Lust-See TV - Finally, a hard-hitting piece on the go-to guy for quotes about television and popular culture, Robert Thompson of Syracuse University. On the one hand, I've got to admire this guy for turning an interest in The Love Boat into a full-time, respected gig. He really is regarded as THE authority on television by the media, receiving "six to 12 media calls" on average a day. However, when I applied for graduate programs, his was not one of the one I applied for. Why was that? Because it's narrowly structured to provide graduates with academic credentials focused only on TV. If you want to be a professor of television, that's great, but yet is there any room for someone else to break in to usurp the mentor's position as TV Guru? I'm interested in all this stuff, but I don't have any interest in being an assistant professor struggling for tenure.

Now, onto the author of the article. It drives me crazy when people talk about consciously not watching television. You don't have to be a non-stop consumer like me, but how can you not want to participate in some of the shared experiences that it affords? How can a writer have any popular cultural literacy without watching The Simpsons? And, even for his description of Friends as being risque, the show seems incredibly mild compared to 80s series like Golden Girls or Night Court that were constantly pushing innuendos. But perhaps he makes a valid point in describing the majority of television viewers as just going along for the ride...watching because of the "overpowering cultural flow." Maybe if there was greater discussion after viewing American Idol and Joe Millionaire about why people are willing to humiliate themselves, we'd have greater self esteem as a country. But I think the author also fails to note the power of, you guessed it, the Internet, in bringing fans together in serious discussions about meaning and symbolism. I think the universe of people interested in sharing their opinions and closely examine particular programs and themes is larger than he might think.