Mostly, I lay in bed with the remote, feeling sad about the things we are being told to care about, like how important it is to be the first in line to get the new iPhone or to have at least two designer dresses for your wedding day or to have a tan all year round.
I miss the Cleavers and the Cosbys and Misters Wizard and Rogers. I miss living at a time when there was an understanding of the profound influence television had on our culture, that it could be used to make us smarter and more thoughtful. I miss living at a time when cooking shows were about making delicious food and not about making the people who are trying to make the delicious food feel like crap about themselves.
I am not of the mind that we should give viewers what they want, because apparently what viewers want are shows about vapid thoughtless people getting in trouble and screaming at each other, or vapid thoughtless people trying to hide how miserable they are by building 40,000 square foot houses.
I wish more people like Oprah would strike out and create meaningful programming, I wish there were more shows like Glee that took on important social issues. I wish, at the very least, that one of the major networks started showing reruns of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
Until then, I say kill your television.
