First, off, I wanna let everyone know that the phrase "idiot's lantern" or "idiot box" originated in Britain shortly before world war two as a form of reverse snobbery. The general, working class British of the time felt great contempt for the mostly upper class people who owned televisions at the time. It was viewed as a base and vulgar form of entertainment. This opinion quickly went by the wayside, however, as the television gained enormous popularity in the decades following the second world war. Enough about random history though, on to the meat of the matter. The thing that I really love about television is that two minute block every approximately eight minutes (it varies from network to network) that is devoted purely to trying to convince/sell me something. That's right I'm talking about commercials. (no one ever accused me of being completely sane, did they? seriously though, if you know someone who considers me 100% completely and thoroughly sane, I advise you to contact the proper authorities at once.)I love commercials. They're fun. They are the most honest thing on T.V. They tell you the truth.(as they see it) No one else is going to tell me how much easier it is to scramble eggs with the Egg Wave's new auto whisk unless they do. How else is one expected to know that people have been scrambling eggs the wrong way for hundreds of years? As far as actual television programing goes, I have three preferences:
1)A major sports event-these always have the best commercials (eg: the Super Bowl)
2)Law & Order-One has no choice but to love the way the writers can turn a simple murder into an epic case about the inherent racism embedded in everyday American society.
3)Documentaries- This is usually where I learn all of the random crap that I know (like the history of the Television and the insulting phrases used to describe it)
No comments:
Post a Comment