The Post-Television Watched Syndrome

I lived my life around television for too much of my life.  It always astounds me how our culture uses popular media as a bridge building vernacular in everyday communication.  Whether it is wrong or right that our children and ourselves delve deeply into fantasy worlds of cardboard-like sets, one liners, action stars saving the day with duct tape and a PVC pipe, or little blue gnomes living in mushrooms, the fact is we often use the common ground we find in what we have watched to jump start communication with the people around us.

I know I am odd, but I don't think I am alone when I realize I mark the years by what movies I saw, or television I enjoyed, or music I was listening to.  I am proud that I saw the original three Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies when they first ran in the theaters.  I remember the year in school when the AMC started a $1.00 movie night during the week, and I saw every movie that came out that year, including Good Morning Vietnam, and four other movies, at least six times each.  I watched the series finale of MASH with my dad.  And I can make many a man cry by saying, "Mean Joe Green drinking Coke."

I am not making an argument for turning on the flat panel and letting the children vegetate, but I was noticing today, observing, how many times in my day the shows I watch, whether when I was a kid or with my kids, bond people in a way that the medium should not have that much power to do, and you are reading this posted by someone who is in the entertainment field.

It is stupid to write a journal entry about something as insignificant as the fact that most of the people we know watch a lot of TV, but bear with me.
I mentioned Blue Clues on Facebook and friends (who I dearly miss) tale time to comment and share.  Think about these memories, if you can, for a second:  Mister Rogers, Electric Company, Superfriends, Spiderman and his Amazing Friends, Yogi Bear, The Simpsons, The Cosby Show, I Love Lucy, I Spy, Hawaii Five-O, Different Strokes, The X-Files, Bugs Bunny, Star Trek (all of them):  They all have some special memory for me I have shared in conversation with strangers and friends as a common point of reference.   They also bring back amazing memories as I wrote them down.

So many memories, I feel like Mike TeeVee and the Oompa Loompas are doing vocal warm ups under the kitchen sink.