Boy, are we stupid.

In its infancy and early years television was free. It was supported by commercials and there weren't that many. Lots of popular shows had one sponsor: Goodyear Television Playhouse, Kraft Theater, GE Presents, Your Hit Parade (Lucky Strike), etc. In many cases there were three commercial breaks: at the beginning, the middle, and the end. All right, it was black and white and the picture wasn't great. But it was free and we assumed it would stay free. But as more and more stations appeared and color arrived, we had more choices and a much clearer picture. Which, of course, led to cable. Now the cable people suggested, if they didn't say it outright, that if we paid to watch television there would no commercials or at least far fewer. We fell for it. Now we see armies of commercials, sometimes as many as 12 in row. We even see commercials while we're watching the shows, with the sudden appearance of silent sales pitches at the bottom the screen. Purists, like me, have to watch shows with the presenter's logo on the screen throughout the show even during classic movies. Why should I have to look at AMC while I'm watching DOA? Even so-called premium stations deluge us with commercials for their so-called commercial-free presentations. And, of course, we pay dearly for the privilege of watching TV and paying broadcasters to bombard us with strings of loud, repetitive pitches, some entertaining, most not and none ever interesting the 18th time around. Now I realize that broadcasters have to pay for these shows and the technology. But how much profit do they reall need to make at our expense? I'm sure they would be sitting pretty with even half the commercial income and we'd be better off with half the shows. But, guess what? Very few of us ever complain about it. Like I said, boy, are we stupid!