Sitting behind me on the Metro last night were two 20-something’s discussing TV shows. “I don’t watch bad TV” proclaimed one of them but then later she was yakking about the Real Housewives of someplace. I think it is fair to say that some people might find that bad TV.

I would be the last person to judge someone on what they watch on TV as I will give anything a go. But I am sick of people declaring themselves too good for some shows while secretly loving others which are just as mind-numbing.  I’ve watched Honey Boo-Boo, Dance Moms. Billy the Exterminator, the Kardashians and Wildman (I think that’s the name),  a show about a guy who catches animals with his bare hands for a cherry pie and $5. I’ve sat and watched Hoarders and Clean House while someone in the my family says things like “Why don’t you get off your ass and clean your own house instead of watching people clean someone else’s?  It is a fair point but I feel good about myself while watching these shows – I may need to vacuum but I don’t need a shovel to clean the place.

When I was on maternity leave, I spent many hours watching the judge shows – Judge Judy, Judge Joe Brown etc. while Kathryn was sleeping. This is what I discussed with my friends – these important  cases  – until someone pointed out I might need an intervention. I also watched “Baby Story” which was popular at the time on TLC. I thought TLC must stand for “The Loser Channel” because who the hell was watching this stuff (except me) and yet, I couldn’t turn away.  I watched women sob as their midwives told them they would not be able to deliver the baby at home in what some of us would identify as a tub to put a keg in. I watched as they make plaster casts of their swollen bellies which I could only guessed would be used as punch bowls later. Maybe at the christening.

But isn’t TV supposed to be entertainment? When did we have make it have to mean something? Not that you can’t have serious shows but if someone loves Duck Dynasty, so be it. I don’t get it but I don’t have to watch it. That’s the beauty of TV.  Change the channel or turn it off.

I think for me part of the reason I hate people who pulled the holier than thou attitude about TV with me is because of an incident a number of years ago. I shared an office with a guy who found my watching (with the family) American Idol “ridiculous”.  Turns out, while I was enjoying some time with my family, he was home masturbating, photographing himself and sending the pictures to would-be girlfriends.   Yep, I am the ridiculous one.