Television gives me a headache.

When you have a kid you start to watch television much more critically. What shows are good for kids? What shows are awful?

The sad fact is that most shows are terrible. TV has changed tremendously in the last few years - mostly due to digital editing. Reality shows use editing to the extreme to construct a "story" around a bunch of people.

The edits are quick flashes of facial expressions, voice overs and action shots - often placed out of context and out of order. They condense 24 hours of film into 45 minutes.

The problem is that every time the screen on the TV changes it makes a little flash. In the old days, the screen didn't flash much because it didn't change much. Now when you watch TV, it's almost constant flickering and flashing.

That can't be good for your head. It's a major reason why we don't let Jake watch much TV. When we do watch TV with Jake, it's mostly live music (less flashy) or youtube videos.

Much Music or MTV is unwatchable because of the flickering. Reality shows are almost unwatchable. Even some kids shows are flashy, including Sesame Street.

Barney is pretty good because the screen doesn't flicker much. Unfortunately it's super annoying.

Should I bailout failing local tv stations?

I guess local broadcasters like CTV, Global and CBC, have been asking the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission to tax cable and satellite customers for receiving over-the-air television stations.

In other words, they're losing money because no one watches their crappy shows and they want the government to take my money and give it to them.

My thoughts are: there's a reason you're losing money. It's because there is no demand for your programming. People don't want to watch your shows. So you should fail or change. You shouldn't ask the government for a bailout.

Why? Because I don't want the government deciding what I should be watching on TV and taking my money to finance shows that no one watches.

Local is not always better. In fact, local is very often inferior. That's why we have free trade. It's why we're able to buy better quality, cheaper products elsewhere. Same goes with television and movies and radio and entertainment.

On TV white, middle-aged husbands are losers and doofuses.

If you judge my kind (white, husband with family, middle-aged) by television, which I highly suggest that you do, you'll find that we're a bunch of losers.

We make a mess of the simplest things. We burn ourselves barbecuing, we fall off ladders, make stupid comments, eat dog food by mistake. We're fooled by our children, laughed at by our wives. We're klutzy and stupid and unfit for anything that requires 2 or more brain cells.

It wasn't always like this. Back when we were single, we were cool. Single guys on TV have hordes of women chasing them. They drink beer, party, drive fast cars, make fun of other weaker males, and did I mention they have hordes of hot women chasing them?

Then when we got married something changed. Something radical. I don't know what it was. We lost our coolness. Maybe our wives changed us? Our kids?

Someone once said that white middle aged men are portrayed as idiots because in real life they rule the world. They have all the best jobs, all the money, and basically all the power. So it's okay to make fun of them on TV.