Assignment 5 - Kyle Hosey

These days, my television watching is almost exclusively limited to sporting events. I am glued to the television or my iPad (also for television) for college football, NFL, any golf tournament, and I even commit the anti-American act of watching Premier League or Bundesliga soccer from time to time. It's my connection to the outside world that I value most. I cheer for teams from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh to Munich, and the magic box that is my television is the portal that allows me to do so. Masters Sunday or Steelers Sunday, you can almost certainly find me on my couch absorbed in the action.

 So when I say that I find very little purpose in most other forms of television today (at least shows like the ones awarded at the Emmys) know that that opinion does not come from a member of the sect of society espousing the grave dangers of all television, that the shiny black box and glowing screen are nothing more than the devil's trappings. I know different. I love television. I am one of you. My uncle and I maintain a bond by being diehard Steelers fans, only possible through TV. But four or five years ago, something totally turned me away from the Wednesday night ABC comedies and the AMC dramas and even my favorite show, The Big Bang Theory. As everyone else raved about this show or that show, I found myself thinking "Why do these people care that _____ died or _____ and ______ broke up?" I know that sounds hypocritical given that I have been known to curse at the television when Virginia Tech loses, but eventually I was able to put a finger on exactly where my distaste stemmed from. None of it mattered. Once I saw someone crying - not just crying but bawling - because a character on the Walking Dead got eaten. OK. And? You had no connection to them! There isn't actually an apocalypse going on! Eventually, my view became jaded to the point of believing that those kinds of shows were not only not worth their entertainment value, but downright poisonous. That people were so desperate for an escape that they became overly invested in something that in the end made no difference. I have since realized that view's overly pessimistic nature, but my skepticism remains. At least sports were real, tangible things with sturdy communities built around them. So, that's exactly what I sought out upon my return to non-sports television; real-world things that I felt mattered. My most profound discovery was The Daily Show, still captained by Jon Stewart. In its brilliant satire I found both the entertainment and release from life's hardships that TV is exceptional at providing and the sense of importance that most other shows lacked. Its subject matter was real, not irrelevant and without connection to anyone's life. It was entertaining, but also intelligent and important. That, in a nutshell, is my primary problem with the kind of television that is popular today with  the Emmys. It may be entertaining as all hell, but if it lacks substance and real-world value, I cannot bring myself to care.