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douglas kastle onion TV

I own a TV


Mesmerize, originally uploaded by *Berto.

I love TV. Love it, love it, love it! Anyone who knows me thinks I watch way too much and maybe they are right. If I may quote Homer Simpson, “Teacher, Mother, Secret Lover”, I feel that sums it up nicely (particularly the teacher part). However I seem to find myself running into people in my daily life who don’t watch TV and don’t own a TV. Unsurprisingly they can be extremely boring but they also keep working the fact into conversation. I bring it up because my life is perilously close to a Onion article from all the way back in 2000:

Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn’t Own A Television

Which reports on Area resident Jonathan Green who does not own a television, a fact he repeatedly points out to friends, family, and coworkers. While the article is meant to be satire, I find myself living the reality.

Some TV may be dross, I work a regular 9-5 job so I miss the insipid daytime programming of morning shows and soap operas. I can’t say I’m a big fan of the reality TV boom that crowds out the afternoon programming either. However some of the dramas coming out of the US is amazing and giving the movies a run for their money, Lost and Battlestar Galatica are awesome and every second year of 24. Also you can’t go wrong with some top class documentaries, particularly local history. As an expat it takes along time to catch up with what the locals know and those docos (as they say in Oz) are a life saver.

I have to admit though growing up I used to feel so left out when shows that aired in America took years to be shown in Ireland or the UK. It was only when I lived there for a few years and saw the amount of crap that would start a season and get canceled early I realised that the multi year delay was a necessary and welcome filter to remove all the crap and at least guarantee some quality. Lets hope the WGA strike in the US is over and those dudes can get back to producing some decent shows.