TV Week - Day One

Monday marked the beginning of TV Turnoff Week. This is the week that some culture vultures have picked as the one that we less enlightened beings should watch no TV. That's right, none at all. You'll be amazed at all the wonderful things that will happen when you don't watch TV. You'll talk to your family. You'll read an improving book. You'll listen to classical music. You will be smarter, happier, taller, more attractive, blah blah blah.

Some teachers turn it into an assignment. Students are told to keep a journal of all the things they do instead of watching TV. Because TV is, of course, very, very, bad.

Phooey. TV is good. TV is wonderful. And like everything else, TV is subject to Sturgeon's Law; 90% of everything is crud.

Everything. 90% of books are crud. 90% of movies are crud. 90% of theater is crud. Do you hear anyone saying that we should give those things up? TV's bad reputation is a result of the powerfully immersive nature of the medium. You turn on the TV and if they are showing crud you are immersed in the crud. Click: gameshow. Click: soap. Click: infomercial. Click: pop-psych Click: screaming spin-doctors.

Books aren't like that. They don't shoot you right in the eyes and ears. You have to open them. You can filter out the stuff you know will be crud without really experiencing it. But TV? It's in your face.

But then it is Click: House. Click: Julia Child. Click: Star Trek. Click: Life of Birds. Click: "One small step . . ."

So I don't drink the Kool-Aid. I don't turn my TV off. I'll take a cue from those teachers and blog my media consumption. It may not be of any interest to anyone but me, but that's okay. 90% of blogging is crud too.

And so it begins. After work and after supper I took a few minutes to check out the latest news on the web, then sat down with Da Queen to watch the tube. I had carefully reviewed all of our options and had come to the conclusion that there was nothing worth watching on any of the channels. No problem -- opportunity in fact. In this age of miracles and wonders we can avail ourselves of the TV of the past. We set the Way-Back to 1952 and watched a couple of episodes of the classic NBC production Victory at Sea. This was a documentary series about World War II with a focus on naval warfare. It was, I think, the first major retrospective of the war television had done. The writing and narration is a style that I can best describe has heroic. The score, by Richard Rodgers, is wonderful. It is the finest kind.

Tonight I particularly enjoyed the episode dealing with U.S. submarine operations in the Pacific. In 1952 the writers were certainly not in a mood to be too critical of any aspect of the war effort, so they tend to quietly skip over some things. I noticed that no mention was made of the terrible trouble the Navy had with poorly designed and manufactured torpedoes early in the war. I mentioned that to Da Queen, who told me that the problem was compounded by the legislators from the state where the torpedoes were being made. They were more interested in protecting local industry than the crews of subs and torpedo planes. Interesting. Watching historical television with Da Queen can be quite a trip, as she can usually fill in the missing bits or even point out the mistakes. Later, while watching Russian soldiers advancing on Sevastopol I commented on how disorganized everything looked but how the advance continued through the guts and sheer force of will of the soldiers. Da Queen agreed and expatiated upon the poor planning that was common in what was left of the Russian officer corps at that time.

Day One is done. Nasty bad TV had given us arresting images, good music, and had sparked an interesting discussion. I'm sure it will melt my brain any time now.