TV Guide

It used to be a magazine to pick up at the grocery with the National Inquirer and the Farmer’s Almanac. It had plugs for shows with photos of daytime soap stars and crossword puzzles and quizzes. The most important part was listings of dates and times of local television shows.

What could waste more time than to look through the printed database to highlight a show you wanted to watch. The whole household could pass it around since there was only one television and then decide on who gets to hold the remote.

Since there were only three stations and most shows came on at the same time everyday, there was little to choose from. Should we sit through “Falcon Crest” or “Dallas” tonight? Do we stay up to watch the Late Night monologues or call it a night?

Daytime television was decided as a religion. Following “Days of our Lives” to “General Hospital” was an obsession. Viewers became addicted to watching fake people live a life on screen that was better than washing the dishes and vacuuming.

Now it seems you can sit in your seat and scroll through the endless varieties of viewing and even be notified on your smart phone when it is coming on. If that is not suitable the shows can be saved to be binge watched streaming whenever.

I just looked at the ‘best of’ from 2019. I just checked the recommendations for the ‘best of’ the coming year.

Why hasn’t anyone come up with an hour-long television viewing of people washing dishes or cutting grass or washing the car or commuting to work or sleeping?