If, on the other hand, you acknowledge that you watch TV for entertainment, then the logical question is whether you are looking for specific forms of entertainment. Say, your idea of entertainment is a good movie but there’s no good movie (according to your definition of what a good movie is) on, will you stay on and watch whatever there is? Or is it something simpler–anything on TV is entertainment? In short, do you determine your brand of entertainment or do you let the TV stations make that decision for you?
At the bottom of all this is whether every person is capable of rationalizing his intentions for watching the television. Do we even know why we do it? Or is it simply a force of habit? Or worse, do we watch TV because everyone else does and we’d feel left out if we cannot discuss with our co-workers, neighbors and friends who married whom in the 7.30 telenovela and who died in the one that comes after that?
Clearly, the choice of whether to watch TV or not may not be so simple. Even if we can resolve that issue, we need to determine to what extent will I allow TV to influence my lifestyle? Once we accept TV as a way of life, do we have any controls left to enable us to say, hey, this one is acceptable but that one is not?
Then we finally arrive at the issue of fault. Can we fault anyone for what broadcast media has become? I am pretty sure that the networks’ executives see no fault amongst themselves. They are most assuredly patting each other on the back for all the money that they are making. What about us who lament the ridiculous shows–including news programs–that are standard fare on local networks? Do we fault them or do we fault ourselves? Both, perhaps?
No medium is more pervasive than the television. Those who do not see its power do not know media at all.
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