Television's Culture of Stupidity:
2005 The Year In Review

(December 2005)

by Ron Kaufman

"I was raised without television. [My children] watch films, and my daughter always has her nose in a book. I don't get the sense that they feel deprived. I don't know why that's shocking. TV is horrifying! Everything is so celebrity-obsessed, and I'm a celebrity. Why confuse my children with that?"
-- Madonna, October 2005

"There's nothing wrong with that! TV is crap!"
-- David Letterman responding to Madonna after she said she doesn't allow her kids to watch TV.

Just Say NO to Digital TV

The big news in 2005 was the imminent switch from the traditional analog TV signal to a digital one (DTV). According to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), DTV "will transform your television viewing experience [by enabling] broadcasters to offer television with movie-quality picture and sound." The FCC website about the DTV switch mentions nothing concerning any improvement of content and I have yet to hear any reasonable explanation of why Americans simply must see World Wrestling Entertainment or Desperate Housewives in high-definition. Digital TV seems to be a technological solution in search of a problem. Nobody in America, besides for television manufacturers, was clamoring for DTV as the answer to our social problems or a way to advance our civilization and way of life.

The U.S. Congress finally agreed that January 2009 will be the changeover date. At that time, the analog broadcast signals will be switched off and all television transmission will be produced digitally. Without some type of converter box any non-digital TV will be useless.

So in 2009 -- let your TV die a natural death.

The Fall of Western Civilization Award

Not that anyone had ever heard of Clark, Texas anyway, but the 125 residents of this town changed their municipality's name to DISH, Texas in order to get 10 years of free cable from the DISH satellite TV network. One resident told AFP News that, "We joke that in ten years everyone will come out and say 'Wow!' when they see the light."

Though the decision is an odd one, this is not the first time a town has changed its name for TV. In 1950, Hot Springs, New Mexico became Truth or Consequences, New Mexico after a popular TV show. In 1995, I stopped in Truth or Consequences on my way out to Arizona to go camping. I remember enjoying the hot springs immensely.

However, the DISH, Texas name change in November 2005 is quite different. In this instance, a city is actually adding television to the list of provided city services. The city now shares a corporate brand name owned by EchoStar Communications Corp. As long as television is viewed as a necessity and a right, it seems nobody is willing to see the truth that television an unbelievable waste of time.

Why the U.S. is in a persistent vegetative state

TV Sex and Violence On The Rise in 2005

Two studies release in November 2005 point to an increase in both sex and violence on television. The Kaiser Family Foundation released a study called Sex on TV 4 which found that the number of sexual scenes on television has doubled since 1998. Vicky Rideout, Kaiser's director of Entertainment Media and Health, said upon the release of the report on November 9, 2005 that sex on TV has a dramatic impact on children.

"In terms of the most advanced types of sexual content, scenes where couples were at actually having intercourse that happens in more than one out every 10 shows on TV," said Rideout. "Every year in this country, there are more than three quarters of a million unwanted teen pregnancies and four million cases of sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers. We are not saying that TV is to blame for this problem but research is indicating that it does have an impact and that has an opportunity to help address the problem to entertain and to do good at the same time. The television landscape today is blanketed with stories about sex. Sometimes those stories inspire. Sometimes they inform but they are consistently contributing to young people’s perceptions of what everybody else is doing and what is expected of them."

The second study, done by the National Institute on Media and the Family and the Parents Television Council, showed a dramatic increase in the amount of violence on television within the last year. During the last week of September 2005, the survey found 63 corpses on shows during the primetime viewing hours; it clocked only 27 dead bodies during the same time a year earlier. The grotesque included:

  • The lead character in Fox's "Bones" discovering a badly decomposed body hanging in a tree, crows picking on the remains. The maggot-covered head falls off and lands in Bones' hands.
  • A man preparing dinner on the WB's "Supernatural" when his sink suddenly fills with water. He reaches in and something grabs him, pulls his head in the water and drowns him.
  • On CBS' "CSI: NY," a man falling after trying to climb the outside of a skyscraper. He hits a ledge, and a large chunk of bloody flesh falls to the street.
  • A driver speeding up to hit a woman coming out of the clinic on NBC's "Inconceivable." She's shown hitting the windshield, flying through the air and lying on the ground with blood dripping from her mouth and nose.
  • The victim of an auto-erotic asphyxiation on CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."
  • Then there's the gunshot victim with blood spurting from his chest, the man screaming as he's being burned alive, the murdered woman whose eyes had been removed and eyelids stitched shut and the medical examiner using pliers to pull a diamond from a dead man's chest.

Today's television programming is littered with sex and violence of a graphic nature. Though adults may become desensitized to these depictions, children are undoubtedly influenced. The excellent 2003 study from the University of Michigan by L. Rowel Huesmann clearly shows that people who were heavy TV viewers as children are more likely to engage in violent behavior as adults. Children are effected by violence on TV whether they know it or not. It is up to the adults to control what comes into the household and not let the TV networks raise America's children. As President George W. Bush said in January of 2005: "They put an off button on the TV for a reason. Turn it off."

NBC sinks to new lows

General Electric's NBC network has a knack for broadcasting the worst shows on television. Even though I didn't watch any of this garbage, the descriptions alone are enough to see the pathetic nature of television programming. These two celebrity-driven shows are prime examples of why watching television is simply a waste of time.

Finally, Something Good Is On Television!

From Canada comes this great idea: the TV Kozy. Basically, the TV Kozy is a stylish cover for you TV. The website for the product says their motto is "Outta sight, Outta mind". Though a little pricey, the TV Kozy is an idea whose time has come.

Waste of Resources Award 2005


Panasonic's 65-inch plasma TV, shown here in August 2005 in Tokyo, Japan. The first of its kind, the TH-65DX300 weighs 240 pounds and has a width of 61.2 inches, a height of 39.8 inches and a depth of 15.5 inches. The suggested retail price is $18,845. Not to be outdone, LG Electronics will sell a 76-inch TV and Samsung is planning an 80-incher. Once again, those companies cannot guarantee decent content.

Nielsen Media Research Top 20

This is the state of America today.