' AS SEEN ON TV '

everybody likes watching TV , me too. our entertainment choices have never been broader or more appealing . no matter what your interests are there is a segment for you . i would like to look a little deeper into this subject .

which is exactly what the entertainment industry does not want . who can blame them . when we watch TV we all " suspend disbelief " that's how movies work . have we suspended to much disbelief ?

network situation comedies started going down hill with " all in the family " Archie Bunker was mean and nasty . but there was no laugh track . it was supposed to be a honest look at American life . fast forward to " everybody loves Raymond " it is a show where everyone is nasty with a laugh track . is it shaping American life in a negative way ?

the television programmers would love it if everyone in America spent as much time as possible in front of the TV watching as many commercials as possible . over and over . they have come up with nifty set top box's that keep track of what we watch and auto record shows it thinks we will like . these box's can tell what we are watching when we watched it and if we skipped the commercials . these nifty set top box's are starting to direct advertising to out TVs suitable for our age , race. and economic status .

sales figures are analyzed like forensic evidence to make sure we see the advertising designed to pull all the right emotional triggers with us . so we will leave our TV s long enough to go shopping .

how much of what we see and hear on TV shapes our thinking and actions ? dining out used to be a special occasion now we eat out all the time . we used to save for what we wanted to buy . now we buy it and pay it off . is this good or bad or just the way it is ? are we rude when we should be polite because thats the way they are on TV

how about our attitudes towards each other . Christian stations and there shows are doing a brisk business . the reality shows have become big money winners and real police shows [cold case , forensic files] are staples on discovery and the NGC . are people tired of the fantasy Hollywood has created and want something real ?

I believe TV is the greatest invention of the past 200 years . maybe we are moving out of the childhood of TV . perhaps in the next 50 years the marriage of the Internet and television will be so complete we will start using TV in an adult way . for learning and development of our shared humanity . perhaps it truly help all of us to be healthy , wealthy and wise .