Second Negative

The state of television

With the start of the new Fall season, it’s sad to see that little has changed. Do we really need another reality show about a rich guy weeding out a group of narcissists? And really, another show about crime scene/medical investigators?

Much like teachers who base their lessons on the requirements of standardized tests, most networks are interested in ratings over quality. The emphasis is most often on what sells, rather than on what is groundbreaking or unique. Of course, this doesn’t mean there aren’t exceptions. Generally speaking, if there weren’t exceptions, I wouldn’t have much to watch.

I enjoyed a handful of programs as a teenager, and loved Seinfeld, but I didn’t really become interested in television until I started watching two shows during the summer of 1997. I was at home in College Station one Saturday flipping around when I discovered that the USA network was showing a marathon of a new show on the WB called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. My first thought was, “wasn’t that a really cheesy movie from the early 90’s?” And of course, the answer was yes, but the TV show turned out to be something completely different, a drama with a sharp comedic wit. I was hooked immediately. For the first time, I found myself wondering what was going to happen the following week on a television show.

A friend of mine had long insisted that I give The X-Files a look, but I had resisted under the assumption that I wouldn’t be interested in “some freaky show about aliens”. I was wrong. After catching an old episode on cable, I started renting X-Files tapes from the first season, and they were fantastic. I couldn’t imagine how I had failed to realize what a great show it was, but I didn’t miss another episode until the final season.

Over the years, I’ve had my share of disappointments, and I’ve watched a fair amount of crap (Hyperion Bay) trying to discover shows that are new and different. Honestly, how many shows about hospitals and lawyers can you watch? How can most people suffer through the bland writing and coma inducing storylines of many mainstream hits while quality shows like Buffy, Angel, Scrubs, Felicity, Alias, Wonderfalls, Andy Richter Controls The Universe, and Arrested Development struggle to find an audience?

Make yourself a promise this year to skip a few episodes of “normal” people behaving badly, and try something different. You might just make a discovery of your own.