Do you guys see how many posts there are about TV shows??

[flashlighter]

Is 24 real? Are the Simpsons pro nuclear? Is Boston Legal anti American? Is Dick Cheney part of the dharma intitative??

did I stumble into tvguide.com accidently?
What's up guys? Don't watch the teevee if you don't like it.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. It is at moments like these...

That not having cable seems like a form of salvation. ;-)

[tech3149]

25. It's at times like this that I enjoy being cable-free

Besides I can watch most of my favorite shows and movies on shoutcastTV. At least istfeeds my need for a few hours of R&R every week.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. Turn it off! Step away from the remote...regain control of your brain!

[Glorfindel]

3. Get used to it...I guess it's a commentary on popular culture

Welcome to DU! I haven't watched TV for more than 20 years, but I can get a really good sense of what's happening just by reading about it on DU. It's a harmless diversion, so don't let it upset you. :hi:

[Seen the light]

4. I blame Keith Olbermann nt

[Throwing Stones]

5. While I neither post to nor read most of the "teevee" discussions

I think that other DUers must be weaker than you and cannot spend every waking hour saving the world, which is what I imagine you do 24/7 since you waste no time stooping to the level of the masses by taking in a little a brain candy, and, shockingly, discussing it. Oh, if only we all were so pure.

[Stuckinthebush]

8. Ouch!

Feeling a bit nasty today? ;-)

[Throwing Stones]

22. not a fan of the holier-than-thou n/t

[HeeBGBz]

6. Please. Who said Boston Legal was un-American?

It was kick ass truth in entertaining format.

[EFerrari]

7. Why do you hate America?

I just don't read those threads because I don't watch teevee. Works for me. :)

[Kurovski]

15. Busted!

What about C-Span's Book TV? Hmm? Hmmmm?!?

:hug:

[EFerrari]

18. Oh, man.

lol

You got me. :hug:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

26. lol!

[Sugar Smack]

9. Where would we be without levity, I ask you?

Welcome to DU, BTW. :hi:

[Sugar Smack]

10. Dupe

Delete

[Lex]

11. Hi! Welcome to DU and to the General Discusssion forum.

:hi:

[MoseyWalker]

12. thank you

in at least 24 ways.

[mondo joe]

13. Do you see how easy it is for you to ignore threads you don't like?

If not, let me know and I will fucking explain it for you.

[Lex]

14. LOL! But finger-wagging from newbies is so much fun

to behold, isn't it?

:eyes:

___________________

[Sugar Smack]

16. Wait a second! I did an advanced search on you, young lady!

You probably have one of those "Shoot your TV" stickers on your car, right?

It's all good. ;)

[Jcrowley]

17. Yes

Your observation does in fact point to a deep pathology in our society, or whatever you want to call it, that cuts across all boundaries.

As one who has lived without the thing for 15 years now when I am confronted with it I feel as if I've entered a very disturbing and damaging place.

This summer as I relaxed on my porch the neighbors having a barbecue were immersed in conversation that revolved around these mythical characters that they were programmed to consider worthy of attention by the cathode tube. All of these neighbors were very well-intentioned and purportedly "educated" liberal folk.

Drove me off the porch as I couldn't bear the inanity.

Small talk about one's real life is important but talking about TV characters is pretty nuts.

"Four Arguments For The Elimination of Television" by Jerry Mander, I recommend it.

[Throwing Stones]

21. alright, I'll bite

You've never been moved to talk about a painting that touched you? You've never felt compelled to tell a friend about that novel you just read? There isn't a single magazine article or newspaper column that you thought you should share with someone? How about a film? a dance recital? the resident symphony's interpretation of Prokofiev? an off-off-off broadway production? Ah, but going down to the low art of television. How pedestrian of those neighbors of yours.

