You may be thinking based on the title that I'm going to rant about how TV today is a barren wasteland devoid of anything remotely worth watching. Well, that's true, but guess what - you're wrong...asshole.
No, my rant is going to be almost the complete opposite of that. You see, there's a trend I've noticed among certain people, many with whom I hang out with or otherwise associate with, people who would likely profess to being "intellectual" - a category I would normally include myself in but for the sake of observation will separate myself from for the purpose of this post. I've noticed that such people, in the event that someone begins to discuss a particular television show they happen to have enjoyed recently, will immediately proclaim quite loudly and condescendingly that they "don't watch TV." It is then implied that they are "above" watching TV because it is a pastime reserved solely for the stupid, unwashed masses, not refined individuals like themselves who have much better things to do, like watch clips of people hurting themselves on the Internet.
These may be the same people who insist on making sure everyone knows that they refuse to watch the Superbowl come time of the big game, or even worse, watch it "ironically" and constantly mock it while lamenting the time they are (willingly) wasting. Either way, the mentality is the same. Now, I don't inherently have a problem with the fact that some people just don't watch TV. But, at the same time, I have a personal theory: I think that it is these people who refuse to watch TV because there is nothing on but garbage who at least partially contribute to this assumption being true.
As anyone who does watch enough TV has observed, all the good shows - the ones that actually are witty, original, and have decent writing - invariably get canceled. We're still feeling the fallout from angry fans (such as myself) of Arrested Development. Now the amazing Pushing Daisies is suffering the same fate. There are countless other examples of brilliant shows getting shitcanned. There was a show, I can't even remember how many years ago, called The Knights of Prosperity about a janitor who, along with a team of other weirdos working out of a Jewish supply warehouse, concocts a harebrained scheme to rob Mick Jagger. I thought it was fantastic, and I don't recall if it even made it one season. I'm sure anyone reading this can think of their own personal examples.
The reason that these shows get canceled, even when they are actually award-winning shows like Arrested Development and Pushing Daisies is simply low ratings. There just aren't enough people watching. And here's where my theory comes into play. The reason the ratings are low is that the majority of people watching just don't understand these shows. There are no obnoxious laugh tracks to tell them that what they are watching is indeed humorous. These shows are better appreciated by more intelligent people, or people with a more unusual or unorthodox sense of humor. The people I was complaining about before tend to fall into both of these categories. Unfortunately, they'll never watch these shows because they simply assume that there is nothing good on TV to watch. If they were to instead discard their preconceived notions and actually give television a chance, the shows I love might actually stand a chance. And they would discover that even some shows that are popular are quite good, such as 30 Rock, The Office, and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.
So even though there are a myriad of other factors affecting whether a show lives or dies, I'm going to personally heap all the blame for my favorite shows getting the axe on the people who refuse to watch TV and in fact, take pride in that fact. Thus, I'm going to close with a suggestion that basically goes against everything we've been told in school: put down the damn book for once and turn on the television.
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