What has television come to???

*Blows breath* Where do I begin...TELEVISION IS THE WORST!!! At first, I tried to think whether or not my age (25) has anything to do with my feelings on this issue. Does anybody remember when television had meaning??? We went from only being able to have basic channels (Channel 2, 3-which was used for the VCR or Video Games, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 21), 13'-20' with two knobs, or floor models (Zenith)...with "The Bomb Can't Miss" television shows. Now we're working with Eleventeen (Entirely too many) thousand channels, with big screen 50'-60', LCD or Plasma televisions with HDTV...with absolutely nothing on television.

I can think about a couple of shows that mad everyone get home on time to tune into or watched at one time or another. 21 Jump Street, 227, A Different World, ABC Afterschool Specials, ALF, Amen, America's Most Wanted, American Bandstand, American Gladiators, The A-Team, The Aresenio Hall Show, Baywatch, Benson, The California Raisins, Charlie Brown & Snoopy, Charlie's Angels, Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers, The Cosby Show, Dear John, Diff'rent Strokes, Doogie Howser, M.D., Double Dare, Empty Nest, Fame, Family Matters, Family Ties, Fat Albert, The Facts of Life, Garbage Pail Kids, M*A*S*H, Martin...etc., that's just to give you a few (I can go on for days, I left out some important ones.) Can someone inform me, where did shows like these disappear to???

Every show that's aired these days, are supposedly reality. These people make it seem as if there's no camera following them at all. I'm not expecting them to stare directly into the camera, but don't make it seem as if you don't have people there taping you're every move. I don't know if it's me over analyzing the shows, but it seems to me that most of the conversations are scripted. Not exactly telling the cast how to react in specific situations, but sort of like a "And Action!!!". When these people know that they're in front of the camera, they tend to act a little bit out of their usual character. For example, we have shows like "Run's House", "I Love New York", and "Flavor of Love" that they lead us to believe that are real in content. The way each cast member acts on all three of these shows, all seem acted out. Yes, sometimes we get drawn into the hype or drama, which makes us tune in. In my opinion, there's nothing about these shows that are "Reality".

Comparing these shows to what I used to watch back in the days, there's no reason to be paying for cable. But for some reason, it don't be a damn thing on T.V. Unfortunately, I am one of those people that just can't live with it and definitely can't live without it...=0*. Get at me...

*Picture of M*A*S*H...courtesy of cedricstudio.com