Capitol Hill Blue Forums Life and Moral Issues Parenting & Children Children watching television

Ken, I watched Dexter for several years via Netflix as I do not get the extended cable. I found the script, dialog and acting superb. I had never watched a more perfect casting of a very strange concept of television. For years, I worked for a Shakespearean group out of the Santa Monica Mountains who did a lot of training of television actors preparing them for live theater. I met these actors before they hit it big and often run into those familiar faces on the special projects from HBO. I tend to see the progression in the talents of many actors who are trained to get the most out of a good story, a strong talent and a respect for theater.

I do not recommend any child to watch Dexter at least without a couple of years under Monty Python. My kids were raised to see the multi-depth offerings from Harold and Maude. My kids grew up with the Geer family who were very much a part of the casting of H & M. Ellen Geer stole the movie doing Juliette's death scene.

The theater is a terrific learning tool when one can tell truth from just a good story. The new mess at Oslo has peaked an interest in my writer daughter who went on emergency action mode. She did not have access to television until she went off to college. After school hours, she waited tables all over Berkeley.

Personally, I cannot wait for the NFL to start up. It may be the last place where teamwork actually pays off.

The whole world is a theater to be enjoyed and occasionally used to educate. My attitude was that as long as the kids were living under my care, we would do it my way.

Yosemite Valley has way too many buses, tourists, cabins, etc. Okay to visit (once) if you need to take a tour with small children or people unable to walk much. Backpacking east of Yosemite is still good. Agnew Meadows to 1000 Island Lake, for example. Day hiking in the park is nice if you start high enough, like in Tuolumne meadows. (But you do have to be able to handle the 8500+ foot altitude, and you do have to follow some simple rules about black bears.)

This thread reminded me of the time my daughter, when in first or second grade, was so mad at me. She said everybody she knew had seen the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. I wouldn't let her see them.
I told her they just said that and they really hadn't seen them. Now I suspect that a lot of them probably had.

Most of our family on both sides have TVs on constantly just for the noise. My husband usually turns it on as soon as he gets home to news or sports. I have it off anytime I'm alone in the house because the noise gives me a headache.

I haven't had television in over a decade. Since a teenager lives with me now I recently got Netflix. She can watch cartoons(anima) and I watch documentaries. We both watch privately on our computers with headphones. I abhor "noise", particularly the inane chatter of television commercials, laugh tracks, and canned applause. The news is not news and I don't give a damn about sports.
The recent trial coverage was nothing less than a horrifying spectacle, a modern day living room lynching, if you will.
Civilization began a downhill slide with the advent of television, feeding children a constant stream of non information has made them deaf to real information when it happens to come their way. Their minds are being turned to porridge.

Everything is nice if you start high enough.......

Silly little dude is sucking on the wrong end of the bong

That's what happens when you start smoking dope when you're already at 10,000 feet above sea level! It's hard enough just remembering to breath. (Which you need to do, since high blood CO2 level is the trigger for breathing and the low air pressure cleans out most of your CO2.)

I had a partner who turned the TV on immediately when he got up - for backgroud noise. I'm the opposite.

Now that I have TiVo, I program only a select few programs and watch what I want, when I want.

Dad turns the volume way down and reads the caption - because he can't hear the TV anyway. Works for me. In fact, I now watch TV in both sound and caption because sometimes you miss something and need to rewind and hear/read it again.

TiVo is awesome.

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Greger, you've got your head screwed on properly---your remarks about television were spot on !

Keep fighting the good fight !

i say stick 'em all in front of the damn box and go about your business! makes life a lot easier on you and you can have your own fun. heck, maybe they'll even learn something about the world of, er, fiction.

Indeed Sandy. You might say a serial assassin who kills serial killers who is also highly moral and lives by a code of honor is not your run of the mill story line. I do watch television but selectively and not often. I like some sports, some news, and history & science programs mainly. And twisted dramas

I watched the whole 6 Feet Under series awhile back and found it to be very intelligent and at times downright funny--in its black humor way. Actually it spanned the emotional gamut. I had never head of the series Dexter until about a month ago and a friend told me about it.

As you know it stars Michael C Hall who was a central character in 6 Feet Under. My friend brought over seasons 3 and 4 and we just got through watching them. I have not seen the first two but I get the idea.Talk about black humor--sheesh. But also hypnotically fascinating. We all deal with our inner demons and secrets--some better than others.