“Television is democracy
at its ugliest.”
Paddy Chayefsky
“The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as
some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of
the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway
where thieves and pimps run free
and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.”
Hunter S. Thompson
I had the kind of childhood that some lawyers might call a legal defense. Amidst the horrors and uncertainty of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, there was one constant that I could turn to for comfort and solace – a 10-inch black and white Motorola television.
Television allowed me to visit a world beyond anything I could imagine on my own. It provided a template – a paradigm – for what a functional family could be like. It introduced me to people who were doing their best to fit into a world that was complicated and frightening, yet manageable. It showed me that there was a world outside of my own pain that I could aspire to become a part of.
And that is why I truly believe television saved my life.
Today I am a happily married mother with three sons. I do not have any substance abuse problems or sexual dysfunctions. I do not have a criminal record. I do not have any dark psychological issues seething beneath the surface ready to explode at any time. I believe I was able to avoid these stereotypical “results of child abuse” because television enabled me to see there were other options.
Television has also dominated my professional life. I wrote scripts for television series like Hunter, Jake & The Fatman, The Love Boat, Hart to Hart, KnightRider, True Confessions, and Foul Play. I served on the Board of Directors of The Writers Guild of America, west. I am an Adjunct Professor of Communications, teaching courses about Media and Television that are broadcast LIVE on television and the Internet. I was the Associate Publisher of Creative Screenwriting Magazine. As if that wasn’t enough, I married a man who produces and directs television and LIVE Interactive Broadcast for the Internet.
I’m one of those moms who keep the television going day and night. In fact, there is a television in every room of my house. As you might already suspect, my kids have always been allowed to watch as much television as they want and have been known to spend entire days sitting in front of it.
In spite of being subjected to what some might call horrific maternal negligence, my kids are thin, healthy and socially popular. They successfully load their class schedules with AP/Honors classes, take college classes during the summer and perform community service. So, when I hear someone pose the theory that sitting in front of the television makes kids fat, lazy, stupid and/or socially isolated the first thing I do is shake my head and wonder how long they’re going to continue to deny the real reason anybody’s kids get backed into one or more of those terrible corners.
It all comes down to a simple truth – each of us longs for personal connections that are emotionally fulfilling. If we have emotionally fulfilling relationships, television becomes a really great vehicle for delivering entertainment and information. If we do not have emotionally fulfilling relationships, television enables us to transcend the pain and isolation that surrounds us so that we can imagine a sense of emotional connection to something.
I truly believe that television has enabled positive social developments that might not have happened without it. Sure, there are lots of reasons to turn off the television. But, in this section, we’re going to explore the reasons to turn it on.
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