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Take
My TV, Please
by Mad Dog
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I don’t mind
admitting that I probably watch Blind Date more often than any
other program. I figure if I can’t get one I might as well live
vicariously through some other loser’s. |
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I get very curious about
what people watch on TV. Considering that the average American watches
more than four hours of TV a day, which is way more time than they spend
doing other fun things like eating, having sex and wondering if Demi can
keep a straight face when Ashton asks, “Who’s your Daddy?”, you
have to wonder just what it is they’re staring at all that time. Not
to mention what’s on the other three hours and 40 minutes a day when
the set’s turned on but no one’s watching except the plants. Come to
think of it though, if plants don’t have a botanical right to veg out
in front of the TV, who does?
The reason I can’t figure out what
people spend so much time staring at is that I don’t watch a lot of
TV. It’s not that I’m one of those television snobs who has the set
programmed to only receive the Discovery channel, National Geographic,
Animal Planet, and Spice, each of which could teach me a thing or too.
No, I enjoy ordinary shows. I don’t mind admitting that I probably
watch Blind Date more often than any other program. I figure if I
can’t get one I might as well live vicariously through some other
loser’s.
The truth is, I don’t watch more TV
partly because I’m busy working, reading, and pretending I have a
social life, and partly because I know there are a lot of people out
there who want to watch more than the average four hours a day and I can
supplement my income by selling them some of my viewing time. Not only
does this fill my bank account, it drives statisticians crazy. Nothing
makes the average statistician more mean than this kind of nonstandard
deviation.
Don’t you just love statistics
jokes?
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Seventy-six
percent of American households have more than one TV set, 59 percent of
Americans can name The Three Stooges while only 17 percent can name
three Supreme Court Justices, and hardly anyone seems to have a clue
where the “Off” button is on their remote. |
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Actually there’s another reason I don’t watch much TV—I
have a hard time finding anything interesting on there. I’ve been in
friends’ homes who have cable, digital cable, satellite, bigger
satellite, and every-channel-in-the-known -universe-including-a-few-that-don’t-originate
-on-Earth, and one thing I’ve discovered is that the more channels
that are available, the more my TV viewing time consists of scrolling
through the program guide. That is after I figure out how to use the
remote. Or in most cases, figure out which of the four remotes to use in
what magic sequence so the TV turns on and the channels change without
the garage door opening and closing twenty times. And wouldn’t you
know it, nine times out of 10 I end up watching a channel I can receive
over the air with good old rabbit ears. For free. And it’s usually
showing Blind Date.
I’m obviously in a minority,
because it’s apparent that television is important to most people’s
lives. You can tell because 76 percent of American households have more
than one TV set, 59 percent of Americans can name The Three Stooges
while only 17 percent can name three Supreme Court Justices, and hardly
anyone seems to have a clue where the “Off” button is on their
remote. You can also tell because newspapers and magazines pay good
money to television critics who write with the same pompous, serious
demeanor as their officemates who cover much more highbrow topics such
as literature, opera, theater and NASCAR races. I have to wonder,
though, who’s reading these TV reviews, since 80 percent of the people
who read the newspaper spend less than a half hour with it. This is
barely enough time to check out the horoscope, Dear Abby, and the page
two corrections, better yet wonder for the 1,245th time why there
hasn’t been a new The Far Side in years. So when are they supposed to
have time to read about which critically acclaimed TV show has been
cancelled and which completely lame one was renewed for another season
with the star being paid enough money per episode to pay off the federal
deficit of your average country, Third World or otherwise?
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A recent
study in England found that most children there say they can’t live
without television. Mum, Dad, the Queen and even Fish-n-Chips flavored
Cheerios we can live without, but please don’t mess with our BBC! |
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We learn our television viewing habits early. A report by the
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that one third of children under
the age of three have a television set in their bedroom, while 59
percent of kids under two watch TV every day. Apparently Mozart is out
and SpongeBob SquarePants is in. The next thing you know pregnant women
will start holding their stomachs against a TV set so their children can
get an early start. Is it any wonder a third of Americans under the age
of 30 say Jay Leno and David Letterman are news sources? Or that 80
percent of fifth-graders say they can feel it when people stare at them?
Okay, that’s probably because they’re afraid Mom is going to walk in
any minute and tell them to turn off the TV and go outside
to—yuck!—exercise. But they don’t have to worry, if she does they
can always turn her in to Child Protective Services or sue her for child
abuse.
This early love of TV isn’t just an
American phenomenon. A recent study in England found that most children
there say they can’t live without television. Mum, Dad, the Queen and
even Fish-n-Chips flavored Cheerios we can live without, but please
don’t mess with our BBC! Meanwhile in Iraq, a mother of four who
finally got reliable electric power was quoted as saying, “Now the
children will not leave the house. They just sit at home all day
watching satellite TV.” Hopefully not repeats of Me and The Chimp
and Hello Larry. It kind of makes you want to sell some of your
average daily TV viewing time, doesn’t it?
©2003 Mad Dog
Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
These columns appear in better newspapers across the country.
Read them. Or wait for the miniseries.
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