ONCE in a blue moon, I try to watch more television. It’s a struggle, but sometimes I think I shouldn’t have my head buried in a book all of the time. I also happen to think it is important to keep up with pop culture.

I enjoy watching game shows like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. The best part of Jeopardy comes when contestants tell some nerdy anecdote about themselves. It’s refreshing to know that a long-running game show like this can still elevate quirkiness to the realm of cool.

I look forward to CBS Sunday Morning, a news magazine programme that has uplifting features. I cry through the entire show because the stories featured are so beautifully structured and written. They serve as excellent visual models for creating structure and support that students struggling to write essays can benefit from seeing.

I also enjoy cheering on journalist Jane Pauley, the show’s anchor. She got a raw deal when she was replaced on the Today show by a younger version of herself, Deborah Norville, who now appears as a host of Inside Edition. That’s poetic justice for you. The BBC and Al Jazeera are my favourite news sources.

The television news magazine 60 Minutes demonstrates good investigative journalism, but other 24-hour news stations are cringe worthy. They have political agendas and run on speculative stories and opinions. MSNBC, CCN and Fox News offer insulting criticism of political foes, which puzzles me.

They’re already preaching to the converted. People who don’t support their political views don’t tune in to their stations so all they are doing is stirring the cauldron of hatred.

Also shocking to me is how many television programmes serve as examples of inappropriate interaction. Television shows rarely demonstrate how men should treat women or how good leaders should act.

We expect our teenagers to grow up and have happy, successful marriages, satisfying careers and meaningful lives, but television doesn’t offer models of the values they need to accomplish these goals. Instead, television often elevates selfish, mean, dishonest people.

To make matters worse, many shows perpetuate lies. Survivor shows pretend that people are stranded in some remote place, and we are expected to watch contestants undermine each other for money. Dating games like the Bachelor franchise feature backstabbing men and women who lie and connive to win the affections of a possible fiancé.

Even harmless shows, which should offer entertainment and some semblance of learning prove disappointing. I tried watching The Voice because I loved the idea of famous singers choosing aspiring singers based on their voices and not their looks.

But seasoned singers serving as mentors attack each other personally in their attempts to win contestants’ favour. Can we have no one to look up to in this world? Are courtesy and truth not exciting enough to sell a television show any longer?

What worries me the most is the message that young, impressionable teenagers are getti