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Out of the Box

by Alex W. Dimmig

 

Why Do We Watch TV?

In High School I had a math teacher who said the television was nothing more than a box in the corner. If the television is just a box with a picture tube inside, what is our fascination with it? It doesn’t do anything special; it just sits there staring at us. 

The television doesn’t talk, the television doesn’t tell stories, the television doesn’t show pictures, unless we turn it on... That’s the key to TV: turning the little knob, pressing the button on the remote control. 

I work a lot of hours at my job, and do many things. When I get home I automatically turn IT on. I don’t think about it, I just do it out of habit. I also own a VCR and record things I missed during the day. 

Why?

What is the draw to turn on the TV everyday... to watch this show and that show. I can just as easily read the evening paper, weekly news magazines and listen to the radio. But no. I want, STOP! I need to be stimulated by pictures which fly across the picture tube.

People have “rabbit-ear” TV, cable TV, satellite TV, “Direct TV,” a television in the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom, the kids rooms, and now, since we enjoy the box so much, car makers are placing TV sets in cars. 

For a long time after television was invented there was one box per household, if that. Now the average household holds 3.5 TV’s. And what do people tend to watch? With so many choices the list is endless and the reruns infinite.

“The Today Show,” “Regis and Kelly,” “Lezza,” “The Montel Show,” “Good Morning America,” “The Price Is Right,” “The Early Show,” “Later Today,” early morning local news and programming are just a few of the morning hour availabilities. People watch so much TV the local stations and Networks must find ways to entertain the pubic viewing audiences 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days every year. 

I remember as a young kid sitting at the box in the corner waiting for programs to start. When the local station was turned on the set showed only bars, or snow, because the station was still off-air and programming hadn't started yet for the new day. Now programming is continuous; there is no break at all.

It seems funny, now that I'm working full-time in television, to be writing about the subject I went to college to study. I work as a Master Control Engineer. For about 8 hours a day, 4 days a week, I get paid to punch a few buttons while I sit and watch TV. Some would say that’s an easy job, but to those of us who have to sit there and make sure the station stays on the air it gets very boring. 

Do people watch television for the programs or for the commercials? Television stations stay on the air because they have commercials. It's commercials which pay for the programs. Advertisers hope viewers are watching their commercials. 

This tends to be an intriguing cycle: TV stations air programs, advertisers run ads on TV shows, viewers see the ads, and hopefully, if the ads work, customers go out and purchase the products and services. And everyday, every hour, every time someone sees the ads the process begins all over again. 

People are so addicted the box in the corner that when an activist group promotes a week of “NO TV” the media we watch pick it up and we watch, and watch, and watch..

We watch CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, CNNFN, C-SPAN, C-SPAN2, CNN headline News, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and all the local news station across the country, and coverage expands during crises, crashes, and political and major world happenings. There’s a saying in the TV business: “If an event occurs and no-one covers it, then it never happened.” 

But watching TV is more than watching news programs. On any given day people can flip on the TV and watch “The Dick Van Dike Show,” or “The Dukes of Hazzard,” or “The A-Team.” A show could be off the air for years, yet people can still find it somewhere on the box in the corner.

My personal conclusion is people watch Television because we enjoy the programs, they inspire us, they take us out of our real word, they inform us, and they even relax us. After a hard day a the workplace people need some fun stimulation. However, I also think people need to cut their viewing habits and do more reading and other activities. 

If anyone doesn't like my personal opinion then I bet he could find some other commentary... possibly on CNN.

 

Alex Dimmig has worked in the broadcasting industry working everything from master control and remote truck to editing the evening news. Currently he is a member of the Executive Board of Contact Outreach International and a staff member of Contact 29.18.