The Best and Worst of Television

First of all I want to inform my readers that I am not a huge fan of TV. I honestly believe that most programming is nothing more than the mental equivalent of huffing gasoline. Sure it may be fun for awhile but then you get a splitting head ache and are forced to think of the gazillion or so brain cells that you have just eradicated with extreme prejudice.

Here in Wichita Kansas at the Swaney home we have a satellite system and get every channel that a person could ever imagine and a few more that are thrown in for good measure. One of these throw ins is a channel called iDrive TV. What's it for ? Who watches it ? I have no idea. If anyone out there is a dish network subscriber and has watched this channel please feel free to drop me an e-mail justifying the existence and bandwidth of iDrive and I'll check it out.

I am old enough that I can remember the big three television networks. ABC, NBC, and CBS. For a long time these were your choices. Then Fox came along and broke us out of that rut by daring to offer an alternative to News between 5pm and 630pm. They offered different choices and that was good. Than came along a billion more choices and 99% of the programming is garbage.

In truth I generally watch the Fox news channel, one of the 3 History Channels, or The Discovery Channel, and a little BIO channel for variety. I would suppose that I would be considered a television nerd or Geek.

Some shows actually offend me, and as head of household I have banned them completely. These shows aren't the ones that are banned by most parents. If my son should glimpse nudity, strong sexual content, or extreme violence, I don't freak out. These are things that are part of our lives and culture and I believe that to insulate him from them would be to put him at a disadvantage when he grows up and leaves the nest. So we watch and discuss.

I ask him questions about how he feels about what he has seen. He tells me and then asks how I feel. I tell him and he moves on.

I just don't believe that he should have to sneak around or feel like he is doing something wrong by watching television.