The 3 Television Catagories

Television has really evolved a lot since I Love Lucy. There are so many different channels and a variety of shows out there now. Sometimes it’s hard to weed out the good from all that other stuff.  Aside from sports and the news, I believe television is split into three sections: reality, educational, entertainment. I also like to call them stupid, boring, and interesting.

Reality shows are stupid. They are not even reality, they are make-believe worlds controlled by producers who tell the actors/participants what to do. The producers get ideas from what will make them the most money, which is drama, drama, drama. Reality TV shows are filled with high-strung people who pick fights with each other without having a good reason to. They also blow things way out of proportion to create even more drama so they can make money. On shows like The Jersey Shore and Teen Mom, people get paid to show their bad life decisions on national television. They get famous for doing absolutely nothing except being idiots. They got lucky and took the fast track to money through bad television, but when the show is don’t, what will they do with their lives?
Educational TV is ok, but it’s very boring. Some historical documentaries are interesting if they make it into some sort of narrative story, but most the other time it’s just facts. If there are multiple eyewitness testimonies or reenactments that makes it interesting. Things such as the history of the computer is not engaging at all unless you are some sort of computer technician. They use lots of jargon pertaining to the subject and only present facts. They don’t even try to make it interesting for ordinary people. Science is just as bad. There is no way to turn the discovery of DNA into a fun and engaging story that captures the attention of normal people. It’s just not possible.
Good quality entertainment television is the way to go when choosing what to watch. The show needs to be part of a series and you need to be able to learn something from it. It needs to leave you on a cliff hanger at the end of the episode and you need to feel like you just can’t wait until the next episode airs. The plotline has to be engaging and it can’t revolve around stupid stuff like exaggerated teenaged love or other related subjects. It needs to be appropriate for your age. If you’re twelve, you shouldn’t be watching South Park and if you’re twenty, you shouldn’t be watching The Secret Life of the American Teenager. You need something that matches your level of maturity.  And above all, you need to enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it, what’s the point of watching it? If you can’t find anything good on, then rather than being lazy, go out and have some fun with real people. (486 words)