Not Just TVLand

Every now and then I enjoy reading the blog of one of my former teachers. A great majority of her posts are entirely random, but she always has something interesting to say. Here is something she wrote today that I have been talking about on this blog for a good while now:

I realized this weekend how much I miss the old-fashioned TVLand station. Was home alone a good bit, and sometimes like to just have something on in the background - it used to be that if nothing else was on, you could always catch an old episode of Andy Griffith or Leave it to Beaver or Gunsmoke. Now, it's just become a station like any other. Kinda sad.

I'm afraid it's not just TVLand. Most of the shows that I grew up watching and find myself quoting and looking back on are gone for good...as far as television goes, at least. The shows that she mentioned and others like them were family shows. People used to sit down and watch television as a family. Children today don't know what that's like. The kids have their shows, the adults have their shows, and they all watch them in separate rooms on separate televisions. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the modern-day entertainment industry is tearing the family apart.

I think she used the word "old-fashioned" well. That word is used negatively nowadays. But oh how I miss the way things were even just twenty years ago. People wonder why the "good old days" are referred to as such, especially since there was no technology as we know it today. My answer would be this: The best things in life are not always convenient. Those days were good because there was family. Everything you needed in life came from your family. We need to get back to a family mindset in America.