
I am experiencing TV ennui. I am watching the ol’ boob tube less and less, and find myself rejecting shows mid-season. I’ve stopped caring about fictional characters. Can the end of the world be far behind?
Let me be clear – I was never one of those TV Turn-off Week people who thought that television was the bane of humanity. I once lived briefly without a TV, and for a time with only a small black and white set with rabbit ears that was rarely turned on, but I was firm in my opinion that not all television would rot your brain. There was the news and documentaries and shows that were well-written with great plots and detailed character development.
There was also a lot of crap that I would sit through numbly, passively watching, not really caring, but not compelled to change the channel or get up and do something better.
Sometime in the past year or so, though, I’ve become more discerning. A show needs to really speak to me to keep my interest. Oddly, soon after I bail on a once-favourite show, it begins to tank. The first to go for me this year was Heroes. I gave up after only a few episodes. Then it started tanking in the ratings. Ugly Betty was the same way, and while I felt bad about abandoning Betty and the gang, the writing was just going down the crapper. Again, it dropped in the ratings as others saw the same flaws that I did. And I only made it a few shows into season 3 of Dexter before I started wishing the lead character would take his signature scalpel to his annoying whiny girlfriend.
Part of the problem is my perfectionist nature and photographic memory – I’m still into this season of Damages, but because it wasn’t filmed chronologically, I’ve become obsessed with Glenn Close’s hair. First it’s long, then short, then long again – it’s driving me nuts. Big Love is also beginning to infuriate me, if only because this season seems to have gotten all crazy religious. And yes, the characters are crazy religious, but I don’t recall quite so much praying in previous seasons.
Even the mindless stuff seems, well, mindless. I can’t even justify my secret shame of America’s Funniest Home Videos anymore. I can’t be arsed to sit through all the stupid drooling kids, ball to the groin and trampoline footage for the 3 or 4 minutes of funny animal stuff. Sorry dogs and cats, but it’s more productive to just teach my own pets silly tricks.
There are still a few I’m holding on to; The Simpsons will always have a place in my heart, if only for the obscure pop culture references the writers sneak in there. Also The Office. I’ve never really been into reality shows other than a season or two of The Amazing Race and Hell’s Kitchen, and I haven’t bothered watching those at all this season, although I will probably check out the Marco Pierre White series that starts next week, just because, well, it’s Marco.
Even with food shows, it seems what I’m watching is not your typical boobalicious FoodTV bobble head, but is more stuff about seasonal eating and gardening and food politics. Most of these run on the UK channels, so they’re more difficult to access, but at least they require the viewer to think a little bit about what they’re watching.
I just can’t tell if it’s that TV is really sucking or if I’ve just become too picky. I’m not one of those people who equate being busy with being important, but more and more I feel like I don’t have the time to waste on something that isn’t going to make a difference in my life somehow.
Which probably means I’m expecting an awful lot out of the old idiot box – more than it can deliver.


Without being too preachy about it, I consider myself to be an environmentalist.
I haven’t worn perfume for years. Nothing scented really, if I can help it, unless it’s of the all-natural essential oil variety. Allergies and chemical sensitivity see to it that pretty much anything with fragrance gives me a splitting headache.
There’s a book called The Celestine Prophecy, a novel based on some new age spirituality, mostly rooted in some old spirituality. This post is not about that book, which has a number of detractors, as well as a number of fans, although having read the book, it’s what I tend to think of when coincidences occur.