I remember how much fun watching TV was, as a kid...still in pajamas, eating cinnamon toast, drinking chocolate milk and watching Captain Kangaroo or Uncle Al....or Saturday cartoons... Or in the afternoon, when Mom would be ironing , we'd watch game shows, like "Beat the Clock" or "The Match Game". In the evening, after the dishes were done, the family would gather around the set to watch comedies and variety shows like "I Love Lucy" or "The Ed Sullivan Show"...or dramas, like "Perry Mason" and "Gunsmoke".
Back when we were kids, the TVs weren't much bigger than a microwave is now. We had, maybe four TV stations, and those were made possible by an antenna or "rabbit ears" that you had to manipulate to get a clear picture. After the news, those stations would go off the air until the following morning. And black and white TVs were what most of us had... getting a color TV was a sure sign that "you had arrived".
Don't those memories beg one to ask the question "when did things become so different?"
We have big beautiful screens now - cable, satelite or dish - that assure us bright, clear and colorful images... The technology is astounding. Countless channels that allow us to watch something any hour of the day or night... But is it any better?
Looking back can trick us into thinking that things were better -even when they weren't. I get that. But many nights now, we surf through so many stations, just hoping that something worth our time, is on. And did we ever think we'd be paying to watch television? It used to be the initial outlay of cash for a TV set and the little you had to pay for the electricity to power it, was all it took. Now, some TV viewers pay as much every month for the privilege of watching TV as they do for their utilities. And for what?
I know there is some terrific programming out there now. But, to me, reality shows, TV shows with outlandish story lines, and countless reruns and copy-cat shows are more the norm. It just seems we pay more for less now.
I think it's kind of funny that our kids will look back on these current times as their "good old days". If they only knew....
No comments:
Post a Comment