Rick Marino #5

Sadly, yes, I occasionally immerse myself in the mind-numbing entertainment box that is the T.V. My younger brother is an addict of sorts. I always hear my parents admonishing him and reverting to their "your brain will turn into oatmeal" saying. Even though I smirk at their comments, I cant help but to reprehend myself after watching an excess of T.V. I do enjoy a handful of shows, like Louie and South Park, but most of television leaves a bad taste in my mouth For example, I repeatedly find myself ranting about Sports center, the successful sports news program. When I was younger I would watch it daily. Now this is what I hear if I turn it on:

- "That was a great game last night John."
-  "Oh yea Jim. Haha. Haha. I thought the winning team won because they scored more points."
- "I would disagree John. I thought they won because the other team didn't score as many points."
- "I will agree that we have a lot of fun on this show. Haha. Haha."

They rarely say anything substantial and for some reason they always laugh at each others unclever jokes.


I've never of television thought of it as a "convenient delivery system for advertisers to send their messages to the masses". Now that it is mentioned though, I find it very plausible. To say that all T.V. is a silly waste of time, however, I think is far-fetched. Programs can be pure expressive forms of art, like films or paintings or books.

Ultimately, my thoughts on the "good" and "bad" of T.V. don't really matter. If a faction of the people watches a show, and that show makes money, it will consistently air. No matter how mindless, the inconsequential episodes will keep flowing like Niagara falls, providing and powering entertainment for a pudding brained population.