SusanG – you are not alone, though perhaps we are all freaks. I go for long periods of no TV, or just BBC news before bed or in the morning. But I surf around sometimes and here and there come across real gems. Somehow in spite of the overall commercialization (and “crapification”) of tv, some real human creativity and genius manages to get through here and there. We have sort of an alternative public tv network in my area (Washington, D.C. metro area) that airs a lot of foreign news broadcasts from around the world, and a delightfully eclectic assortment of short films from around the world and older documentaries that wouldn’t get air time many other places.

Posted by: maxcrat | Dec 5 2004 2:44 utc | 4

I watch very little network TV, it’s just stunningly bad. All the reality shows and mindless sitcoms are worthless.
There are somethings worth watching though- for instance, BRAVO is showing Lawrence of Arabia this evening in letterbox format.
HBO has some fine series as well- The Wire in particular.
But yes. There is something seriously wrong with america. We are a souless, cultureless country.

Posted by: fourlegsgood | Dec 5 2004 4:52 utc | 6

Uncle $cam, well yes. Surely you’re not just figuring that out?
Everything the bushies have done is to protect them from the people.

Posted by: fourlegsgood | Dec 5 2004 5:12 utc | 8

Guilty Pleasures:
The Wire
The Simpsons (Fox)
EPL Soccer on (Fox Sports World)
Democracy Now (not so guilty)
Cable and network news always seems two days behind and lightyears away from reality.

Posted by: biklett | Dec 5 2004 6:50 utc | 10

My teenage son used to come home from school, and like turning a light on, would turn on the TV — first thing — even if other people were home, and then go into his room and close the door.
For a long time this puzzled me, I guess because when I grew up in the 50’s and TV being new, had a generally different and less pervasive effect on people, that being a novelty in its personable, clumsy, and often live presentation, it was something to watch, like a movie, then turn off.
Since that time of course, TV has grown into its entirely different self. It seems that TV has to a lot of people (like my teenager) become a kind of fireplace or hearth within the home, giving off a flickering and familiar light along with the crackeling of known sounds, voices, and laughter. A thing to relax and unwind in front of, or to become the background to some other activity.
Nontheless TV has integrated itself — or better, lodged itself firmly into the DNA of the culture, gone are the days of the one-trick-pony show reflecting back the common culture. No, what we have now is an umpteen billion dollar over researched, psychologically market tested, capital funded, and government coerced propaganda machine tasking day and night not as a reflection (of culture) but implicitly, as an advocate for change in the culture.
It would be this “implicit advocacy” that is most troubling. Contrary to the laws of advertising, the TVMedia is compelled to strike a balance, and not to create controversy in a proportion that would inhibit the iconification necessary for the self identification to its product. The overiding impetus is then to both to erode and sediment the prevailing landscape sensibility into a malleable and manageable state ripe for manipulation in service to its provider. To in its most diabolical, create a product drivin totemic system that in effect silently replaces the cultural impulse with both iconic commodification and the template social and political enviroment of its reinforcement.

Posted by: anna missed | Dec 5 2004 8:49 utc | 12

@Fourlegsgood
The Wire is so good that sometimes I feel like a voyeur. It reminds where I used to live in Brooklyn. ‘Fortress of Solitude’ by Jonathan Lethem takes place on my old street. Great book.

