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.
To tell you the truth, I had to be a bit crafty about posting this drawing on Facebook.
Hide and Seek
Do you seek to hide who you are, what you do, what you think? What are the consequences of that? For one, you are protected from having something bad found out, right? Maybe it’s an affair, or spending money on something you shouldn’t, maybe it’s an addiction, or maybe it’s simply hiding what you believe from those who would disapprove. But in all those cases, you have rationalized that it’s important to lie, to be crafty, about what you let people know. It’s for self-preservation after all, right?
Breaking Bad
Recently we started watching the TV series ‘Breaking Bad’. It’s the story of a high school chemistry teacher who becomes a Crystal Meth manufacturer and distributer. He ‘breaks bad’ in a big, big way. The most intense and educational part of the show for me is how he works so hard to hide what it is he is doing from his wife and family. He has good reasons of course, after all is brother in law is a DEA agent, his wife is expecting a baby and his teenage son has Cerebral Palsy. But the price he pays for hiding it all is so immense in both his family life, health and his psyche, that it is painful to watch.
Crafty Manipulation
I have done my own share of crafty manipulation over the decades. I came from an alcoholic mother and father who hid a lot. I developed some of the very same techniques even after I stopped drinking almost 20 years ago. In the past year I have made some rather amazing breakthroughs in that area and it’s felt pretty darn good. My wife and I both have moved to be much more willing to just say the truth and be done with it. I feel much freer and at ease as a result.
Be a Stripper
I don’t know your situation of course, but you might consider being a stripper. Strippin down to tell the truth about who you are, what you do (and why you think you do it) and what you want and need in life. It’s not easy and it could have some serious consequences so it’s not to be done lightly if you do indeed have some secrets. Perhaps you just start with telling the mirror. Even that is liberating, I can tell you that. It is a journey and it’s ok if you aren’t naked right away, but stripping off some false fronts isn’t beyond your capability, and it is a start.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Anonymous
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Trivia of the day
Number of alcoholic liver disease deaths: 15,183 (2009)
Number of alcohol-induced deaths, excluding accidents and homicides: 24,518 (2009)
