Part 2.
How television has actually made my life better.
And before you label me as an obsessed fan, or someone who needs to get a life, let me mention again, I work in television... I help create, quality control, approve, produce, sometimes write, log and book the shows that you watch on a daily basis. I help "ruin" peoples lives every day! And it makes me so undeniably happy, that it's hard to put it all down in one post. But, because I've been taught to never give up, dang nabit, I'm gonna try.
1) Television, has allowed me to see things I had previously only seen in books.
In 2006, I went to Italy, and not just for some vacation. I worked at 2006 winter Olympics, something I have wanted to do since 1996 when I watched all 16 days of the Olympics (though I had to watch the epic Kerri Strugg vault via highlight the next day because despite the fact that it was summer vacation my mom made me go to bed before the live conclusion of the NBC broadcast, a moment I'll never let her forget (love you madre!) ) Looking back it was the 1996 Olympics that made me want to go into television as career. After that I couldn't get enough of the Olympics, I apparently couldn't get enough of TV. In High School, despite the fact that my favorite class was always English, I would ask if I could make a video instead of right a paper every chance I got, I took every video or communications class my school district had to offer (which for the record was one) and for my 14th birthday and subsequent birthday's after that I got every behind the scenes book written about Buffy there was. In college I majored in television/radio communications. The least academic major on the planet, a major that people with academic majors asked me what I planned to do with once I graduate college, a major that a few of my friends from HS labeled as "not a real" major. A major that made me work harder than I ever thought possible (at the time), a major that made me exhausted, cranky and sometimes frustrated, but made me happier than I had ever been previous (and I was a pretty happy kid by nature). And it culminated with an offer to go to the Olympics as an Intern, to be part of the broadcast I had been watching for years, and the opportunity to see Italy. I was done with school and was able to take 2.5 weeks prior to the Olympics on vacation in Italy. I got to see the Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, the David etc. And it was because I chose to turn my obsession with TV into my career.
I also go to see a lot of what the US has to offer. After college I spent 4 months touring the country making videos for the web and following around the worlds greatest Drum and Bugle Corps. I got to hit many of the major US cities and again see things I only dreamed of. I also go to work in the Georgia Dome, the site of the aforementioned Kerri Strug vault.
And for those of you who don't know, TV happens in Los Angeles, so when I decided to move to LA, I drove cross country, which allowed me to see even more of the country, and cross off "drive cross country" on my list of life to do's. I've driven cross country twice now, so add the states I saw the second time to the list too.
2) It has allowed me to live all over the US. I have lived in 4 states because of TV, and 2 major US cities. It has allowed me to do exactly what I always said I was going to do... get out of my small town. I have always knows from as far back as I can remember that I may have been more in a small town, but I was not cut out for small town life. So, once I was old enough and educated (well at least formally) enough I left, I lived in Chicago, Los Angeles, Bristol (not a major city and lesson learned) and back in Los Angeles. But I'm out, I'm a city girl, I can honestly say I was right, I'm a city dweller, a city lover, and I just cannot get enough of the insanity.
3) My TV watching while doing homework/reading a book/trying to sleep has actually come to help me. The real world folks is not quiet. Not quiet at all. When I worked for a major talkshow it was loud in the bullben I worked in, TV's were constantly on because we had the show on while it was taping, the show on while it was airing, other talkshows on so we could know what everyone else was talking about, CNN on because we had to make sure we were following trends in the news, or figure out what stories were being talked about etc. It was loud, and ya know what I was productive, I was unfazed by the noise, the constant flickering the insanity of it all. Why? Probably because I always had noise on when I was doing anything, music, TV, a movie etc. Do I advocated doing what I did for everyone? Of course not, but in my case it worked.
Also, my obsession with TV has made me observant of things the average viewer may never even notice, and while that sounds like obsessed fan who needs to get a life, once again it actually paid off for me. Right now part of my job involves me going through shows and segments to pick out things that other producers may not have, looking for errors, looking for things that are different etc, and not to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty darn good at it, and I probably wouldn't be if it wasn't for the fact that I watched a lot of TV as a kid.
4) TV distracts me at the gym. I'm one of those people who can become so engrossed in a show on TV that I often forget that I'm on elliptical or a treadmill. I once ran 4 miles while watching Family Guy, I can't run 4 miles if I'm thinking about, but I can apparently do it while watching TV. I have even been known to keep my ipod on, and read along with the closed captioning to distract myself from the fact that I'm doing something that isn't exactly thrilling. I remember being at the gym at 6:30 morning on the elliptical and in tears because Bill Clinton had brought the Journalists home from North Korea, and being so overwhelmed with how awesome it was that I managed to accidentally stay an extra 20 minutes on the machine. So, clearly TV doesn't exactly make me lazy. Also, I over the years have frequently worked 18 hour days, 7 days a week, so lazy isn't my vocabulary.
5) TV has allowed me to meet some of the worlds most gifted an talented people. The people who pioneered television, who have allowed me to have a job. Hell TV has allowed me to work with Florence Henderson! (that's right folks Mrs. Brady was my boss for a year!) I got to meet all sorts of celebrities, and that's not even the coolest people I've met. I've met the producers of shows that have defined generations, I have had the opportunity to hear about the early days of radio and how it turned into television and to hear the real, sometimes gritty, history of television. I've had the opportunity to visit with people who shamed the media landscape, and in many ways the actual city I call home. I have been blessed, and I realize how fortunate it makes me, and I realize that while TV isn't exactly the most academic field, there is always something more to learn about a great and many things. This one is hard to put into words, but the people I worked with during that time will get it, and I get it, and that's all that matters.
And 6 for good measure, because TV really has changed my life, made it better and continues to make it awesome!
6) I have met the most incredible friends and people because of TV. I was always fortunate to have amazing friends surrounding me, and I have continued to make more as I go. The people I met in college are people I'm still friends with, and people I wouldn't have met if I hadn't chose the college I did, which is a college I wouldn't have went too if I didn't want to make tv for a living. These people have become my second family, these people are people I would do anything for and people who would do anything for me. The people I've met because of TV are people who have helped me not only further my career but better myself outside my job. The people I've met have literally gotten me jobs when I've needed employment, and I've done the same for them. The people I've met in TV have taken a chance on a 22 year old kid who probably didn't know what she was doing, but helped me foster my creativity and my skills and helped make me better at what it is I want to do. The people I've met in TV have laughed with me, cried with me, drank with me and all around made me a more well rounded happier person. I wouldn't be where I was today if wasn't for them (quite literally in many ways) I wouldn't be who I am and I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing without them. So maybe my television habits as a kid alienated some people and made me a little bit anti-social, I think in the end it opened me up to more people and experiences.
So, I guess I proved the scientists and the parents of the world wrong on some level. I'm not dumb, I'm a wealth of knowledge and experiences that just because they are not strictly academic (or American History based) are still worth something, and I'm a wealth of knowledge when it comes to Hollywood History, which is in America so there! I'm not delusional, I recognize now that it is in fact possible to dream bigger than I ever thought possible. I'm not antisocial, I am constantly surrounded by the most amazing people, I'm not lazy I work all the time, and I want to work all the time, I get antsy if I'm not on the go all the time, and I'll admit to being a little bit ADD, but it works for me, stuff always gets done. As for broke, I get paid because of TV and while I'll be paying off the student loans I accrued while attending the college I chose so I could make TV, maybe at some point I'll sell a show, or reach the top of my field and while I will never be rich, maybe just maybe I'll be okay.
