I <3 TV

Translation of title: I heart TV...second translation....I love TV

It's true. I grew up on TV. My mother was poor and couldn't afford a babysitter so she left me alone with the company of the television. Okay and she was schizophrenic too so sometimes she didn't make the best of choices. But nonetheless I grew to love watching TV and not only that...using it as background sound. All through my school days and including two graduate school programs, I would do homework, write papers, and study with the television on in the background. And even now as I write this, my TV is on, with the evening news.

I have vague memories of the first TV shows I watched as a toddler. I remember Ed Sullivan with his "really big show" as well as the antics of the Smothers Brothers. I have fond memories of being at my maternal grandparents home and watching wrestling, Tarzan, and Star Trek. I felt I was there for the 1976 Bicentennial celebration because of TV. When I was a kid, I played with dollhouses and pieced together huge puzzles to the game shows including The Price is Right and The infamous Gong show.

In later years I watched Dallas with my college girlfriend as we studied chemistry. I mouthed the words, "Be Careful out there" to Hill Street Blues. I saw the very first MTV show when they actually played music. The first song was When Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles. When I came home from my first day of my first real job, I watched the very first crudely drawn Homer Simpson skit on The Tracy Ullman show. I was only twenty something when I was watching Thirty Something.

Then there were the years of video games. I would play Zelda and Kidicarus while eating nachos and cheese. And later in the evenings I would watch Twin Peaks with friends and look in book stores for Laura Palmer's diary. I watched the Gulf War live on CNN. I did happy hour with the sports channels flickering in the background.

When my boys were babies and got up in the middle of the night, I would sit in a big armchair and nurse them while trying to find anything worthwhile to watch. I actually turned off the TV more than once when I saw the likes of Rush Limbaugh. Then there was kid's TV programs. Some were my childhood favorites like Mister Rogers and Sesame Street and some were new to me like Barney, Blue's Clues and the infamous Australians, the Wiggles.

I can trace back every time period in my life to what I watched on television at the time. TV has been entertainment, a way to relax, and also a social bonding time with friends and family. What can I say? How else could you know about such cool things as Conjunction Junction what's your function...without TV? How would you know the theme song to Scooby Doo? How would you know anything about politics without Fox News telling you? (heh heh)

But seriously no...I will never be one of those TV snobs who claims only to watch documentaries or "educational" tv. I even...*gasp* like some reality shows. And guess what? I am not warped (I see you smirking over there!) and my IQ has not been lowered...I still read books...I still get fresh air and exercise...I spend time with friends and family...I work and play...and have fun. I have never considered television to be some evil force threatening to take over our society.

When the fall season officially begins I will be recording these shows to watch when I have time: The Office, Desperate Housewives, Ghost Whisperer, Grey's Anatomy, and Pushing up Daisies.

So what will you be watching?

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