TV-Land: Filling Voids and Taking Names

photo credit: ottobruno.org

Obsession can be defined as “the domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image or desire.” (dictionary.com)

The image – TV shows.

It seemed like the perfect time to pose this thought. “Lost” just had it’s series finale and the popular HBO show “Entourage” is about to start up its seventh season on Sunday.

For the longest time I didn’t want to pool myself into the group of TV “nutjobs,” but as I seal up my Netflix to send back a movie I didn’t even watch just so I can get cracking on season 2 of “Californication” – it hit me.

What is it?

What is it that keeps us sucked in? Keeps us on the brink of insanity?

Great writing? Attractive, lovable characters? Sure, that’s what we all say.

The real reason – we want what we can’t have. We want to live the lives of the few, not the many. It’s like dreaming. Our imaginative minds are free to envision ourselves in a different time, a different place, a different state of mind. Only with TV – that alternative reality is created for us. All we have to do is enjoy it; believe it.

And as I sit there cramming 10 episodes of “Entourage” to finally catch up for the new season –  I could do nothing but realize what I was doing. I was feeding the fire, while somebody smiles all the way to the bank. They figured out what keeps me in the chair – a life that myself, and the common folk – will most likely never live. And they’re cashing in.

It becomes an obsession, when you convince that clever mind of yours that it is in fact reality. You find yourself commenting on an on-going subplot or a character’s flaw with your book club, instead of the BP oil spill, or your town’s school budget.

It’s no longer about how I’m going to pay those parking tickets at the end of the month, it’s how will I get through this 2-hour finale without getting up to pee.

photo credit: tvfanatic.com

We submerge ourselves — stuffing our mouths full until we can’t breath, all the while, avoiding real questions that need real answers. Perhaps, because we don’t want to answer them. We don’t want to return to our normal, boring lives.

It’s ultimately an escape; from medocrity; middle ground; no name land. No job? No car? No money? – No problem in TV-Land.

And should the untimely end of such obsessions come to fruition – we move on the next one. We satisfy our cravings with something else. Back in the day it was “M.A.S.H” then “Seinfeld” then “Friends” – now it’s “Lost.”

An acquaintance recently spoke of a “Lost” crazed co-worker who was experiencing this void. Part of him was missing; lost. Forget that his girlfriend just left him and his car got repo’d – what is a man supposed to do without his weekly fix of prime time euphoria?

I can’t ridicule – I’m right there with him now. Might I suggest “The Simpsons”? You’ll have plenty of years before that show runs its course.

** On a side note — stumbled across “TV’s Most Watched Finales” — you might be surprised.

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