Is it a thief of your time? Yes. Commercials steal about 20 min. per hour of my time watching TV that could be better spent watching the show.
Does it effect your thinking? Yes, it makes me hate commercials and the people that make them. Especially when they're stupid or advertising something I am totally not interested in and they get played twice in one break .
Does it teach you anything? Yes, that I shouldn't have to pay for TV that has commercials and a bunch of detective shows that are all the same except for the actors. (That "doink-doink" show and a half-dozen others a I can't think of because I don't watch them)
Is there too much sex and violence? Not enough sex , violence doesn't bother me. It's just TV. Like video games it's NOT real life. I'd like to see a weather girl like the ones in Europe! You know, the ones that strip to the undies while they give the forcast!

When cable TV first arrived on the scene the whole idea in paying for TV was that you could watch your favorite shows WITHOUT having to watch commercials. MTV was nothing but music videos all day and night. Not stupid reality shows with commercials. Movie channels only showed MOVIES! That's what you paid for. Those were the days... Nowdays you have to pay for cable or a dish setup just to get local channels with decent reception, and commercials!

Seriously, I don't watch that much TV mainly because there's no that much worth watching. But I do learn some things from the channels/shows I do watch. I like the History Channel, Discovery, KERA (they have some good concerts and science stuff sometimes) and for entertainment the SciFi channel shows like Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis. (Todays science-fiction is tomorrows reality!) But that may only total 8-10 hours in a week.

He-he, you asked...

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You should get TiVo's and/or DVRs. It saves time. There're some well written sitcoms i.e. How I met your mother, Two and a Half man. I compile them in HDD so that I could watch them on my free time, or during trips.

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BMW The Ultimate Oil-Leaking Machines!

It doesn't much. We can and do go for weeks without watching it. (Turning it on for the kids doesn't count)
No, it's a thief of my money. Spent a chunk of change on my media room and I'm paying monthly for cable.
I suppose it does if you consider PBS, Discovery and the news.
Rarely.
That's what the remote is for. I change the channel or turn it off if I object to what's on.

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Wake up every day that would be a start.

I don't watch TV ...

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"Control your destiny, or someone else will"

I think you can learn a lot from television if you watch programs that are designed to teach you something. I think it does sway the average persons thinking since they have generally given up reading. As for sex and violence, no more then you see in daily life. Television simply puts it all in one place. IMO the internet is by far a worse waste of time then television.

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An unwavering defender of those I see worth protecting.

"promote the general welfare, not provide the general welfare"

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

I am happy for the few responses the post has received.

Over the years I have seen television morph into something much different then it's beginning and even those who do not watch television cannot begin to understand the effects it has had on us all.

There are a few visual essay’s that have come forward in the past to educate us regarding what has and continues to happen regarding the information we are fed. The movie Network comes to mind and a PBS documentary regarding Edward R Murrow. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmast.../murrow_e.html

But I continue to marvel at a film that drives the point home in a way that gives us the ability to see and understand clearly the inner nature of things. The movie is called Being there. http://www.filmsite.org/bein.html

A little history:

In 1971, Jerzy Kosinski published the novel Being There. Soon afterwards he received a telegram from its lead character, Chance the Gardener: "Available in my garden or outside of it." A telephone number followed and when Kosinski dialed it Peter Sellers answered.

For years afterwards, Sellers would try to get this film made. "That's me!" he would tell people of the Chance character. He hawked the idea of a film to whomever he could find. Finally, in 1979, with the clout he had gained from the Pink Panther series, he was able to fulfill his dream.

What followed was the culmination of Peter Sellers' career: a masterpiece of double-edged satire on politics and television. But Kosinki's screenplay goes deeper than that. What he and director Hal Ashby expose is a self-serving and self-deceived society. Through the innocence of the Chance character, all the schemes and manipulations of the world are laid bare for what they are: pure folly. For those who hunger for the truths in life, this is a film that will satisfy your appetite.

My suggestion for those of you who are thinking individuals and are interested in what effect television has on people is get this movie.

I believe you will be surprised in that what it teaches is going on right under our noses even today. Let me know what you think.

BTW Wagner i believe your right "The internet is by far a worse waste of time then television."

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"What you hear in a great jazz band is the sound of democracy. “The jazz band works best when participation is shaped by intelligent communication.”
Harmony happens whenever different parts get to form a whole by means of congruity, concord, symetry, consistency, conformity, correspondence, agreement, accord, unity, consonance…….

Being There was/is a terrific film. And the www is a huge time waster. That being said, I am logging off for the day.

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I tivo my wife swap, desperate housewives, greys anatomy, simpsons and family guy, don't watch much else, oooh yeah and mad tv

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The Present:
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The Past:
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2005 BMW X5 3.0i
2005 BMW Z4 3.0i
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2003 BMW 325i
2000 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer 4x4

First off, most of what I replied was tainted with a bit of sarcasm. I do hate commercials but not necessarily the people that make them. Speaking of commercials, there's an "Enzyte" one on now

Yes on the TiVo thing. I plan on doing that after I move. I'm a little behind the times in the home entertainment field right now.
Also, I do watch a few sitcoms every now and then. Still like catching a good re-run of Friends, but nothing on a regular basis. I really prefer more educational shows, history stuff from recent to the beginning of the universe, and scifi that's more realistically imaginative, not those horrible mutant moster shows/movies .

I've never heard of "How I met your Mother" or "Two and a Half Man" but I'll look for them and give them a shot. They may not be available on the channels I get right now.

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Prem. Sound/Staggered 18" Style 114 Y-Spokes