[Jcrowley]

24. Has nothing to do with low or high

Television commercials and television shows both promote the purchase of commodities. Advertisers and television networks don't want viewers to go out and search for the answers on their own. They want to provide the answers on television. If your head hurts: buy Advil (or some other pain relieving drug). Is your stomach growling? Drive your Pontiac to Taco Bell or Burger King. Are your dishes dirty? Get some lemon-fresh Joy. Every guy wants a fast Acura and every girl wants to look like the women on the latest NBC television show. It's sick.

Television is promoting a lifestyle. It is a virtual reality that advertisers and networks seek to promote in order to gain additional revenue.

While watching television, the viewer is not seeing the world as it is. He or she is looking at a world created by advertising. Television programs are put together with the conscious attitude of promoting a consumer society.

But what makes television different from other forms of advertising, is that the viewer has absolutely no control over the images. Sure you can change the channel, but you're really only watching more of the same. The images come at you at the pace of the advertiser; the viewer just watches passively. While reading the newspaper, you don't have to look at the ads, you can turn the page. In that same newspaper, if you want to find a coupon for Ranch Style Black Beans, you will look and seek it out. You can read the first few lines of a billboard sign, then turn away.

However, when you watch television, the only way to escape the images is to turn the machine off. The medium of television is controlled by the sender, not the viewer. Images just flow, one after the next.

I'd suggest going off of it for just ONE YEAR and then take a weekend and blast your brain with the thing. You'll then get rid of it forever. It's garbage that controls you whether you are aware of it or not.

Why do you think they call it "programming?"

[cynatnite]

27. So, are you saying that those who watch television...

are brainwashed into buying whatever's pushed into their brain?

I agree with you to a degree in regards to advertising. It's everywhere we go. Internet, Magazines, radio, newspapers, billboards, grocery store, department store, etc. I don't put all the blame on just television because advertising is so widespread and pervasive in just about every aspect of our lives. There's really no escaping it at all.

All a person can really do is to keep control of their own brains and not allow themselves to be influenced in such a way. It's a matter of limits, self control and not feeling the need to follow the crowd in buying whatever happens to be popular at any given moment.

BTW, Advil is the only one that gets rid of my horrid back pain at that time of the month. :)

[On the Road]

28. TV Shows are Shared Stories

When people discuss TV shows, they're exchanging their values, their perceptions of and attitudes toward human situations.

Take a show like Desperate Housewives. Even though it's a soap opera, there's a lot of complexity in the characters and their life situations. Like real people, the characters may seem like stereotypes, but they're complex, and are rarely purely right or wrong, good or evil.

People have different takes on and attitudes towards the characters and what happens to them. Discussing those allows us to get to know understand people who are different from ourselves, both the characters on the show and the people we're talking with. It can create a sense of community and values, and help develop friendships.

And the fact that people here can question whether the Simpsons are pro-nuke or the Boston Legal anti-liberal shows how difficult it is to interpret point of view from something more complicated than a declarative statement. Being able to sense tone, irony, and themes are very important in appreciating TV. Any process that can be applied to literary analysis can be applied to TV shows, even if the application is simpler.

Now, it is possible to do some of the same thing without fiction, but there are drawbacks. Discussing individuals runs the risk of gossip even if everyone knows the people involved. Religion and politics are full of stories, but tend to divide friends and relatives. Books are so numerous, and so many people are nonreaders that it's often difficult to find common ground.

Plus, if you find a TV show that appeals to you, it's enjoyable and of itself. That is its own value.

Watching TV to the exclusion to human company is imbalanced. So is talking about TV to the exclusion of other subjects. But watching and discussing TV is not.

[johnaries]

19. Yes, but who said Boston Legal was anti-American?!?!?!?

You should study the works of Marshall McLuhan. "The medium is the massage...."
All will become clear.

[greenbriar]

20. oh can we keep it???

tv reflects the pulse of america

[Jeffersons Ghost]

23. it's a way of doing commercials for a particular show in many cases...

as Mae West said, "I don't care what the newspapers say about me, as long as they spell my name right." It's a VERY old approach to publicity. PT Barnum employed much the same tactic. CONTROVERSY SELLS RATINGS!

Reich-Wing Rush knows it too!