The Idiot Box
November 13th 2006 07:45
Being an avid TV watcher (I'd use the term "couch potato" but I'm too poor right now to even own a third-hand couch), it's always been a mystery to me how some people regard the television as the idiot box. Not just as an alternative term, but as a vilifying description of what I would consider to be one of the greatest inventions of our time. Right up there with toilet paper. And the remote control. Fire and the automobile are somewhere further down.
But these are the people who insist TV will make you dumb. It will kill off your brain cells. It will hynotize you into a zombiesque stupor. And my favourite, it will induce an epileptical fit. They'd much rather read, or knit, or play chess, or work on their hydroponic gardens. All perfectly mind-blowing hobbies, ofcourse. But why not leave the rest of us who love watching TV alone? Yes, we know TV isn't going to help us get a PhD. We know it's not going to get us on Oprah as the Hydroponicist Extraordinaire or as the World's Faster Knitter. Hey, it's not our fault something like Sudoku doesn't stimulate us!
All joking aside, in this revolutionary age where a TV set is more than just a paraphernalia for an entertaining hobby, is it still fair to call it the idiot box? Is it still apt for anti-televisionistas to preach to us TV lovers to turn the knob off and find something more useful to do with our lives?
Yes, there are still shows that when you spend too much time watching will disintegrate your brain cells in bulk. I won't mention names, for that just opens up a whole other undesirable can of proverbials. But gone are the days of yonder where all you had were canned-laughter sitcoms, exaggerated soap operas and plotless cops n' robbers series -- albeit some have become classics, I have to admit. And names will once again be refrained for fear of being laughed at.
Nowadays, you have all these glorious shows that explore all kinds of socio-political issues. Shows that take you inside the world of politics, medicine, crime, law enforcement and shows that teach you how to cope with survival when your plane has crash landed in some mysterious island inhabited by madmen and black smoke and secret passages and hatches and electro-magnetic forces. Okay, maybe that's just one show.
Then you have your educational documentaries; informative forum/discussion programs; magazine shows that cover a wide range of topics from sports to travel to current affairs. Sure, you can learn a whole lot too by reading the Encylopedia. I guess. But isn't it more fun to experience it with lively moving pictures and booming audible sounds? And lets be frank here... reading all day just plain hurts the eyes.
So, all you TV haters out there, and I know you're out there and there in abundance, isn't it time you stop telling us that TV is decaying our society and give it a try? We're no longer stuck in the days of J.R Ewing, Mr. T or Steve Urkel, you know. Err... I've already mentioned too many names.
But these are the people who insist TV will make you dumb. It will kill off your brain cells. It will hynotize you into a zombiesque stupor. And my favourite, it will induce an epileptical fit. They'd much rather read, or knit, or play chess, or work on their hydroponic gardens. All perfectly mind-blowing hobbies, ofcourse. But why not leave the rest of us who love watching TV alone? Yes, we know TV isn't going to help us get a PhD. We know it's not going to get us on Oprah as the Hydroponicist Extraordinaire or as the World's Faster Knitter. Hey, it's not our fault something like Sudoku doesn't stimulate us!
All joking aside, in this revolutionary age where a TV set is more than just a paraphernalia for an entertaining hobby, is it still fair to call it the idiot box? Is it still apt for anti-televisionistas to preach to us TV lovers to turn the knob off and find something more useful to do with our lives?
Yes, there are still shows that when you spend too much time watching will disintegrate your brain cells in bulk. I won't mention names, for that just opens up a whole other undesirable can of proverbials. But gone are the days of yonder where all you had were canned-laughter sitcoms, exaggerated soap operas and plotless cops n' robbers series -- albeit some have become classics, I have to admit. And names will once again be refrained for fear of being laughed at.
Nowadays, you have all these glorious shows that explore all kinds of socio-political issues. Shows that take you inside the world of politics, medicine, crime, law enforcement and shows that teach you how to cope with survival when your plane has crash landed in some mysterious island inhabited by madmen and black smoke and secret passages and hatches and electro-magnetic forces. Okay, maybe that's just one show.
Then you have your educational documentaries; informative forum/discussion programs; magazine shows that cover a wide range of topics from sports to travel to current affairs. Sure, you can learn a whole lot too by reading the Encylopedia. I guess. But isn't it more fun to experience it with lively moving pictures and booming audible sounds? And lets be frank here... reading all day just plain hurts the eyes.
So, all you TV haters out there, and I know you're out there and there in abundance, isn't it time you stop telling us that TV is decaying our society and give it a try? We're no longer stuck in the days of J.R Ewing, Mr. T or Steve Urkel, you know. Err... I've already mentioned too many names.
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The Devil & I
Majikal Mysterium
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Comment by Illie-T-Redd
The Devil & I
Majikal Mysterium
Comment by pegasus
Poker Addict
Although, Family Guy had been canceled but so many fans wrote in that they started making them again.
The new Family Guy episodes are better than the originals, in my opinion.