Driving to an appointment the other day…
…and I flicked on the radio to a station where a couple of *Strine-flavoured moron hosts were espousing the benefits, nay, the joys of hate-watching TV shows. He was love-hating the live Big Brother stream. She was lapping up some Hollywood bile called, All’s Fair – a divorce drama that the Guardian has described as… fascinatingly, existentially terrible – without a hint of irony.
It is now de rigueur to consume trash TV so you can rubbish it in a bitch session with your pals. Misery loves company, really?
The idea that you would happily incinerate hours watching crap so you can connect with your fellow humans and feel united in your loathing, baffles me no end.
At the risk of getting all Pollyanna on your ass with Kumbaya playing softly in the background, why is it more exciting to bond with folks over ‘ugly’?
And no, seeking out anyone who might join me to seethe over the energy and water guzzling art cannibal that is AI… we meet to ‘double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble’ and set effigies of hard drives alight deep into the night… is not the same thing.
I wanna love-watch. I wanna love-listen. I wanna connect with people who celebrate shows, music, anything that makes you feel good, not dirty and desperate for a shower when the credits roll.
* Strine is the English spoken, or somewhat decimated, by Australians, with very thick accents.
© Phyllis Foundis 2025