Me TV

“Why are you watching that?” my wife will ask. I’m never really sure.

For the first four years we were married, we didn’t even own a TV. We still don’t watch it that much except for a favorite show each week or when I just need to turn my brain off after a hard day.

Occasionally as I’m flipping through, I’ll stumble across one of those shows that fascinates and disgusts me.

“Made” is one such show, usually featuring some high school kid dweeb who wants to lose weight, be homecoming queen or win a beauty pageant. I can’t believe I’m watching MTV…

“Intervention” is another—where families drown in the hopelessness of trying to save the life of their addicted loved one. Inevitably, after heaving 45 minutes through a person’s ruined life, the show climaxes in a confrontation, the addict agreeing to get help, and then an epilogue telling how he fell off the wagon six months after rehab. Depressing stuff.

For a nerd like me who generally prefers nature shows, Discovery Channel, and Sci Fi, these reality shows are a misfit. But I’m drawn to them...

...because these are shows about me.

I’m not fat. I don’t want to be homecoming queen. I’m not addicted to anything (except sitting at a computer all day and all night). But that’s me on the screen.

I have been on the outside of social circles. I have wanted someone to believe in me to achieve something impossible. I have drowned my hurts and numbed my pain in my own ways, if not substance abuse.

So I’m rooting for the underdog, watching my life vicariously on the TV, hoping against hope for the hopeless. Often, I’ll see something new about the type of people I’m watching. And if I take time to think about it, I’ll learn something about me.