I went to the gym at lunch and had a choice of three TVs to tune into. I chose the one showing reruns of Law & Order: SVU over the two showing sports talk shows. I have never watched an episode of Law & Order of any kind. I am now very grateful for that. I know I can be a terrible snob, but seriously? This is what passes for quality television programming on the networks? It is unfathomable to me that such mindless, derivative, predictable dreck has ruled the airwaves for all these years. I have never been a fan of crime procedurals because they are predictable by definition; after all, they are about following procedure, right? But I was honestly shocked at how lame the dialogue was, how stereotypical the characters are, and how little nuance there was to the plot. Now that Breaking Bad has retired to the meth lab in the sky, I have been seriously contemplating canceling my cable altogether because other than sports, I don’t watch any shows (I do like The Walking Dead, which starts again soon, but I can live without it). I know there is good television out there but I don’t want to make the commitment. My stack of unread books just keeps getting higher, there are papers to grade, lectures to write, research articles to outline, crafts to make, friends to hang out with… I just don’t have time for television, and I think today’s shock just nudges me closer to cutting the cord.
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