2001-06-29 - 1:23 a.m.

TV

Once upon a time, we had this nice little discussion forum thing going. Then it stopped, and now I purport to have a "diary" which turns out to be a discussion forum. Or rather, today it does so, for now I shall discuss the latest from Fairmer.

What got me thinking was Mer's remark about TV affecting the quality of her life. To me, quality of life sounds like such a relative term that debating it just drops the conversation into a sinkhole. Suffice to say that I'd rather have a long talk about life and stuff with any of my friends than spend the same amount of time watching TV, and I'd rather watch an hour of _Buffy_ or _The West Wing_ than spend that same hour with my sister. Are we clear? Good.

On the other hand, because I care about Mer, I have to remark that any duration spent near _Voyager_, even if only playing in the background, is worse than the same duration sans crappy TV show. It's better to stare at a blank screen than to watch _Voyager_.

I find that watching good TV does good things for the rest of my life, though. _Buffy_ does some things that most other shows won't do. After the better episodes, I find myself thinking about production tricks (like the silent interludes in "The Body", for example). Joss Whedon and the rest of the Buffy team routinely pull off the oldest and best fantasy trick: By changing or exaggerating one aspect of reality, they throw the rest of reality into sharper focus.

_West Wing_, on the other hand, just plain pumps me up. It's blatant feel-good TV and it works. It also provides some good conversation starters. Enough people watch it now that you can bring up favorite episodes or even one-liners and get a discussion going. Which beats the hell out of talking about the weather.

So no, I ain't gonna claim that by not watching _Buffy_ my favorite bear has somehow sabotaged herself. You have to look at what you do instead of watching TV. Just don't try to tell me that all TV is crap, because TV can be just as impressive an artistic creation as poetry or paintings. It just falls short a lot.

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