Television: The Idiot Box?

Television gets a bad rap. This is understandable; a lot of television is, quite frankly, rubbish. It is a medium inclined towards repetition, poor quality, and lazy writing. A lot of people turn on the sets and turn off their brains. Now, as someone who has long suffered from insomnia, I personally find that at 3:00 in the morning, when I have a migraine and I can't sleep, there can be nothing better than a nice Britcom-- not exactly intellectual viewing, as it goes. Certainly if I've got the flu or have been writing essays all day, I like to relax with the Simpsons-- again, maybe not mindless, but certainly not a lot of thinking involved (not on my part at any rate).

However, regardless of whether or not escapism and 'brain candy' are good things to have in modern society (that's a different discussion altogether), television's old label 'the idiot box' is really rather unfair. It is possible to write and produce intelligent, critical, inspiring television. Television is a way of conveying a story, and any method which can produce a good story can make a point. Yes, a lot of it is mindless rubbish--but the same could be said for plays and books (I'm sure a lot of us can come up with some recent examples for the latter, in particular). Some examples of good, thought-provoking television (in my opinion, of course, your mileage may vary):

• Babylon 5, one of the best examples of an arc story I've ever seen. 
• Doctor Who, which varies a lot in quality, but has produced plenty of brilliant stuff. I personally love it, and it is difficult to reasonably argue that it hasn't had an effect on British culture-- not to mention the people it's inspired. It's certainly one of my biggest inspirations in wanting to study theater.
• Xena: Warrior Princess. This one is a bit odd, I'll admit. I can certainly understand the many criticisms I've read of it. But, despite not taking itself very seriously, it taught me a lot about life and relationships. It taught me a lot about myself, too, and it had a huge impact on me as a small child. Also, Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor are both bloody gorgeous, and I've heard from a number of people who discovered (and became comfortable with) their sexuality while watching that show.
• Tenth Kingdom. A miniseries, and the fairy tale of my childhood. Some fantastic storytelling in that one, with all the elements of a real fairy tale: it teaches a lesson about life, about darkness, about love.

Like I said before, anything which can tell a story well can be intelligent entertainment. Books can do it, plays can do it, and television can do it. Even games can do it. I can't think of any examples off hand, but if script-writing and storytelling like that in Bethesda's Oblivion is possible, then intelligent entertainment (and not just intelligent, but entertainment which makes a point and teaches a lesson) is definitely possible. A lot of the burden falls on the viewer (or reader, or player): if I may quote a Buddhist proverb (which, might I add, I learned from Tenth Kingdom), "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."