Earlier this morning I had the chance to read a great piece from Jezebel called “Somebody Tell Me What’s Happening On The Walking Dead Because I’m Not Watching.” In it, author Clover Hope talked about the fact that she’d dropped off of the popular AMC series after the arrival of the barbarous character Negan. Since his introduction to the series, the violence has been kicked up a notch, with a bold announcement of this as he pummeled the heads of beloved Walking Dead characters Abraham and Glenn in the season premiere. As she pointed out, that was a turning point for many fans, who decided they were mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. But the show has been violent. Why would one get their undergarments in a knot at this Season 7 juncture? Hope put it best when she said, “one could assume that it’s easy for American viewers to develop fatigue for zombies now that we have actual bloodsuckers running the country.”
That message stuck out to me because I never fully acknowledged that these changing, hostile times have had quite the impact on the way I watch television. I need a break.
Like Hope, I was once a pretty big The Walking Dead fan, but after learning of the way things were set to go in the premiere of Season 7, I didn’t even bother to watch it. (I did view a part of it a month later, and only because my husband has a habit of trying to show me things I don’t care for).
From there, I started avoiding the show, deeply sighing every time my husband turned to AMC at 9 p.m. on Sundays. “I just can’t” I would say, and I really can’t. I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t watch a show where there never seemed to be a reprieve for the characters we’ve grown to love. The idea that it’s not the zombies that are the real problem for Rick, Darryl and co., but that it’s the people, just as down and out as our favorites, who continue to put them in harm’s way, makes it much harder to enjoy. With the sh-tty reality of the many people in this country who put their self-interests above the greater good always on my mind, the show’s base premise feels a little too relatable.
I also can’t do shows that I actually want to support because some are too heavy, and too real. Shots Fired? Looks great, but the idea of being entertained by the fight against police violence and corruption week to week doesn’t really draw me. It’s part of the reason I already feel crappy about the fact that I likely won’t watch John Singleton’s new BET drama, Rebel.
Another thing I can’t do is all of the network news. My husband watches everything MSNBC has to offer from the moment he wake up, to the moment he gets home from work, and it literally makes me want to scream. (The polar opposite, my father hasn’t watched any of these cable news channels since November, despite once having a similar habit.) It’s probably because I’m consistently reminded that these people, the talking heads, were the same ones who got it wrong. They put out shoddy polls and confidently told viewers that Donald the joke Trump couldn’t become president of the United States. Months later, he we are. So you will have to excuse me if I don’t want to hear a word from Chris, Rachel, Andrea, Mika, Joe or anybody else.
Basically, I can’t watch anything at this point that seems to glorify violence, mirrors too many of the tragedies we witness on a daily basis, points out all of the failings of an administration we can’t quickly give the boot to, or just doesn’t seem to look at things on the bright side. It was much easier to view all of this around this time last year, but things are too strained to sit around subjecting myself to programs that make me feel worse, despite that not being the intention, of course. But we’re all stressed out, whether we want to admit it or not. So why would you want to watch something that fills you with more anxiety? (At least with a film the stress comes to an end within three hours.)
So, instead, I’ve turned to lighthearted viewing that my husband turns his nose up at. He will have to deal because it’s all a form of self-care. That viewing includes a lot of comedy, a lot of series about things I can’t necessarily relate to but can be entertained by, and a lot of reality TV. I’m talking Girls. Reruns of The Wayans Bros., Martin and Moesha. This Is Us. Big Little Lies. The Americans. Love and Hip Hop. Teen Mom. Black Ink Crew. The Rap Game. Bring It. And while these shows and programs may not be the cream of the crop to some, they provide me with a respite from not only the stress of things going on in my life, but from the realities of the world around me. I find amusement and enjoyment in the stories, as opposed to yet another headache. And really, isn’t that the point of entertainment in times like these?
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