The Cable Guy

By: Ross Preston

Over my first three years at Grinnell, I have definitely decreased my overall exposure to pop culture, at least relative to my prior consumption of it in high school. It hasn't been drastic, but there's been a significant drop-off. I can point to a few reasons for this. One would be the constant sense I get at Grinnell that there is always something going on or something I should be doing. I also don't use the Internet as thoroughly as others: I find myself visiting the same ten or so blogs/websites on a pretty regular basis, but I'm usually not one to “stumble” or “surf.” Additionally, Grinnell's rural location keeps us at least a little more removed from the world of pop culture, at least compared to that friend of yours that goes to NYU. All three of those factors have contributed to a decline in my pop culture awareness.

However, what I really had forgotten about was the actual act of watching TV. In the same way I use the Internet for a few things I really like, many of us get hip to the best shows people are watching and then catch up online, or wait for the DVD to come out. You're less likely to spend a lot of time finding what you want, creating a kind of filtering process that may cut off our awareness of other programs.

But now that I'm off-campus and have convenient access to cable, all of that's out the window. Bad TV rules the land on some days, and it's not uncommon to hear people say things like, “Jerome, do you want to watch Hancock for the third time this week?” or, “Hey, Wife Swap's on in 15 minutes. Do we really need to go grocery shopping right now?” The Food Network, True TV, athletes being given their own shows…it's all too much for me. I can't get enough.

And speaking of “enough,” has anyone heard the story behind the show Real Chance at Love? To make a long, incredibly ridiculous story short, this is a reality dating show that grew out of a show that grew out of a show that grew out of a show whose characters met on another show. Put another way, how many of you know where your great-grandfather met your great-grandmother? ”

I don't want to assume that everyone has a great knowledge of cable, although I do assume that over half of domestic students watched cable at home before they came here. And while students on campus do have access to cable, it cannot be described as “convenient” in the same way that rolling out of bed, turning on SportsCenter, deciding you want to go back to bed, and then waking up to the same exact clip from Sportscenter an hour later and thinking you may have heard this before is “convenient.” In the dorms, the TVs are frequently occupied, the batteries and/or the remote controls are stolen, and if you're hanging out in Cleveland the cops might just decide to show up. You have to know what time important shows are on, and the only way to ensure a specific TV is to reserve the lounge. This seems like a bit of hassle for such a mind-numbing activity as staring at a shiny box that lights up.

Because watching TV, especially the ridiculous shows I'm talking about, is literally numbing. We might object to plenty of TV shows for perfectly legitimate reasons, but watch any show for long enough and you might just get sucked in, even if you think you know better. Like the shows themselves, it may not be pure and real, but it's just reality.