Addicted to television

After a hectic day in the workplace, many Americans come home and

relax in front of the television. Some people prefer sitcoms, while

others enjoy sports or reality shows. As they get ready to watch

their favorite programs, their bodies begin to relax and their brains

shut off the real world. No one outside is allowed to interrupt their

TV dinners. Not even their moms.

Just try to call my neighbor between 8 and 10 p.m. -- you’ll

realize how painful it is to feel her wrath on the telephone. You’ll

definitely need an eardrum replaced afterward.

It isn’t unusual to see some Latinos cuddled up to the television

during the early hours of the evening or at night. Both Univision and

Telemundo, the two major Spanish television networks, air telenovelas

(soap operas) in prime time and lure 10.9 million Latino households.

That is about 10% of viewers nationwide, according to Nielsen Media

Research.

Many of these viewers are women. They love telenovelas because

life looks much better on the small screen than outside on the

streets. In other words, these shows help them ignore reality.

Unfortunately, what is supposed to be a relaxing hour turns into a

tormenting season of waiting obsessively each day to watch the next

episode. Since most people don’t watch just one telenovela but two or

three and sometimes four, their time is completely wasted in front of

the screen.

It doesn’t take a psychologist to understand telenovelas are one

of the most addictive programs in modern history. Just look at my

neighbor.

I know once I mention the name of Karl Marx, some of my readers

will likely be turned off. They will stop reading this column and

shift their attention to the sports or entertainment pages.

Sorry, folks, I can’t help talking about him. I have to give

credit to someone, or else I’ll be engaging in plagiarism.

It was Marx who spoke of addiction in a philosophical way. When he

said religion “is the opium of the people,” he might have been

thinking about some fundamentalist organization like Al Qaeda, or

some televangelist groups in the United States such as the Trinity

Broadcasting Network or Daystar Christian Television Network, which

is trying to acquire public television station KOCE.

Though commercial television did not exist in Marx’s era, I think

we should also include it in the opium list. I really prefer leaving

public television out, because its primary purpose is not like that

of commercial TV. As my fellow columnist Flo Martin said, “Public

television is a source of information.”

Commercial television works rather differently. They want us to

tune in and never move off the couch. The Latino television networks

-- Telemundo and especially Univision -- are champions at luring more

people into their world. They have found in telenovelas the perfect

means to addict people, more than any other program in television.

In August, for three straight weeks, nine of the 10 prime-time

shows airing in Los Angeles on Spanish-language TV were telenovelas.

A television rating company revealed recently that three Latin

telenovelas had outstanding performances nationwide among Latino

viewers: “Inocente” (“The Innocent”), “Esposa Virgen” (“Virgin

Wife”), and “Contra Viento y Marea” (“Against the Winds”). More than

four million households tuned in for each of them.

I didn’t have enough money to pay Nielsen Media Research to get

rating information for Costa Mesa. But I can only assume, given the

large Latino population in this city, that some are likely addicted

to telenovelas.

Now, asking people to turn off their televisions is the best and

easiest way to solve the issue. That isn’t going to happen. Our world

simply doesn’t work that way.

Asking the commercial television networks to change isn’t a viable

solution either, because their job is to get us to watch. Our best

chance rests with public television. That’s a reason to keep KOCE

public.

* HUMBERTO CASPA is a Costa Mesa resident and bilingual writer. He

can be reached by e-mail at o7hcletters@yahoo.comf7.