It’s some sort of progress that today is day #5 of Television week.
Size Matters
For all the education that can come from TV, and yes I do believe a huge amount of education does come from TV, there is the ability for information to come out from all sorts of sources. And those sources aren’t always going to be intelligent or forward thinking. They aren’t changing their mentality just because their audience now one million instead of one thousand. Because of that the potential and proven damage is greater.
Science Matters
This is especially true in the world of sexism. We watched during this past US election cycle as a number of candidates said some things that were hard to believe. Probably the most egregious of these statements came from Akins in Missouri. He stated that he had been told by doctors that a woman who is being ‘legitimately raped’ had a built in protection in her womb that would kick into gear and stop the woman from getting pregnant. He was rewarded for his ignorance of science by being defeated. He was also rewarded with scathing criticism from all sides for general stupidity.
Standing Up Matters
What does this have to do with Television? It has to do with it because, just as on the Internet, you can have all sorts of ignorant, damaging and inaccurate information coming at you. There is no way to know what is true unless you work diligently to get a broad range of information, which many people are not going to do because they either think the broader world of information out there is dangerous, secular or demonic, or they are too lazy and don’t care to investigate and learn. Either way we end up with many people believing ideas, and implementing policy based on those ideas, that have already been proven to be scientifically false. They are going backwards and it is damaging and embarrassing for the US and it’s citizens.
We have to be diligent and stand up for what is true in the world against those who would take us backwards. And no, it won’t ever end. We will have to fight forever – on TV, the internet, and wherever else we see the stupidity and resulting damage being done.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Aldous Huxley
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Trivia question answer from yesterday
Question:What caused Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of the Television to proclaim, ‘This has made it all worthwhile.” ?
Answer:Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon – July, 1969
I am here to educate you that today is #4 of my Television series.
Fire Food
Some Television is fire food. That means it’s really HOT and it burns you. How were you educated? By being taught not to eat that food again. With the food you need to drink a lot of cold water and just wait for the heat to pass.
When I first started working at Eulipia Restaurant in San Jose, California back in 1981 the kitchen staff tested me a bit. The dishwasher (who eventually moved up to head chef actually) gave me two pieces of green pepper. He said they were both mild, but I knew better. I ate them both, knowing I could handle hot peppers pretty easily. My eyes watered a bit, no big deal. They saw I could handle it. But I made the mistake of wiping my nose while I still had the oil from the pepper on my fingers. The oil caught part of the moisture from my nose and traveled up into my sinuses. It was PAINFUL and my left side of my face felt like it was going to explode! It took a long time for that to go away. I was educated by the fire food that day!
With TV it’s the same way. It can’t be unseen, you are stuck with this grotesque and painful image in your head that actually hurts your brain. You might have to take a cold shower, or change your pants. You might have to go to hypnosis counseling to rid yourself of the memory. It’s really not the type of educational TV you want to watch more than once, if at all.
What is an example of this kind of TV in your mind?
Fine Food
Some Television is Fine Food. It’s the type you eat slowly. You savor it. It enlightens you, teaches you, something new about how tastes and textures can combine to give you a sublime experience. You might even go back to the restaurant as soon as you can so you can have the same dish, the same experience, again.
Linda and I went out for our anniversary last weekend. We went to Bodean’s, a seafood restaurant in Tulsa. It easily ranks at the top of our restaurant list in terms of quality. Amazing food. The type of food you want to cut into little pieces and eat slowly so you can make it last a long time.
The fine food TV show is the same way. It’s something you savor, amazed at the concept, script, the acting, the sets, everything. You watch it again because you know you will see new things you didn’t catch the first time. It enlightens you, teaches you something new about life, history, psychology, relationships, science, faith, and more. You feel empowered after watching the show.
What shows are Fine Food for you?
Fast Food
Some Television is Fast Food. You aren’t there to have a sublime eating experience, you are there to feel a need, get some food in your belly and be done with it. You might have a hankering for it, like comfort food.
Like me and a quarter pounder. I barely ever have one, but when I want one, I REALLY want it. It tastes good yes, but it is really just a cheap thrill that I want, nothing fancy, nothing complex or sophisticated. I wanted one last week after having my colonoscopy and I indulged. Then I had that same hankerin’ again last night, coming home from a photo group library session. And I indulged again. I think I will need to discipline myself for a while, until this hankerin’ lets go of me!
Fast food TV is the same way. It’s pretty mindless entertainment, it is unlikely to teach us anything new or profound. It is ok in small doses but if your TV watching time is filled with it, you might be wasting your time without even the side benefit of learning something.
