anleja

Great, I somehow feel obliged to defend myself for saying I watch this. First of all, I basically consider the vast majority of television as trash, I don't even waste the money to get cable. I wrote a thesis in high school about the negative effects of television. When I do watch television, it with with a morbid fascination akin to driving slowly past a car wreck.

As far as myself using the people on these shows as a mirror to see how good my life is compared to them, I really don't think that is the case. I am interested in observing how people act when they know they are in front of the lens of the camera. Like some sociology experiment, I suppose.

I think calling people who watch these shows "losers" is over-simplifying and over-gereralizing things. It's not like everyone talks to their televisions, saying "you tell that asshole what's up" or "man, you are a dumb bitch for for even THINKING he's going to believe your lies."

Sorry if this post is excessive, but the way I see it is that I am accused of leading a fucked up life and being a loser for watching a show. Hopefully I'm taking this the wrong way and you were referring to OTHER people who take these shows seriously, in which case I apologize. But if you are saying that ANYONE who watches these is a fuck-up, excuse me if I take offense. Trust me, I know these shows are the empty calories of TV, but I think people are able to watch a half-hour show every once in a while and not need to be concerned that it is going to rot their brain or turn them into social deviants or whatever.

I'll end by saying people should not be so quick to paint others with such broad strokes. And again, forgive me if your post, Phredgreen, wasn't intended to be an immediate response to my own.

*edit-come to think of it, why are these shows different that others, in that everything on network television is basically a way to get commercials out to the public, nothing else? Surely some shows are "better" than others, as far as how it is written and acted, but what is there to really gain from watching even the best-written show? I can't think of anything. I think if someone is criticized for watching a specific show, they may as well be criticized for watching television, period.