I JUST LOVE TELEVISION

Well, let me amend that statement.  I love television sometimes, in some places.  For instance, we have certain television programs that we find very enjoyable and we record those and watch them with  pleasure.  We like The Today Show, at least some of it, we like Up With Chris Hayes to keep us current, and we like shows such as Castle, for a mystery fix,  and Downton Abbey, for a British fix.  And this last TV season, we really enjoyed Smash, which was, well, smashing!   Love, hate, and music, and lots of good actors, and one terrific villain.  That Ellis.  Well, maybe two villains, if you count Eileen’s ex-husband, Jerry.  So you see, we’re into this TV stuff.  We’re just not into it all the time.

Which makes it difficult and frustrating to us when we go to our favorite Mexican  restaurant and there are TVs on every wall.  Or to almost any other restaurant, for that matter.  And then there are the doctors’ offices.  Doctors’ offices are usually not all that large.  One we went to the other day was minuscule, but it had its resident TV.  I know.  I had to sit right beside it.  At least it was on a game show channel.  We don’t watch game shows, just never cared for them, but they are for the most part non-offensive.  But it would be hard to express how much we dislike Fox News and we regard it as a true punishment to have to listen to it, sometimes turned so loud as to be blaring, when we are waiting, perhaps feeling crummy, perhaps also anxious and trying to read either the book we brought along or whatever magazine is at hand. 

Oh, and don’t get me started on the magazines.  I only approve of the waiting rooms that have magazines I like but never buy, such as Architectural Digest and People and Traditional Home.  Either lifestyles of the rich and famous or gossip about the rich and famous.  But magazines about fish and golf and guns and other things doctors like to read about and then stock in their waiting rooms?  Nah.  The one good thing about even those magazines is, at least they’re quiet!  And don’t get louder when the commercials come on.