I'm culturally deficient and proud to be so

Fully agree. I like NFL football and use the TV for that, and occasionally other sports like the Olympics or World Cup. I have never watched Seinfeld, Friends, reality anything......

I don't turn the TV on until 9pm. MSNBC 'til 11pm.

I have always been pretty selective. The Twilight Zone was a favorite, along with the occasional dose of Star Trek for fiction. Frontline, American Masters, Masterpiece and Nova gave me a good dose of nonfiction. I think the key is to avoid drivel.

TV has it's pro and cons. My favorite Master Piece Theater while growing up was "I, Claudius" and that got this dyslexic kid to read the book. I have read it many times as a matter of fact. The sitcom I remember best is "All in the Family" which I think was a very important mover of social culture and even politics. I think it made people think more critically. Another sitcom that was developed by Norman Lear was "One Day at a Time" which was about a single mother of two teenage girls. When that was on the air I was a teenage daughter of a single dad, so I could relate to some extent. I saw a recent "reboot" of it in which the main characters were Cuban American. I thought that having it told from a non-white point of view was pretty cool. I am not well traveled and I have lived my life in lily white New England so for me things like that are educational. My family played monopoly, scrabble, chess. We helped each other with our homework, shared music and books, but we also had some great family time enjoying MASH and The Carol Burnett Show. I shared some of my favorite shows with my daughter and she has enjoyed them as well. I also indulged in some of her favorite shows and I enjoyed watching them with her.

On the downsides are commercials, "reality" shows (except Deadliest Catch which I think is good) and cable news. I believe that Trumps reality show combined with 24/7 coverage on all the cable news networks is what brought him to power and Donald Trump is the worst thing that ever happened in my life.

Growing up, i Loved the TV, and wasn't into reading much, now, its the complete opposite. I'm outside more, and if the TV is on, it's background noise as i do creative work on the computer, clean, or do stuff in the kitchen. I have a "Winter watch list", way rather be outside when it's nice out.

I see the now infamous Will Smith up top of the collage as his Fresh Prince character. I thought he was bubble gum as a rapper but I didn’t hate the show. I see his costar Alfonso Ribeiro well below him. Not sure if that’s from Fresh Prince or Silver Spoons with future right wing loon Ricky Schroder (“don’t die Champ” ). Your collage is hard to make out due to resolution quality. I see John Stamos I think? Full House was 80s crap but he actually did OK on his ER stint as a TV doctor. ER was one of my all time faves. He started in General Hospital the soap opera. Yeah people watch that stuff. And wrestling too. Diff'rent strokes…which was itself a low brow yet socially biting show for its time. Sitcoms!

I can’t knock escapism or look down on it as many of the shows I watched then or now are likely beneath contempt for others. They redid Fresh Prince and it’s supposed to be grittier and more serious. It’s not on a platform I subscribe to, which is an issue in itself for cable cutters. I do watch hiphop TV show genre Atlanta with Donald Glover which is witty, funny, biting, and cutting edge. Another show called Rap Sh!t is ok, but struggling IMO to find its way. It’s about two Miami area women struggling to make a mark in hiphop. That’s compelling itself, no?

I do have Wondrium, which boasts plenty of high brow educational content, but sometimes I just gotta shut my brain down or just laugh. After the pandemic I can’t get into stressful horror or suspense as much. Escape into Archer? Yes!

Maybe the point is 80s sitcoms sucked? Yeah, so did the 80s.

I don't recognize anyone in that photo, must be way after my time. When my kids were growing up I only watched a couple of sitcoms regularly, Steinfeld and Married With Children. There were many that I loved as kid. I don't recall my kids watching much TV growing up, but they played video games non-stop. Which certainly didn't have any adverse effects. One son is an economics professor at the University Sydney in Australia, my other son manages and engineering research group for Texas Instruments.

I never watched much tv while growing up and nothing has changed. I rather read a book.

I freely admit that I love television.
I have been able to see things I probably wouldn't have otherwise.
The Moon landing, the release from prison of Nelson Mandela, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Watergate hearings, and a whole host of other historic events.
I've also been supremely entertained.
From seeing Elvis and The Beatles, and others on the Ed Sullivan Show, to nearly every episode of Saturday Night Live.
Not everything that has been on television has been worthy of my attention. I didn't care for most of the "popular" shows. Hated "Seinfeld", among other shows that lots of other people liked.
PBS has always been a favorite.
Mister Rogers, all the Ken Burns documentaries, Masterpiece Theater, Nicol Williamson's Hamlet, I, Claudius,
Monty Python's Flying Circus,
and the annual ballroom dancing competitions (WAY before Dancing With The Stars).
I learned to cook (better) watching Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Hubert Keller, America's Test Kitchen, Ina Garten, and Lydia Bastianich.
Television is not a wasteland, IF you don't waste your time on the garbage.

*Edited to include Monty Python.

I watched Saturday cartoons as a kid. I also read books and played with my toys.

"I was born in a house with the television always on"

As an adult I've rejected what I consider useless TV.
I learned more from PBS and Documentaries & reading than I ever learned in school .....I also absorbed the Encyclopedia Britannica that my parents seemingly bought only for me (to my non studious family.....I was the stupid one ). I don't think any of my siblings knew they were there in the bookcase. in the hallway. They walked by it everyday !

Going back to my parents home and visiting, or holidays even, it was always a losing battle to have a conversation over the roar of the TV that was ALWAYS on.....and I don't mean tuned to PBS !