Television broadcasts shows, amongst other things, designed to keep thousands of viewers watching to sell advertisements. And, while they do entertain and delight, they would not exist if it wasn't for the money networks receive for ad time. Yet we seem to personalize TV to extreme ends.
Last week I was tense at the thought of "Twitch" loosing "So You Think You Can Dance". But that was a reality show with real people and real outcomes. What about the last episode of Friends. Where in that shows 10 years of time on air did it go from being 6 actors doing their job to 6 people I had come to know. Rachel, Ross, Joey and the rest aren't even real. Sure, Seinfeld is based on co-creators Jerry and Larry David, but the people on screen aren't real (or at least what I'm seeing). So why do I care so much?
I wonder what it specifically is that shows like these have tapped into. But even more, I wonder what deep-rooted memories they latch themselves onto so tightly, that when these characters go off the air my emotions go southward ever so noticeably.
