Television of the Idiots, By the Idiots, For the Idiots

This isn't a rant as much as a eulogy. My television is off. And I don't know when it's going back on. No, it's not broken. And I did not make a decision to turn it off. I just feel no desire to turn my television back on.

I think it was all the tv news channel banshees and hyenas braying and yelling at each other for months over the Democratic primary race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, especially their focus on pseudo-"issues." The last straw may have been the recent Democratic debate held on ABC and moderated by Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos. That dismal, embarrassing performance by the ABC moderators, focusing on lapel pins and whether someone's pastor "loves America" in the midst of two wars, a mortgage crisis, and an economic meltdown, may well become The Day Television Died. It certainly felt that way for me.

The rest of the tv networks' schedule seems equally embarrassing. Here was the bulk of the networks' lineup during prime time (8 p.m. to 10 p.m.) this past Monday:

"How I Met Your Mother"
"Deal or No Deal"
"Gossip Girl"
"Dancing With the Stars"
"Celebrity Expose"
"TV Watercooler"
"Dirty Jobs"
"Lockup"
"Star Trek: Enterprise"
"Flavor of Love 3"
"Die Hard" (which airs at least once every two weeks)

After seeing this schedule, I think a lot switch went off for me. So I turned on another light switch -- the one on the reading lamp next to my sofa. Then I opened a book. And I think I have closed another chapter.