For the Love of Television. It's not Evil, It's an Escape. Part 1

 'Whether or not you're aware of it or not, you're taking the information you get from watching tv and putting it in your brain." - Stephanie Beatriz, AskMen Interview, March 2014

I have heard - more times than I would have actually thought possible - people say that they don't watch tv. Given reasons range from they don't have time to they have better things to do with their time. And to those people, I say 'Hey that is so great for you.' And I mean that. 

But me. Well, I adore television. Since childhood, it has offered a different type of escape than music and books. 

With music, it is more like therapy. It makes me think about what is going on in my life and how I should be dealing with it. 

With books, it is an escape from my reality, but one that requires concentration and thinking. 

With television, I get the benefit of watching the drama play out but not having it become my problem or something I have to fix or physically get involved with. I don't have to think or concentrate. I just sit there and let the show run itself while all my stress and worries and thoughts melt into the back of my mind. 

Naturally, if the show is good enough, I do get involved mentally and emotionally. Which is a killer when a favorite actor leaves. Or when the show ends. But I still don't have to solve any of the drama. 

But one of the beautiful things about the world of tv and movies, that actor goes on to play a different role in a different environment. Unless they retire from the business completely, that actor will always pop back up, somewhere. And in the meantime, I can rewatch their works whenever I want and escape back to that wonderful world that allows me to unplug from my reality and lose myself in their world. 

I am drawn to works that have a deeper underlying message. Even comedy's that I like have more below their surface. 

Take the new show, So Help Me Todd. I love this show. It is hilarious, sarcastic, intriguing, and suspenseful - everything I love. But, at it's heart, it is also the story of a family broken by pain and a history of not understanding each other. And about them trying to repair that and find their way back to each other. It is phenomenal. And the exemplary cast just makes it more so. 

As for actors, there are many actors that I enjoy watching. 

But my favorites are actors that I consider diverse. Actors whose works move me, completely - heart and soul. These are people that I have been a fan of for may years and have seen them do so many different projects. And every project they have been in has touched something in me so profoundly. 

Currently this list holds four names. I'll go in to detail of this list in part 2 of this blog. 

In television - and in movies - you get to spend time in any place, real or made up, anytime you want. In one night, you can spend hours jumping from location to location. 

Every Tuesday night, I spend the 8pm hour in New York City with the best FBI Unit in the city. In the 9pm hour, I follow the best Fugitive Task Force up and down the East Coast, chasing their most wanted. And, in the 10pm hour, I cross the ocean with the Fly Team as they work from Budapest chasing down threats to America. 

On Thursday nights, I spend two hours in a bit of a lighter frame than Tuesday night. 8-830pm, I am in Texas with boy genius Sheldon Cooper and his misfits of a family and their shenanigans. From 830-9pm, I travel to the New York countryside and Woodstone manor, where I watch Sam help the ghosts of her new home, as her husband Jay lives vicariously - happily - through that. Then, from 9-10pm, I move to Portland, Oregon - where I both giggle and cry my way through poor Todd trying to repair his PI reputation and his broken relationship with his Mom. And he does it with humor, sarcasm, and the abandoned teenager that still lives inside of him. 

In those two nights, I have traveled half of America and crossed the sea. And I do it all from the comfort of my living room, in my PJ's, in my little Ohio village. 

And, in those hours, any anxiety or stress that I was feeling, just melts away. It disappears into that little corner of the back of my mind. And I do not worry about anything except the stories unfolding in front of me. And, I get the satisfaction of having someone's problem be solved, satisfactorily. 

Don't get me wrong, I love my life - stresses and all. Especially what I am doing with it now and where it is headed. 

But after a long day at my day job, or hours writing and researching one of my books or this blog or just when my manic mind goes into hyper mode and nothing else will calm it down - getting away into one of these worlds is just what the Doctor ordered. 

Originally posted November 6, 2022

UPDATE - Everything about this blog is still true. except - due to schedule changes - the Tuesday 9pm hour is now spent with the Fly Team and the 10pm hour is spent with the Task Force. I have also found that I find the most comfort in rewatching my favorite shows - whether they are still on air or not - and movies. This year, I did not start watching any new shows. I watch the FBI's on Tuesday and my Thursday line up on Thursdays. Sunday, Monday and Wednesday I cycle between rewatching 9-1-1, Teen Wolf, the Arrowverse, Doctor Who, Firefly, Fringe, and Supernatural. Friday and Saturday nights are movie nights - usually a Dylan O'Brien movie or a childhood favorite. I guess, with everything that has gone on in this last year - and with all the writing I am doing - I find solace and relaxation and hope in my comfort shows, movies, and actors.