Bring Back Live Television

So...after an epic (and successful!) day yesterday, mostly spent building a back gate and attaching gate shutting hardware to it during the hottest part of the afternoon, the Velogirl and I had earned a nice couch sit yesterday evening. How did we choose to celebrate being able to successfully close and open a back gate we fabricated ourselves using only our limited carpentry skills? By watching the Emmys. (dry cough)

Listen. Let me go on record as saying that I am a fan of award shows. Why? Not because I care about which show wins Best Drama or which actress is the funniest on TV, but because I am drawn, like a moth to a flame, to live television programming. I can't explain it. I like the unpolished trainwreck potential that only live TV can deliver.

So, I sit there last night for three hours, watching awful Jimmy Fallon do his B minus rehearsed material, hoping that Ricky Gervais or Neil Patrick Harris will appear and say something spontaneous and funny. Which they both did. Making the other 2 hours and 45 minutes worth it to me. It takes so little, I swear to God.

Television has devolved, if you ask me. At first, it was ALL live, which is still referred to as the "golden age" of TV. Is it just me, but anytime someone uses the term "golden age" to describe anything, I think of ways we can try to turn the current non-golden age back into the golden age.

Not TV execs though...no sir. Jackie Gleason once broke his leg on live television doing his signature fall, and Art Carney had to come out and say goodnight to the audience. I am SO angry I am not old enough to have seen that. How is that NOT great television in 2010? Fix it!

Then, we moved from the live, golden age to 'Taped in front of a Live studio audience' age. This, at least, gave us a laugh track, so at home, it at least SOUNDED as though you were watching it live. Cheers is probably the best example of this type of show. I submit to you that Cheers would have been at least 75% less funny if they didn't have the live audience to give you an opportunity to laugh along with someone. Sometimes, they would just put a fake laugh track on top of a show--MASH did this. It is the most annoying thing in the history of television. Moving on...

Nowadays it seems the the only shows carrying this proud torch of a forgotten time are award shows. And maybe "Dancing with the Stars". Oh, and SNL.

I mean, if TV execs would look, I'm sure they would notice that TV programming with the highest ratings are those that are broadcast live. NFL football, anyone? People like live drama unfolding before their eyes, from the comfort of their own homes. Why do you think reality TV is (was?) so popular? It FEELS live, even though it ain't. Technically, it classifies as unscripted. But, unscripted programming is just a thin substitute for the energy level of a live broadcast. Sorry.

Bring back live TV. Let's go back to the golden age for awhile and see what all the fuss was about.