People's Couch

I think I would agree that Canadian television has improved. When I was a child, all we really had was Hockey Night In Canada and Wayne And Shuster specials. Both were awful.

Now, there's Corner Gas and Trailer Park Boys. One, about a small town in Saskatchewan and the other, a trailer park in Nova Scotia. Okay, they're silly but better than Wayne and Shuster.

But far and away the best show is People's Couch. This little show from Toronto has cameras set up in people's home and taped them watching television. Yes. A show about watching television.

So why do I like this show? It taught me something.

I remember a movie, the monster tears open the side of a building and there's a family watching television, they're so glued to the tv that they don't notice the monster or the hero fighting it.

And that was my view of myself. A slightly vacant, staring with dead eyes at the screen, person who should be doing something.

So what does People's Couch teach? That people are engaged while watching tv. Their eyes are full of twinkling interest as they lean forward, they laugh, they smile. They engage with each other. And forget the idea that they're not aware of their surroundings.

Also, one older lady and her husband were watching a show where a gay guy tries to commit suicide after not being able to change, like his psychiatrist wanted him to. The lady comments that gays are the bravest people because everyone was against them. Now where, if not television, would she have got that information?

So knowing now that my idea of myself was skewed, that I'm not a blob in front of the tv makes me feel better and I wonder how I missed it. Now I'm a proud couch potato.