Who watches television?

I’ve got a friend of mine who has become an elitist.  He runs with the rich crowds, drinks French wine, plays on  the best golf courses, lives in a McMansion and wears expensive clothing.

All that I can accept – after all he is my friend and that’s his right.

But, the other day, he went too far.  He told me – in all seriousness – that he doesn’t watch television anymore.  There’s nothing of real value on television, he said.   And besides, I can get anything I want to watch now on-line.

Right now I think he’s watching 60 hours of Korean opera.

“I think that people who watch commercial television are wasting their time, television is opiate for the masses,” he said, echoing the opinion of that other elitist – Karl Marx.

I can accept his expensive clothing and I really enjoy visiting him at his mountain retreat – – but when he starts to criticize my television watching – I have to draw the line.

I watch television.   I watch a lot of television.   I’m a television junkie and have been since I saw my first television set back in 1948.   I think I have five sets in my house.

If anyone would have asked me what I thought was the best invention of the 20th Century I would have to say – electricity – because it brought me television.

I tell people I watch television – – but I tell them I only watch the good stuff.   I tell them I only watch the History Channel or the Discovery Channel,  National Geographic Channel or the Smithsonian Channel.  I tell them that –  I guess because I feel I need to justify my television watching.

But, truth be told, I watch other channels as well.   I watch FX, Lifetime and even the food channels.  I watch anything that happens to peak my interest at the time.

I also watch the prime channels and the shows like NCIS, Scorpion, Blacklist, and Nashville,  as well as comedy shows like Fresh Off The Boat and Blackish.

My favorite show however is Sunday Morning on CBS.  I also watch all three major Sunday morning talk shows.  Oh – and lets not forget – football.

I watch a lot of television.   Some of it is crap – – but much of it is good.

For someone to say he doesn’t watch television – – I tell him – he’s missing a lot of good entertainment.   Probably better than Korean Opera.