Posted by: biklett | Dec 5 2004 9:27 utc | 14

When we were children we were allowed to watch an hour or two of television before dinner. My father would come home from work and stand in front of the box, blocking our view, bellowing “TEE VEE IDIOTTTS!”
These days I have a tv for the purpose of film rentals, but have not watched mainstream or cable tv in my home for over a year. I don’t miss it at all, and was appalled during Thanksgiving dinner when my brother and sister, both well-educated, intelligent people, launched into a conversation about one television show after another. I was struck by the fact that they are both single and probably very lonely and anesthetize the sadness with television. Granted I spend many, many hours in front of the computer, and could be considered mesmerized by it, but I am reading and learning, and at times sharing. It has made me rethink my entire life: once a commercial producer I now have no idea what my former associates are referring to when they praise a commercial; and they, on the other hand, have no idea what is going on in the world. It is shocking to me that people are content to know so little and I blame television for it. It is equally shocking to them when I begin to speak with credibility about what our government is doing. I only hope that it makes them curious enough to turn the tv off and start investigating for themselves.
A couple of years ago I read a letter to the editor in AdBusters in which the writer shared how much more productive his life had become since he gave away his tv and how much more meaningful. I second that. Until the debates this fall, I didn’t even miss it, and quickly learned that I could easily stream them on my computer.

Posted by: conchita | Dec 5 2004 17:01 utc | 16

A looooooooooong time ago (How long? Several lifetimes. Star Trek was new and prime time.) my parents outlawed the tv on school nights. Thanks to them, I never developed a habit. Except for a time that I watched some shows on PBS, in the 70’s, the tv’s main purpose is to support a jar of dog biscuits and wait for a movie rental. Now my parents watch it more than I do. We are a nation of zombies. /television!

Posted by: beq | Dec 6 2004 0:59 utc | 18

nyt article on politics & tv
from the book ‘banana republicans’ — “It’s all visuals,” Karl Rove told campaign finance chief Don Evans. “You campaign as if America was watching TV with the sound turned down.”
why d’ya think they call it “programming” anyway… something to keep the mind occupied

Posted by: b real | Dec 6 2004 19:29 utc | 20

If it wasn’t for tv, I would never have discovered Little Bear, George and Martha, and The Wild Thornberrys; and The American Experience, Divine Design, and Nigella Bites. I also got to see broadway shows like Into The Woods and Les Miserables for free!
I have enjoyed the occasional sitcom re-run too. Yeah there’s a lot of junk out there, but there’s good stuff if you look for it.

Posted by: gylangirl | Dec 7 2004 18:14 utc | 22

My TV sins:
Didn´t had any for like 10 years and then started in a media company. My boss said “mediacompany -> management position -> must watch TV”. He was right and the 10 inch screen prevented to watch to much nonsense.
Two years ago in a moment of insanity I did by a 60 inch Sony Grand Vega rear projection. Fantastic picture and beautiful for DVD watching. (usually old stuff like Charly Chaplins and Buster Keaton: This Chrismas will feature the extended version of the third Fordo and Gandalf story)
TV watching? Maybe 30 minutes per day. Mostly news, BBC, CNN, few German channels. Comedy central if available and maybe South Park if I happen to make it.
The rest is mostly junk and I find that I can get the same amount of information usually in shorter time surfing the web.

Posted by: b | Dec 7 2004 20:58 utc | 24

The annual study by Eurodata TV Worldwide, released during this week’s MipTV trade fair in Cannes, France, was based on statistics from 72 countries or regions, 2.5 billion viewers and more than 600 channels.
Viewers in Japan remain the world’s top TV watchers, with a viewing time of four hours and 29 minutes per person per day, just ahead of the United States where time spent in front of the box was four hours and 25 minutes.
Measured by region however, North America held on to the top spot, adding an extra five minutes to reach an average four hours and 21 minutes – 42 minutes more than the world average, Eurodata TV Worldwide said in a statement.
Europe was runner-up with three hours and 33 minutes, followed by Asia-Pacific, where viewing time sharply increased by 47 minutes a day to total three hours and 23 minutes.
Link (arg, can’t bypass the registration screen..)
In Western ‘democracies’, a large proportion of students spend more time watching TV than studying (in school or out.) Children in the US (and elsewhere) spend on average 30 hours or more in front of the TV per week. Both stats. do not take into account the watching of videos / movies on the TV screen. TV watching has been directly related to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Syndrome:
PEDIATRICS Vol. 113 No. 4 April 2004
Link (pirate)

Posted by: Blackie | Dec 9 2004 21:08 utc | 26