American TV

We made the kids happy a few days ago when we came home with our first flat screen TV -- a rather unimpressive 19-inch, but a TV nonetheless.  The kids have been doing remarkably well in the apartment with no computer, no wi-fi, no TV and only the few toys they brought in their carry-ons.  We survived Germany with only one TV, but here in the U.S., we'll get another larger TV for the basement playroom.

We have an HD antenna and only have handful of stations, but it's still nice.  The kids think that American TV has too many court shows (Divorce Court, Judge Mathis, etc.) and way too many medication ads with long disclaimers.  For my part, I was reminded of how disturbing local TV news broadcasts are.  There were only 2 murders in our German state of Hessen that I heard of during our three years in Germany.  Maybe there were more, but they weren't replayed on TV or splashed across the newspaper pages for days on end.   The only story that got that kind of press was a tragic school shooting near Stuttgart in 2009, but even that dropped off the media radar after a week.  The local news shows here are loaded with murders, shootings, violent home invasions,... you know what I'm talking about.  We need to get a DVR and tape the news and watch it with no kids present.

I was struck by how alarmist so much of TV "news" shows are -- such as Good Morning America and Dateline.  I'm not lying when I report that some of the features on Good Morning America have included "Can your pet's dry food make you ill?" and "What to do if a shark gets into your metal cage while you're on a shark observation dive" as well as "Hidden danger in your local sports stadium food" and "Could your local community pool be making you sick?"  Before moving to Germany, David and I were loyal viewers of Good Morning America, but I don't know if I can handle it now.