Prime time garbage

I can't seem to understand the enormous appeal of shows like "Desperate Housewives" and "The O.C." Are their lives really not exciting and dramatic enough? Guess not. I mean, these shows feature unrealistic ideas that don't tend to happen in real life -- at least episodes that don't occur in my life. Last Sunday, I was at my friend's house. It just so happened that my ride home was delayed and I had to sit and watch "Desperate Housewives" for the first time in my life. I should have walked home. I mean, I can see where the hook is, but I can't see where the obsession is. \nI've watched "The O.C." before and remember thinking how much the characters dramatize everything. I had the opportunity to watch a few episodes in Spanish even, last year when I studied abroad. My familia loved it and I got stuck watching it. I think it was worse in Spanish. But the language has nothing to do with my point. What are we filling our heads with? What impression do we give to international viewers? Has the issue of entertainment gone too far in that it becomes an obsession? \nEntertainment is on its way down the drain. Over 100 channels are available and all but the Discovery Channel and the History Channel are full of trash. Don't even get me started on "The 5th Wheel" and "Blind Date" -- it's called trash television. \nHow unrealistic can one (or should I say two) shows be? All the mothers in "Desperate Housewives" are a size 0 with perfect makeup and nowhere to go. Does a reality exist in which a high school boy wants to mow a lawn while being sexually aggressive to a housewife about it? I can't say that I believe it. And I can't say that I'm entertained by it, either. Why can't people be entertained by shows that enhance the brain? Such as (but not limited to) "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune." Why can't there be a show that features values, and leaves out body weight? \nMy roommate absolutely loves watching soaps. Can you guess what her favorite channel is? You got it -- the Soap Network. "Passions" and "All My Children" are her guilty pleasures and she'll gladly admit it. She also chooses between soaps -- some she absolutely won't watch. Then she'll want me to sit down and watch it with her. Umm ... not in this lifetime. \nIt's hard for me to be this harsh on these shows because I absolutely love "Sex and the City." This shouldn't diminish my credibility, though. I can acknowledge that this show depicts a fictional life that these people lead and the characters play no role in my overall daily decisions. And for the record, I never consistently watched the show. But there are girls out there who idolize these women and think they are goddesses of some sort. They'll dream of a big life in the Big Apple and feel betrayed when their lives don't amount to some show. Are viewers taking shows too seriously? Do shows influence certain decisions that viewers make?\nWhatever happened to great shows like "Mr. Ed," "Salute Your Shorts," "Hey Dude," "Quantum Leap" and "Star Search" (just to name a few)? These shows fulfilled their duty (to entertain) and didn't fill heads with garbage.\nBack when TV was enjoyable, there wasn't a popular show to watch. And if there were, it was a station, like MTV. Not a particular show. What happened? Now, I'm not out there to offend anyone ... I mean, I won't lie, I like to watch "American Idol." My current Tuesday night class restricts me from indulging, but if I could watch it, believe me, I would. But this is nothing like those shows on the WB. Why is it so important for people to tune into these shows? So they can have a "meaningful" conversation about it the next day? There are bigger things in life. Why don't you try tuning into CNN or MSNBC?\nNow I must ask: What drives (mostly women) to want to watch a show like this? I can't even begin to draw a conclusion to aid me in my hypothesis. Maybe there aren't many feminists around these days. More so, women want to idolize model figures. Maybe that's not even it. Maybe it's just cheap entertainment that lacks thinking; and of course, a lack of anything better to do.