The Post where I finally address my TV addiction

My friend Jenn posted this on my facebook wall, and I was simultaneously surprised by how accurately this describes my life and by how I’ve never really addressed my TV addiction here. I guess I’ve been too busy talking about how I no longer want to work in TV, but that has not changed the fact that I watch a lot of TV…A LOT of TV. It’s a hard obsession to explain to people (without them judging you) and few understand.  

If you saw me last night, though, sitting on the edge of my seat, screaming at the TV, constantly texting my sister, and basically getting super angry about awards that have no direct bearing on my life, you might begin to understand my television obsession. (And btdubs, Jean Smart? Jeremy Piven AGAIN!? Cutting Neil Patrick Harris and Kristen Chenowith banter for more Howie Mandel TV time? Not cool Emmy’s. Not cool…..but, I mean, way to go Tina Fey!)

If you saw me, at 3:00AM on Thursday night, crying at the latest episode of Greek, you might understand it a little more.

If you saw the various post-its I have up on my desk, alerting me to the fact that OMG THE OFFICE, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, AND GREY’S COME BACK ON THIS WEEK XZMN!*N*(!!!!!! you might almost fully understand my TV obbsession.

If you saw the MOUNTAINS of television DVD’s I have stacked in my living room, got me started talking about who my favorite character actually is on Arrrested Development or about my anger and disappointment with the last season of Gilmore Girls or the fact that Friday Night Lights has never been nominated for an Emmy or why on earth NBC would wait until OCTOBER 30 (!!!!) to premier 30 Rock, you would be annoyed by my TV obsession (quickly). 

If you were one of my friends whom I have single handedly convinced to watch Arrested Development, Gilmore GIrls, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, How I Met Your Mother or Mad Men, you would thank my TV obbsession.

And if you were me, you would feel frightened about the lack of time your TV obbsession is going to leave you for the mountains of things that are already taking up your time…but I guess homework can wait when Jim and Pam’s romance is on the line. 

I guess my obsession boils down to this: TV is escapism. It’s entertainment you can share with millions of people. It’s characters you feel like you know and wish you could know. It’s people going through things you’ve been through or will be through, but with better hair and wittier banter. It’s relaxing. It’s stimulating. If it’s good it will make you think and stick with you for years. It’s something two strangers can have in common and talk about for hours. It brings people together.

I feel bad for people who say they don’t have time for television, and I take offense when people say there’s nothing good to watch. If you think that’s so, you aren’t looking hard enough or at all. I think we are living in a new golden age of television. Have shows ever been this gripping? This intense? This intricate and this compelling? This funny and original? If you don’t believe me, watch an episode of Mad Men or Friday Night Lights. If you think comedy is dead, just turn on 30 Rock for five minutes. If you aren’t laughing, you don’t have a soul. 

Maybe this is why I can’t work in TV. I love it too much to see the guy pulling the strings behind the curtain. It would ruin everything.