Television in the United States

I was jobless at 5:00PM last evening (believe me I did a lot of work through the day) and so flipped the TV on. And what should I see but The Maury Show. I don't know if any of you have seen or heard of it. But its one of those shows with the audience watching. And its one of those shows where you disclose to your spouse (or bf/gf) that you cheated on them with someone else (usually a close associate of the spouse, or a relative) or you maybe telling them that they are not the father of your 20 children. And this is just one show. There are many many cheesy, useless shows like this one: Cheaters, The Jerry Springer show, The Tyra Banks show to name a few.

It beats the hell out of me to understand why people would wanna tell a loved one the deepest, darkest, most shameful secret of their life, in audience view (nonetheless jobless millions like me who may happen to catch it on TV) and then weep, and dramatize on TV. Sometimes, the stories are sooo recurring I am sure these people are paid to come onstage and create the emotional drama. No one in their right minds would wanna expose themselves and embarrass themselves and their loved ones like that on TV.

On one hand, atleast the Maury show has the consent of the people appearing. Whats Cheaters about on that note? Some creep sneaking up on you and your personal life with video cameras and crews stalking you... (ok.. u might be doing something morally wrong, like say, cheating on your wife - but they can leave you to deal with your morals - you don't need some third person telling you what you're doing is wrong!) Another thing I don't understand is, how is this happening in the US? Aren't there privacy laws? Can't these people sue these shows? Whats that about?

And whats with all these judicial shows on TV? There are these: Judge Mathis, Judge Judy, Judge Hatchet and what not. All these people listen to lousy third-rate cases and pass verdicts on them. God! I miss the Tony Danza show on that note. It used to come every morning at 10:00 I think. He was rocking... looked nice, had a great voice and his show had many mini portions - an interview with a star, a small cookery thingie, the streets of NY something, etc. It was pleasant, nice and charming. Why can't more shows be like that?

All said n done, I think the best part of the TV shows are the evening sitcoms - Friends, Seinfeld, Raymond, Will n Grace, My wife n kids, King of Queens and all that, wherever you can catch them (If you time yourself well you can catch one of these in quick succession to the other in different channels!) And some shows like House, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, etc. Or the reality shows - So u think u can dance or maybe Hell's Kitchen, etc. The worst of the lot are the "fashion" shows like Desire or Fashion House, which come across as sooo sleazy you can weep!

Ok, I guess I've written a mini-saga here... Enough cribbing... I thank the TV for making the evenings go by though I am a pure bookworm and hardly used to spare time for the Idiot Box.. up until now.......