A Television Lament

When I was growing up, and up until a few years ago, actually, television watching in our house was mostly done in the evenings. There were always better things to do during the day, and mostly only soap operas were on anyway. Like most any American woman, I did my turn with soap operas, but, like many people, I eventually got bored with the more and more over-the-top story lines and went back to reading books. Then I went back to work, and television still was an evening pastime. There were only 3 or 4 networks, but there was always something on one of the stations that seemed worth watching, and family evenings often revolved around particular favorites. Along came cable and satellite television, and all of a sudden, there were 50 or more stations to watch, and there were different things on all day. You would think, with all this selection, television would get better and better. Oddly enough, with the increase in channels, the quality of programming has declined to a very sad state indeed. I used to have favorite shows on every night of the week, but now we actually follow television on 3 nights for about 3 hours each. This isn't to say the television set isn't on, because it is--all day, usually. Terry watches it (often through his eyelids), but I read or do something else. There are too many reality programs and shows that are all alike with different people in them and TOO many reruns. As far as I'm concerned, there isn't enough family programming or comedy that isn't a rerun of something that was on several years ago. Some of what passes for comedy these days leaves me cold, although my kids seem to like it. I guess I am just an old fuddy-duddy, because I see nothing funny in "The Office," or "South Park." I find myself yearning for shows like "Cosby" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show" or "Andy Griffith." I know I am dating myself here. Unfortunately, networks don't program for people like me anymore. Apparently my money doesn't spend like the younger generation's. Oh, well, there are a lot more uplifting things to do than watching television, and I am doing them--like writing this blog :)