Post #2: Fire, Justification, and Televsion

     I'm not going to lie. I love watching TV. I don't have cable, which is a good thing.  I watch cultural shows that enrich my life on PBS, like Masterpiece Theater and NOVA and Ken Burns documentaries.
     I also watch shows that do nothing for me besides entertain me. This fall TV season, I am really looking forward to the return of Chicago Fire on NBC.
     I love Chicago Fire. It is not nearly as cheesy as it looks in the previews, and there were a couple of really powerful episodes last season. Yes, the two male leads are highly attractive, and the other fire fighters get up to kooky antics throughout the season, but it is well written and has a cohesive plot line. And hey, attractive guys are always a plus. The situations never seem too far-fetched, and the emotional reactions of the characters always seem realistic.
      I say these things to justify "good" and "intelligent"  reasons for watching, and they are reasons I watch the show, but I watch Chicago Fire mostly because it is entertaining. I watch because of the male leads and because things catch fire and everyone has to figure out how to work together and the relationships on this show are a little silly and it is a reprieve from my own world and from hard thinking about real problems. It is an hour of wondering if they had to take lessons to drive the fire trucks and how heavy are the costumes and will Dawson and Casey ever get together and how socially acceptable would it be to pet Severide's nice abs if I ever met him in real life. These are the reasons I watch every week. I'm invested in the characters and the drama every week.
     Could I be doing something more productive, like sleeping, or reading a book? Yes, most definitely. But I also could be doing drugs or setting things on fire, so it's really all about perspective. And my perspective is that if you enjoy something, that's cool. I like watching firefighters yell at each other and occasionally take their shirts off on my little analog TV with the broken rabbit ears. Maybe you like crazy moms dressing their kids up in dresses that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe combined. It's all good.

Don't drive like my brother.

D