Note: Consider this column a companion piece to the Emmy story on today's section front. Be sure to check it out.
It was, perhaps, 20 years ago I had the discussion with a former editor here at the newspaper.
It was a brief discussion if, in fact, it even was a discussion. We were in the elevator and he was, after all, an editor, and as such a scholar, firmly ensconced upon the intellectual high ground of erudition and belles-lettres.
I was ... the new TV guy.
When you pronounce "TV," a slight sneer should curl your upper lip with just a hint of condescension.
As the elevator passed the second floor, he turned to me, arched his right eyebrow and announced in sotto voce, "You know, we don't even own a television."
"Really?" I answered, knowing full well where this was going.
"Actually, that's not true," he allowed. "We do have an old portable we keep in the kitchen, (pause) but we only watch PBS."
The doors parted with a hiss. And he wafted away in a cloud of supercilious self-righteousness.
We all have known anti-TV snobs who dismiss the entire medium as a frivolous waste of time. But it has long been my contention that every medium -- from literature and film to art and music -- has its share of swill. One must simply be discerning.
What was this editor missing on the tube 20 years ago? Two decades ago TV's No. 1 show was Seinfeld. Not a bad way to spend a half hour. Also in the Top 10 were ER, Home Improvement, NYPD Blue and Friends.
The Top 20 included Ellen, Frasier and Murphy Brown. Other shows he was missing included Law & Order, Northern Exposure and Picket Fences.
On the forgettable side of the ledger in the 1994-95 season were SeaQuest DSV, House of Buggin', Models Inc., Platypus Man and (at cellar-dwelling No. 142) The WB's Muscle.
Don't remember Muscle? The sitcom, featuring Amy Pietz, Nestor Carbonell and Michael Boatman, has the dubious honor of being the first series to be canceled on the brand new WB.
It's becoming increasingly more difficult to maintain anti-TV pomposity as the medium improves, with top-notch writing, acting and the freedom -- thanks to DVRs and on-demand viewing -- to set one's own schedule.
CBS conducted a survey last year of 700 people with Internet and television connections. The Associated Press reports that 28 percent said they were watching more TV, 17 percent said less, with everyone else about the same.
"In other words," the AP concludes, "liking television is becoming more socially acceptable."
"You can go to a sophisticated party in New York City now and people will be talking about television programming, not the latest art film or the latest play," David Poltrack, CBS' chief researcher, told the AP. "You can go to a bar in a lower socio-economic neighborhood and they'll be talking about television. They may be talking about different programs, but they'll be talking about television."
TV networks love polls. A Gallup poll in 1990 found 49 percent of viewers said they spent too much time watching television and planned to watch less.
In 2000, a hefty majority of respondents (84 percent) told Pew Research Center surveyors they watched less than four hours of TV a day. It reality, according to Nielsen, it was slightly more than four hours. This year, Nielsen estimates the average American watches four hours, 50 minutes of TV a day.
The way we watch TV is also changing. Some of that viewing is now done on computers. Some is done on smartphones. Is that affecting TV's bottom line?
The AP reports, "Television continues on firm financial footing, despite the rise of digital video outlets like Netflix and YouTube. The research firm eMarketer Inc. predicted TV ad spending will hit $78.6 billion in 2018, up from $66.4 billion last year."
Wait. Isn't it the trendy thing these days to dump your cable or satellite and watch TV only online? Isn't that what all the cool kids are doing? Netflix is, after all, the only place we can watch Orange Is the New Black, House of Cards and the final season of The Killing.
According to the financial advisory firm MoffettNathanson, in the second quarter this year, only 305,000 households -- less than 1/10th of one percent -- dropped their pay TV.
There you have it: More quality programs to watch. Movie stars doing limited series. More snob appeal shows. More times to watch at your convenience.
"Really," Poltrack told the AP, "television is now more than ever at the center of culture."
Even if your culture is a little portable you keep in the kitchen just to watch PBS.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
Style on 08/19/2014