What is your fast food show?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Nicholas Johnson
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Trivia question of the day
What caused Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of the Television to proclaim, ‘This has made it all worthwhile.” ?
I think there are plenty of shows on TV that appear smart at first watching but end up being pretty mediocre, without a lot of intelligence behind them. I believe this is because television is a very intense and collaborative process. Many elements and many talents have to come together to make the entire production excellent and smart. Perhaps the concept is compelling, but the execution is poor. Maybe the script is top shelf, but the delivery from the actors is stiff and boring. Maybe the concept is so derivative it just doesn’t matter how great all the other contributions are, it’s just never going to be good.
Smart Ass
Then there are the shows that are highly watched and are often said to be ‘smart’. But what they really are is smart ass. They are often reality TV shows that get their kicks by cutting others down. They are promoting mean judgmentalism, intense drama and pathos for the sake of getting viewers. The programs are manipulative and petty. My wife and I made a decision last year to turn off those shows and not give that negativity room to breathe in our living room.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who once made his family give up TV for a month, way back when.
Quote by Gallagher (updated to include a button on a remote instead of turning a knob)
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TV Trivia answer from yesterday.
The question was: What was the first reality TV show?
The answer is: Candid Camera. It first aired in 1948.
The reality is that I would invite a lot of people I see on TV into my home if I could. I would say probably 75-85% of the people I see on TV I would end up enjoying letting them in for a cup of joe and a nice conversation in the living room (with the TV off). The other reality is there is a certain proportion of people on TV who I wouldn’t want in my neighborhood much less my home. There are just some I wouldn’t feel comfortable with. Who would you invite and not invite to your home? For me, many who you might think I wouldn’t invite in are the ones I would.
Reality TV
There is a concept in physics that says the very act of observing particles changes what the particles do. You can never see them and not affect them. I think the same is true of humans. I don’t think it is possible for a camera to be present and the human it is recording to not have some change in their behavior. It might be subtle, it might be barely perceptible, but it is there nonetheless.
Reality TV Reality
I don’t think it is wise for us to pretend we are really seeing who these people are. Perhaps we are seeing more of them than if they were acting a role in a scripted series, but that doesn’t mean we are seeing them accurately. The first, most obvious reason is the editing that goes on. The producers need to create conflict and villains and heroes and drama. The can’t do that by showing boring people coping well with life and getting along. They find characteristics and they exploit and manipulate the people, situations, environments, to make those characteristics clash. That doesn’t mean certain people on reality TV aren’t really jerks, I am sure many of them are, but they aren’t ONLY jerks and the jerkiness they exhibited might have been greatly exaggerated in that made up situation.
Reality
As long as the person watching is smart enough to recognize that is what is happening then I think it’s all good. Unfortunately I do think many don’t realize that and they go away under the illusion that they know that person. They don’t. Those people who come across as jerks? Those are some of the ones I would want to invite in, if for no other reason than to balance out what I saw on TV with a more accurate dose of who they are in reality.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, whose wife thinks would do really well on Survivor if he could get past the first day or two when people might think he was an arrogant jerk. Who me?
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Trivia question of the day
What was the first reality TV show? Hint, it aired before most of you were born (including me). Answer tomorrow.
I am probably not alone in this – I Love Television. I Love television But I don’t always like television. It’s like members of your family – You love them and you aren’t going to leave them, but you don’t always like them. You sometimes need a break from them. That is how I am with television.
Alone Together
It is very comforting to be alone together. As a matter of fact, married people often say they just like knowing the other person is somewhere in the house to make them still feel connected. Even though they are doing something alone, they are alone together. This is because they can talk about what it is they did while they were alone with the person with whom they were alone together. I read an article and I tell Linda about it, she finishes a work project and she tells me about it.
Alone Together Alone
What I don’t like is being alone together alone. That is when you might as well have been completely alone in the first place. The ‘together’ is cancelled out. You watch something on TV but you have no communication about it. It’s what happens when you don’t share the experience in any way. That is when I don’t like television. That is when I don’t like a lot of things.
What about you? Is it ok for you to just experience something? Or is it incomplete unless you share the experience as well?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, whose favorite shows growing up were Bonanza and Felix the Cat
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Television Trivia
The first TV advertisement was broadcast on July 01 1941. It was a 10 second spot for Bulova Watches before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. The commercial cost Bulova $9.00 to put on the air.
