I was recently talking to the mother that I nanny for when I told her that I wasn't sure if I was going to get cable when I move to Atlanta in a month. She looked at me quite seriously and said, "You have to get cable. TV is like…your life." There was no negative judgement behind the words. It didn't make me feel as if a large part of my identity revolves around sitting on a couch watching exorbitant amounts of television. It was simply an observation of something that is such a fundamental part of my life that she couldn't possibly support a cable-less future for me. I grew up in a tv loving home. I don't recall a time when my parents regulated mine and my brother's television viewing habits but I also know that we were never slaves to the tube. We were very active in the community, in our church and in our schools. We just really loved our Pokemon/Digimon power hour every morning before leaving for school. I'm not going to go into why I think television is beneficial for all ages, especially kids. I'm not going to go into why it's damaging, especially for kids. I simply want to put into words why television is important to me and how in many ways it has been a friend to me for my entire life. Calling TV my friend isn't negating the fact that I have actual real life healthy friendships. Because, thankfully, I do. I'm just saying, television is a constant. Creative, informative and thought provoking programming has always been around during my lifetime. I grew up learning life lessons with Barney. In high school I silently thanked the stars that my life was not nearly as dramatic as those of the kids on The O.C. In college I learned to value the incredibly intricate process that gets a script to screen. I reveled in the talent, the settings, the dialogue, the special effects and the costumes. But I also really just loved to look at John Krasinski's face. My favorite television show, Community, just ended it's 6th season. One of the main characters, Abed, gave a very meta speech about television. It perfectly captured exactly how I feel about television, why it matters to me a great deal and why I'm okay with that. "There is skill to it. More importantly, it has to be joyful, effortless, fun. TV defeats its own purpose when it’s pushing an agenda, or trying to defeat other TV or being proud or ashamed of itself for existing. It’s TV; it’s comfort. It’s a friend you’ve known so well, and for so long you just let it be with you, and it needs to be okay for it to have a bad day or phone in a day, and it needs to be okay for it to get on a boat with Levar Burton and never come back. Because eventually, it all will." I totally shed a tear when he said all of this. Not even ashamed. Also, please excuse the Levar Burton part. That deals with Abed's best friend and my favorite character, Troy, leaving on a sail boat with Levar Burton at the end of season 4. Honestly, if that doesn't make you want to watch the show…well, that's cool. You do you. Anyway, television is a comfort. Sure, there's so much on tv that's terrible and sends horrible messages to the public. But, there's also beautiful and wonderful shows that teach me as valuable lessons today as Barney did when I was 5. The British show My Mad Fat Diary has been a revelation on self-acceptance and coming to terms with the size of my own body. Parks and Recreation taught me the value of finding joy in the work that you do and the people that you are with and to never lose your enthusiasm regardless of what other people say. Friday Night Lights helped me appreciate the beauty of growing up in a small town. But it also kind of led me to maybe set too high of a standard for any future relationship, y'all. Eric and Tami Taylor are the best. Texas forever. Basically, the television shows that I have watched or still watch have been very beneficial in helping me reexamine my own life. They allow me to look deeply at my own beliefs, values and personal stories. When my favorite shows have a bad day, I'm never quick to judge because I know they'll be better. It's nice to know that they don't judge me either. At their very core, they exist to entertain. And that is what I get from them. A type of entertainment that I can't necessarily get out of reality because last time I checked, we are not suffering through a zombie apocalypse. I don't watch television as a method of escape. I rarely have anything in my life that I want to escape from. I watch television because it makes me happy. It makes me cry. It makes me think. Television won't keep me from going outside. It won't keep me from socializing with my real life friends. I participate in all of that but I also enjoy coming home and spending time with some fictional friends. Get it? Television can be joyful, effortless and fun when you allow it to be. Disregard all of the stuff that doesn't embody any or all of those three things. Choose the programs that challenge you to think. Choose the programs that inspire you to be great. Choose the programs that just make you laugh until you cry. Or just choose a program because John Krasinski is super nice to look at. So, yes, I'm going to get cable when I move to Atlanta. But I'm not really writing this just to update you on what my Atlanta utilities may consist of. Only recently have I come to appreciate the television I watch. I make fun of the amount I watch, not cringe because I think people will judge me for it. They still will, but it doesn't really phase me like it used to and I call that a win. Television is fun and meaningful to me. It's not my life but some days it makes my life more exciting. I may work for a show one day. It's a goal of mine and maybe I'll reach it. After all, television did give me the perfect words of encouragement and motivation:
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