of time with each other. We don't venture out to separate jobs. We share several classes every semester. It is rare that a conversation begins "How was your day?" because usually I already know. I was there. So without television and discussions about what we've recently watched, we'd be forced into discussing the weather or something even more banal, like our lives. So television is an escape. It's a look at lives that are perhaps more interesting than the ones on this side of the screen.

Only, I don't really care about the people on television. While I feel bad for Sandra Bullock, I don't need to know more and more about Jesse James and his gross mistress. I especially don't care about the lives of people who are famous because they're on TV. I already know too much about Kourtney, Khloe, and Kim Kardashian. I knew too much when I found out how to spell their names. But I still see reruns of their show when nothing else is on. And I still hear celebrity gossip from Chelsea Handler and her harem of comedians. Granted, this is all non-scripted television (maybe we can stop calling it reality?), but what about the other stuff. The shows that have scripts and actors?

I don't like most of them either. I like shows that make me laugh. And even though I enjoy the occasional fart joke and some physical comedy (I do watch 30 Rock and The Office), I prefer smart humor. Because I like to think I'm smart. I like shows that are unfamiliar. It's tough for me to watch programs that rely on my emotional connection though. It bugs me that I know most of the characters' lines before they say them. This isn't an example of consistent characterization, it's a problem with a lack of originality. It's putting the same people in the same situations with a slightly different coloring. And I don't feel any connection to that.

But it wasn't really my intention to rant. Plenty of smarter people have explained the problems with television and it's not as if my saying it is going to change anything. The question still remains. Why do I watch so much television that I think is bad?

In part, it's about my inability to do anything better with my time. If something is on, as it often is, I'm going to pay attention. I'll probably make fun of most of it, but that just goes back to me feeling smart. (Again, I think that DFW essay is leaking into this). Mostly though, I watch it because my wife likes to. And she likes to think we're connected if we're sitting next to each other facing the same direction. I can't honestly say that she's wrong either. After a particularly predictable show, we'll talk about all the problems with it. It provides fodder for our conversation cannon. Still, I can't watch One Tree Hill. It just makes my brain itch.

In the end, I see it as an exercise in learning what to avoid when attempting to produce art. I try to write the opposite of TV. Ultimately that will probably lead to some starving artist cliche, but I could probably stand to lose the weight. What I really need to find a way for her to be emotionally connected to the XBox 360, but that's probably for another post.