Column: Something About Nothing

I have been a couch potato for the past few weeks trying to recover from various health problems. Because of this I have become something I never imagined in my wildest dreams. I have become a “CSI,” “NCIS,” and “Criminal Minds” junkie.

I have never watched any of these programs in my entire life. I had no interest in watching these programs, and now I can’t stop watching these programs.

I could blame it on a fevered mind or a foggy brain, and possibly that is why I started watching. I cannot explain what my fascination is with these programs.

“CSI” has various programs. My favorite is “CSI Miami.” “CSI” is a crime scene drama that usually tries to solve grisly murders. There are twists and turns and, yes, there is graphic violence. I get fascinated by their computer systems and high-tech gadgets that can detect anything and solve almost everything. I have to wonder if in real life any of the real CSI units have these high-tech devices available to them since usually our government is strapped for money.

“NCIS” is the Naval Criminal Investigative Services. “NCIS” revolves around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Services. I love their computers, too. They can track anybody. “NCIS” gets a little graphic, too.

“Criminal Minds” is about profilers from the FBI.

At any time of day you can usually find one of these programs on your television. I do not like violent grisly programs, and yet I find myself glued to the television in anticipation of the next story and the next mystery that is trying to be solved. The more I watch, I find that the bloody bodies do not bother me so much anymore. I don’t cover my eyes at the sight of the gore. Instead I find myself watching closely to see what signs the bodies are going to tell the agents.

It seems I am becoming conditioned to this violence. I wonder if this is what happens to our kids when they play violent video games or watch violent movies. None of it seems real anymore and soon the lines of life are blurred.

I watch and wonder if in all this fiction there is some truth. Do the police departments in bigger cities employ wizards such as the ones on our television shows? Do they calculate everything so carefully? Do they have the high crime scene chases that we never read about?

My television shows almost always get their man. Could our real life crime-scene people always get their man if they had the technology that is bigger than life on television? Or maybe they do, and we just don’t know about it.

These shows condition us to the violence and draw us in with the mystery. They are hits. They are what we are all looking for to spice up our life. We possibly wouldn’t love these shows so much if what is happening in these shows were a part of our real life. I always marvel at the minds that create all the drama and keep us watching.

I could not write a crime-scene drama. I can’t write gore. I have to wonder about the minds that can and what triggers those stories.

I probably will keep watching until I end up watching reruns of the reruns I have already watched, or until I find my next TV fixation.

Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send email to her at thecolumn@bevcomm.net.