TV Time

I'm thinking I should cancel my television service. Unfortunately, I signed a 2-year contract that keeps me with DirecTV until 2011. Fantastic.

It seems as if every television show is just a huge mockery of everything I don't have.

The Hills: money, career, life.

Jon and Kate Plus 8: Eight kids. Thank .. God.

Say Yes to the Dress: a wedding. A marriage.

The Apprentice: a JOB.

The Price is Right: plasma TV, a car, trips around the world, and again, money.

These shows make sitting at home all day even more depressing than it already is. I sit and think about having no job, no money, no car. Maybe I should get up off the darn couch and take a run through WPR.

I am competent and old enough to understand that what is portrayed on TV is not always (actually, rarely is) realistic. It's not common for MTV producers to go into a high school, choose a clique and make them into millionaires. Most teenagers don't drive Mercedes and Range Rovers, take lavish vacations with parents MIA or live in mansions with pools overlooking the Hollywood hills. But this is what we see on TV. This is what we (I) want.

Unfortunately for the younger generation who is growing up in this reality-TV era, they are unable to discern between what is realistic and what is unattainable. They think that because their idols are sickeningly skinny, uber rich and spoiled brats, they should be too.

When the 8-Year-Old-Teenager cries, she doesn't just shed some tears - she throws an entire theatrical production. A small disclaimer: she's such a good girl. She doesn't throw tantrums or fall on the ground and scream like some crazy kids I've seen ... but her face says it all. She needs to be an actress.

My point is, she acts the way she does because of what she has seen in movies and on TV. It's sad... but how do you stop it? I don't mind her being a movie buff - because she definitely watches a lot of movies.

I think it's her generation's epidemic. Forget the Swine Flu - drama is taking over our children.