The TV of new: What happened to our standards?

Most college-aged people can remember when watching television was a fun endeavor. One can remember "Full House," "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Charles in Charge." Over the last few years, there seems to have been a rapid decline in the quality of television, and no one seems to notice. Network fat cats seem to have unanimously decided that the American public wants to spend its free time watching sub-par TV shows. "Shows today are all about sensationalism," junior Kristen Lowe said. Our favorite shows from the ‘80s and ‘90s are being replaced by brainless junk, and I can’t help but be nostalgic for the good old days when smart TV ruled the airwaves.

Take "Seinfeld" for instance. Many consider "Seinfeld" to be one of the best TV shows to surface within the last 50 years. The genius of "Seinfeld" is situational comedy _— the way the storylines all come together in ironic and humorous ways. It’s the comedy writing, the deliverance of lines and the plot twists that make the show.

Aside from shows like "Seinfeld," reality TV may have reached an all-time low. Case in point: the new show titled "Who’s Your Daddy?" The show’s premise is based on an adopted woman who is offered $100,000 to guess which man is her birth father. "Celebrity Fit Club" on VH1 spends an entire thirty minutes showing overweight, B-list celebrities running on treadmills and eating salads. Gripping.

When considering gripping shows, "Real World" seems to have fallen off that bandwagon as well. "Every season of the ‘Real World’ has the standard episode that discusses the question of whether or not one of the roommates has breast implants," senior Carly Halayko said. "They literally sit in the confessional for a half an hour discussing what the ‘boob’ situation may mean for the rest of the house."

Shows back in the day entertained us without being explicit or crass. Bill Cosby made us laugh with his comedic timing and his stage presence, not by throwing out bad sexual innuendos. And who doesn’t remember spending afternoons with the Fresh Prince or Saturday mornings with "Saved by the Bell?" "All I ever wanted to do was hang out at ‘The Max,’" senior Rob McEvoy said.